Book geeks, don't be shy: popping over to Frankfurt for the world's biggest annual book fair is nothing to be embarrassed about. Heck, we've done it. And you're not embarrassed to be seen in public with us, right?

If you're brave, here's the lowdown. You need to know that the general public visiting days for the fair are on the weekend of October 18 and 19--we recommend Sunday because last year over 70,000 people showed up on Saturday (and 15,000 less than that the day after).

This year Turkey is the guest of honor so their president's popping over to Germany to kick things off. (Wonder if anyone will ask him about how his country nearly prosecuted Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk for anti-Turkish sentiment!) If you don't join him, you're not the book lover you think you are.

Related Stories:
· Frankfurt Book Fair [Official Site]
· Turkish President to Inaugurate Frankfurt Book Fair [World Bulletin]
· More Than Sausages in Frankfurt [Jaunted]

[Photo: ipa]
]]> amandak 2008-10-02T09:05:37-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/9/24/104638/194

Long-term travel guru and po-mo hero Rolf Potts has been doing the travel blog circuit for the past week and a half, talking about travel writing, travel writing and, well, travel writing. So we put that topic aside and asked him to tell us a funny story from his new book, Marco Polo Didn't Go There. Thus this tale of pooping in India:

Chapter 5 of Marco Polo Didn't Go There is entitled "Something Approaching Enlightenment," and this story recounts a grand misadventure that transpired in the Indian Himalayas a few years ago.

By the time this tale ends, I have endured detainment by the Indian army, survived an attack by a giant mastiff dog that ripped my pants to shreds and spent a long night stuck in a town where the only place to sleep was a room occupied by three drunken, porn-obsessed Indian road engineers.

What I never included in the original story, however, is a small, tangential detail that can functionally serve as a little parable about the cross-cultural ramifications of wiping your ass.]]> Jaunted 2008-09-24T11:15:33-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/8/19/94356/7968

There aren't many lot of street vendors in New York that we can really get excited about, as they're usually split down the middle between knockoff handbag peddlers and bootleg DVD sellers. Where's the design conscious person supposed to shop on the streets of New York?

Head across the East River to Williamsburg, and you'll find the fantastic Airstream Books. The sidewalk shop specializes in architecture, design, fashion books and, yes, vintage porn. The furniture selection is amazing as well. Good looking modern chairs, desks, couches and shelving are arranged in a sidewalk showroom--weather permitting of course.

The "store" is open weekends and evenings, and some furniture is also listed on Craigslist during the week. If you want to view the full collection of available furniture, the owner will also open up a 1,000-foot warehouse by appointment only.

Related Stories:
· Airstream Books [Official Site]
· Airstream Books (and Furniture Too!) [Apartment Therapy]
· Shopping in Brooklyn Map [Jaunted]
· Brooklyn Travel coverage [Jaunted]]]> Dan Gould 2008-08-19T11:30:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/18/141819/343

Next time you're in San Francisco or London, keep your eyes peeled for a small group of books stacked neatly near a park bench, news stand or on your bike seat. You can't miss them, as they have a bright yellow cover with huge block letters that read FREE BOOK.

Don't fret, it's not some Krishna BS that you'll pick up, suddenly confronted by a little man dressed in orange robes holding a bell and flowers. The book is titled Potential Energy, and it's a self-published novel by a writer named Schist.]]> DanielR 2008-07-18T15:30:19-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/25/113528/686

Stuck in front of your computer today? Take a mini-break with Field-Tested Books, an essay collection in which writers talk about where they were when they read a very memorable book.

Some of our favorite folks are represented in this e-anthology, but what we love the most is that the pieces are short. You can easily pack a year's worth of long weekends into an hour or two--just make sure your boss isn't peaking over your shoulder.

Our Picks:
· Stalking an Actor in Perugia, Italy [Steven Heller]
· Forgoing Sodom and Gomorrah for Ayn Rand [Ben Karlin]
· Shocking the Other Passengers on a Cross-Country Flight [Annie Logue]
· Getting Drunk in Mexico [Andrei Codrescu]
· Armchair Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: ddsiple]]]> egw 2008-06-25T15:15:05-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/4/22/155242/310

After all the sniping, faux shock and criticism, Thomas Kohnstamm's book Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? is out today. Instead of rehashing old interviews and getting up on our high horse about ethics, we decided to, you know, actually read it.

We didn't get very far before stumbling across something we wish were included in that now-notorious "embassy chick" interview that upset so many people:

Author's note: For better or for worse, this book recounts true experiences. In order to distill the chaos of life down to a clear narrative, it was necessary to omit certain events, rearrange and compress chronology and combine a few of the characters.

So, yes, what you're about to read is true. Sort of.]]> pbb 2008-04-22T16:00:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/4/11/53554/5969

When all the airlines of the world have gone bust (which should be in, like, a few more days), we'll all be able to slow down, relax and travel the world by train. One British man has already got the hang of that, and he's a quite amazing train geek usually referred to as the Man in Seat 61, after his seating preference on Eurostar trains.

We've been following his website for years, whenever we've needed in depth train travel advice, and he's also good at giving tips on making train travel on some famous routes a lot cheaper than taking the tourist train. For example, in a recent article he gave the example of South Africa's Blue Train from Cape Town to Pretoria, explaining a local route that cost less than a tenth of the fancy tourist route.

The current big news is that the Man in Seat 61 (who also has a real name, Mark Smith) has got a book deal and his official train travel bible is coming out in a couple of months. It's going to focus on European rail travel so you'll be able to get tips on that speedy Barcelona to Madrid route or perhaps more importantly to us, find out where we can get a beer along the way.

Related Stories:
· The Man in Seat 61 [Official Site]
· My Top Train Tips [UK Guardian]
· Train Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Howdy, I'm H. Michael Karshis]]]> amandak 2008-04-11T09:30:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/