Jaunted

The book is less an expose than it is the story of how Kohnstamm accidentally became a travel writer. And though similar, Hell isn't the same book as Chuck Thompson's Smile When You're Lying, another supposed travel writing tell-all that turned out to be more memoir than indictment. No, Kohnstamm's book has more in common with A Million Little Pieces than it does most travelogues. (It certainly has more references to drugs.)

For all the booze-soaked, coke-fueled romps through beach towns and bedrooms, Kohnstamm does fill us in on the MO of a guidebook writer. And those details are the most believable, if only because of a checklist he provides:

Pro: It is recommended [by Lonely Planet] that I travel in Brazil for four weeks.

Con: There is no way I can do that much research in four weeks.

Pro: I will have to go to Brazil for at least seven weeks.

Con: There will not be enough money for seven weeks of research.

It took Kohnstamm a few more weeks to realize that he could play hotel owners, bartenders and others for comped rooms, drinks and more, as long as he went about it the right way. He did plenty of that, though not as much or as outlandishly as you might expect from the press attention he's been getting this month. (It's worth noting that book he was updating in Hell was about Brazil, not Colombia.)

As his journey through Northeast Brazil wears on, Kohnstamm meets up with all manner of drugged-out wash-ups that manage to keep the booze--and the story--flowing. Robert Reid has noted that being surrounded by other travelers puts the author squarely in the mold of Richard from The Beach. That's true, but Alex Garland's narrator was never as disoriented as Kohnstamm--or as dedicated.

While he may not have been the most ethical travel writer, Kohnstamm wanted his guidebook section to be good. Why else would he have hustled 50 pills of ecstasy or shacked up with a prostitute or endured a .38 revolver crammed into his mouth? After his harrowing, cracked-out trip through Brazil, he thinks he has the ironic answer:

I am a writer now and must become a miserable, surly, sleep-starved hermit to have any realistic chance of success.

So do travel writers go to hell? For pride maybe, but not for sloth.

Related Stories:
· Thomas Kohnstamm's Lonely Planet: The Firestorm Around 'Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?' [WorldHum]
· Lonely Planet Not Exactly Inspiring Sympathy [Jaunted]
· One Travel Writer, at Least, Might Just Go to Hell [Jaunted]