Traveling mainly by motorcycle, the author traverses 45 countries on six continents in this memoir, experiencing both fascinating and harrowing travails during a one-year journey. With a healthy mix of contemporary and historical perspectives, new insights are provided on typical tourist destinations like the Taj Mahal and the Trevi Fountain. Additionally, encounters with a law enforcement official in the Czech Republic and a panty-wielding pickpocket in Istanbul (among other things) supply plenty of humor along the way. These vivid and engaging accounts showcase the destinations not just as tourists see them, but as residents experience them as well, realistically portraying floods, earthquakes, and civil unrest.
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From Library Journal
Former telecommunications executive Haffar treats readers to a whirlwind tour of 45 countries spanning six continents in this sometimes funny, often sarcastic account of an unusual trip around the world. Haffar's yearlong excursion by air, motorcycle, camel, and elephant bears little resemblance to the usual package deal offered to tourists with money to burn. Dusty caf s often substitute for four-star restaurants, and back-alley lodgings are as commonplace to this traveler as Hilton Hotels. Despite a grueling schedule, the author finds a way to pack more sightseeing into his journey than any tour guide could possibly offer. From the crowded streets of Florence to the Batu Caves of Kuala Lumpur, Haffar explores not only the well-known landmarks of each city but also the less obvious but often more pleasing haunts of the local gentry. His comments on these sites and the people who guard them are at times biting and provocative and at other times almost wistful. This book is an adventure guide as much as a travelog, and as such, it succeeds quite well in entertaining while informing. A good addition to libraries with travel collections. Mary V. Welk, Chicago
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"An especially recommended travelogue and rewarding reading for the armchair traveler, as well as anyone . . . leaving . . . for an around-the-world adventure!" -- The Midwest Book Review
"Another fine book...worth searching out for Haffar's wit, erudition and charm." -- Sun-Sentinel
"Any armchair traveler will enjoy this book and real travelers will doubtless find that it provokes memories of their own past trips." -- Rambles
"Filled with hilarious anecdotes and delightfully intelligent tongue-in-cheek observations . . . Relentlessly engages and entertains the reader." -- Daily Star
"Instinctively the reader feels a rush of wind from figurative bullets barely dodged . . . definitely recommended." -- NewPages
"Another fine book...worth searching out for Haffar's wit, erudition and charm." -- Sun-Sentinel
"Any armchair traveler will enjoy this book and real travelers will doubtless find that it provokes memories of their own past trips." -- Rambles
"Filled with hilarious anecdotes and delightfully intelligent tongue-in-cheek observations . . . Relentlessly engages and entertains the reader." -- Daily Star
"Instinctively the reader feels a rush of wind from figurative bullets barely dodged . . . definitely recommended." -- NewPages
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Mark Hammond
Format:Paperback
Whether you're a motorcyclist or not, stay far away from this awful book. This guy is not a rider -- he takes a leisurely luxury tour aboard an ST1100 from Lisbon to Istanbul and that's it. The bike is shipped from Istanbul to Bombay. Haffar didn't even know what a carnet is! So his bike -- which any rider guards with his or her life -- gets stuck in Bombay, and he evidently lacks the wherewithal and ingenuity to extract it.
Travels thru the Middle East, Asia, Oceania, South America, Central America, and the U.S. are accomplished via public transit, plane, and rental cars. Yawwwwn.
Worse still, this book is worst variety of insipid amateur travelogue -- unless you like tedious crybaby complaints about bad tea, inadequate restrooms, and tepid showers. Ugh! Don't look here for insights into culture, or conversations with locals. Haffar is too busy looking for his next cup of tea, about which he is bound to offer some banal observation.
The little good that can be said of the regrettable work is that Haffar will occasionally spin a pleasant phrase. Other than that, this self-absorbed loser of a book annoyed the bejeepers out of me. Grade: F.
By "lsb1lsb"
Format:Hardcover
I've read many travelogs but none quite like this one. Most of the time I was amused and amazed by Haffar's witty and informative account. Occasionally, I was mildly shocked by the graphic and perhaps too honest descriptions of certain places and people. Great read!
By John R. Juge
Format:Hardcover
What a great book. Rif's ability to put the reader in the location that he is writing about is flawless. When reading about the filth and grime of Bombay it is like you can actually smell the air, or listening to him describe riding through New Zealand you almost feel yourself leaning with the cycle around turns. Rif Haffar has a unique gift of description coupled with a sharp and funny wit that makes the most desolate places entertaining and the most vibrant locations appear almost live and in Technicolor. I feel like I was there with them. Great Job!
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4.4 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe 'Away from my desk' but NOT away from his ego
One of the worst travel books I've read of late. Rif is an insensitive writer who seems to be obsessed with trying to be funny and has no capacity to be anything but a self... Read more
Published on Sep 2 2003
1.0 out of 5 stars
Annoying, judgemental, unfunny and worst of all, dumb.
The one claim the author doesn't make that he should is the sad but true fact that you can go around the world these days without planning or a brain. Read more
Published on Aug 30 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb!
I was lucky to have bought a copy of AWAY FROM MY DESK before embarking on a flight from Beirut to New York via Paris. Read more
Published on Jan 16 2003 by Samia Shami
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb
I was lucky to have bought a copy of AWAY FROM MY DESK before embarking on a flight from Beirut to New York via Paris. Read more
Published on Jan 16 2003 by Samia Shami
5.0 out of 5 stars
Away from my desk
A refreshingly practical travel guide that is not encumbered by political correctness. I found it to be very funny and easy to read even if you're not planning to travel.
Published on Jan 15 2003 by leila
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breath of Fresh Air
A most enjoyable book, on the first reading, and again as a daily companion.I find myself dipping in frequently here and there for a laugh or an Escape From My Desk!
Published on Jan 14 2003 by Leila Dacruz
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gem
I had my doubts when I picked up this book. Principally I was sceptical about how one begins to cover in any substantial way travels though 45 countries in one year. Read more
Published on Jan 14 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended read
I enjoyed this travel essay very much. The descriptions of places and cultures were so well written and inciteful that I imagined I was part of the experience. Read more
Published on Jan 10 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent!!
AWAY FROM MY DESK is not just a travelogue. It is sensitive, insightful, informative, but best of all it provides loads of laughs. Read more
Published on Jan 9 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Lovely Read
After 30 years of fulfilling travel and discovery in virtually every conceivable part of the world (and not a few inconceivable), I thought I had thoroughly outgrown the 'travel... Read more
Published on Jan 7 2003 by "abaday"
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