A tale of bandwagon travel books, oysters,and crapholes
I was intrigued when "1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler's Life List" by Patricia Shulz came out. Over a pint, I paged through it to see where I'd been and where I would want go to next.
I soon discovered that the book itself was a 'Condé Nast Travel' level with it's posh selection but useless as a travel guide to someone like myself. However, under Ireland, I did find THE place where I first ate oysters - Moran's- where I was taken to there in the 90's by an Irish collegue after visiting Galway.
Here we drank multiple pints of Guiness, eat not so much bread and butter, talked about work and the craic. Since he'd already eaten 4 plates of a dozen fresh oysters, I was persuaded to try 1/2 dozen of the slippery beggars. "G'wan, G'wan, G'wan".
Not being used to the fleshy, slimy, stinky, texture, the first 5 oysters went down with same enthusiam as one licks stale cat piss off a cactus. The 6th however, had a magic Celtic mix of lemon, tabasco, salt. Oh My Gawd, Bloody Marvellous. I'd discovered why oysters are the food of love and I fallen in love with molluscs.
Anyhow as I was drinking the black stuff I was too buzzed to remember the place where I lost my 'Oyster Virginity' so was pleased to find out it's name again from the book.
Some years later, I heard that my Irish collegue caught a life threatening liver disease from his oyster passion. Before you ask, I'd like to clarifty it was NOT from Moran's,but from Oysters he ate in Dublin. It laid both him and his wife low for months.
I've acquired the Oyster lurve but am a strict "R" man. For the Oyster 'curious' out there, it is nothing to do with cinema ratings but relates to fact that you should only eat raw oysters if there is an "R" in the month". Less chance of bacteria Vibrio vulnificus you see, which reproduce rapidly in warm water. Still I always wonder if I will get 'oyster Roulette' and get a diseased one but I digress.
Fast forward to Dec 2008 and while christmas shopping in bookstore, I see plenty of "me travel, me die" books with variations of same topic:-
- Unforgettable Places to See Before You Die by Steve Dewey.
- 100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss by Neil Teplica
- 1001 Natural Wonders: You Must See Before You Die (Barron's Educational Series) by Michael Bright
- Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Greatest Trips Hardcover by National Geographic
- 1,000 Places To See Before You Die: Collection 1 (2007) DVD
- Make the Most of Your Time on Earth by Rough Guides
- Unforgettable Things to Do Before You Die Paperback by Steve Watkins
- Life: Heaven on Earth: 100 Places to See in Your Lifetime (Life)
Hm, the words "jump" and "bandwagon" come into my mind. Perhaps with my collegue's experience in mind, I should join this gravy train and come out with my own death and travel title.How about "1,000 places you should die before you visit ": sub-text, all the crappy places you've been to and would hate to go back". I've already produced the cover.
I started to compile a list and on research, came across a BBC article on the most boring place on earth. The comments on this town as classic:-
I have to nominate Rainham (Kent) and its housing estates. The focus of life in Rainham is either the library or the small Tesco's. The Kent Coast sea view consists of a great view of the oil refinery on the Isle of Grain, the sea air is stale, clammy and full of London pollution, and the nearest thing to sea beaches is the mud flats. If you want to go for a walk, there are endless roads filled with houses, but you will eventually come out either by the motorway or a busy main road. Gerry Martin, England .
Another site was UK's Channel 4 Location, Location, Locations: Best and Worst places to live". The people of Middlesbrough did not like being named #1 worst: "it seems that these rating lists are made by ponces that have never even been outside of southern england".
Bwah :)
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