I had the pleasure of chatting with Chuck Thompson today about his new book, "Smile When You're Lying". The book is a travel memoir filled with the funniest most memorable adventures Chuck has encountered during his visit to more than 40 countries. As the first editor in chief of Travelocity magazine, Chuck's writing has appeared in Maxim, The Atlantic, Esquire, National Geographic Adventure, and Escape. Originally from Juneau AK, Chuck migrated to Oregon for university and played in a variety of Portland bands including Mood Paint (later Pond) and the Surf Trio. He has worked as an ESL instructor in Japan, a DJ, and assistant sergeant of arms in the Alaska House of Representatives  .

Conversation

Public Press (PP): Given "Smile When You're Lying" talks about the unreported lameness of the travel industry and travel writing, you rain down hard on certain people, places, publications. So are you finding that you are now blackballed by the whole travel industry ;-) ? Any feedback from the people, places, and destinations you dis in your book?

CT: Most of the feedback from colleagues and former co-workers and even from writers and editors I don't know has been extremely positive. I got an email last night from a writer that said, “Well, congratulations  , you just wrote my book for me.” I've gotten many variations of that. Plenty of the details and griping in this book come from authentic experience and conversations with others in the business, so they're universal, and I think maybe cathartic for a certain group of readers.

That said, I've gotten some extremely negative reaction on Internet discussions and from some in the media who understandably feel the need to respond to what they perceive as an attack on their profession. I understand that, I expected it. So I don't want to give the impression that it's been universal praise within the biz. I took a very mild, but also direct shot at Travel & Leisure in my book. So some guy from Travel & Leisure wrote a fairly snarky little review of my book in a major newspaper. That's expected, that's fair. No that I'm necessarily voting for him (and not that I'm not), but in one of those recent debates John Edwards said something like, “Any time you push for change, the status quo is going to push back.” So there has been some of that.

As for being blackballed, I haven't heard anything that dramatic and I don't expect to. But I also doubt I'll be fielding many calls from travel magazines.

PP: You dis'd Rick Steves pretty hard. On OPB the other day I saw a behind the scenes look at the Rick Steves travel show...he travels with a video guy and a producer who is sort of the Tenzing Norgay sherpa for all the gear...it surprised me how frenetic and meticulous Rick Steves is when making those shows...he does a lot of research and every night of the trip stays up late typing away s at his laptop; he then reviews them the next morning...he is definitely that "florid" type travel writer that your book loathes, often diving deep into sing songy alliterations about the wonders of Dubrovnik. I'm a pretty skeptical person and know not to expect the wonderland painted by Steves...like to get shots of the Sistine Chapel and other museums, he makes arrangements to film when the museum is closed so he's not fighting with tourists...I know if I went to some of these places, there's gonna be sweaty, loud sight seers desecrating the place with empty water bottles and Big Mac wrappers...but I still appreciate seeing the travel Hollywood fantasy. How do you think travel writers perceive their audience? Maybe they plan for viewer and reader skepticism...an  d even rely on it to make their pieces more "appetizing" (sic)? Like rather than encumbering people with practical downsides of any place, maybe the travel industry thinks it's most efficient to just give jaded couch potatoes like me optimistic, escapist sound bites...travel McNuggets ;-) ?

CT: The stuff I wrote about Steves wasn't critical of his work ethic or fact-finding skills or accurate reporting, all of which I think are beyond reproach. What I objected to in his TV program and videos is the reliance on cliché and the usual sun-dappled barf (not my term, though I wish it were) employed by travel writers and producers to describe their experiences. And the point you bring up-about filming in famous places during closing hours, so as to give the impression of serenity and reflection instead of standing in two-hour lines and bumping shoulders as you're herded through these sites-is part of what I mean.

I would like to say that in the time since the book was written and put to press, I've discovered Steves' radio program and I think it's pretty damn good. On that show he's thoughtful and interesting, and does take the time to discuss and research and present the good with the bad on various destinations. I stand by what I wrote about those videos, but had I been more familiar with his radio show at the time, I probably would have included a bit of praise for it in the book.

As for jaded readers, you are probably the exception, not the rule. And, anyway, outside the walls of a prison, it's tough to find a more jaded group of individuals than those who work in the media.

PP: Prior to any crass artifacts published by the business of travel--travel mags, guidebooks, commercials--th  e romance of travel has been mythologized for eons by the arts and literature...li  ke the passage in the "Great Gatsby" where Nick Carraway talks about his most vivid memories are "the leaving trains of my youth". Jimmy Stewart leaving Bedford Falls in "It's a Wonderful Life". Kerouac driving across the US in "On The Road". Steinbeck and "Logs from the Sea of Cortez". "The Motorcycle Diaries". "Easy Rider". Do you think Cinema and Literature are in a way complicit in this over-glamorizat  ion of travel? I mean the only anti-travel film I can think of right now is "Midnight Express"!

CT: Hollywood responsible for presenting us with inaccurate versions of foreign cultures? Surely, you can't be serious!

PP: Haha!

PP: Your book has a quiz with a bunch of appalling travel vignettes that asks the reader to identify the nationality of the offensive tourist, the point being to highlight that the ugly American hype is not a mantle slung solely across our backs. What stereotypes have you observed about travelers from certain countries as well as locals within certain countries? For example, those of us with no stamps in our passport books often hear people in France are particularly "rude" to Americans.

CT: When I get deep into these conversations, I often resort to my embarrassing Paul McCartney impression: “We all know, that people are the same wherever you go.” It's true, too. Let me tell you about two experiences in French restaurants:

I walk into a Paris bistro as a solo diner. Restaurants around the world dislike single diners, but it seems almost an affront to the French. In this instance, I note several open tables. Nevertheless, I'm forced to wait for about twenty minutes. Finally, I'm taken to a tiny table, like the kids table at a big Thanksgiving dinner. At the back of the restaurant. Next to the bathroom. With the chair, and I'm not kidding, facing the wall.

During the infamous heat wave of 2003 I'm driving around France in a tiny Fiat with no A/C, researching sites for my WWII travel guide. Somewhere in southern France, at about 8 p.m., after a full day of traipsing through cemeteries and highways in 103-degree heat, I drop my sweaty carcass down at a table in a small restaurant, looking pretty close to ready for a casket myself. The waiter comes over with a menu, takes a look at me and says, “You must be an American.” (I'm not wearing my baseball cap or Nikes, so we Yanks must emit a certain odor.) When I say, yes, I am, he breaks into a big smile and says, “I know just what to give an American on a day such as today.” He disappears in the back and a minute or two later comes back with a tray on which is sitting a large bottle of water and the tallest glass in France filled to the top with ice and a few slices of lemon on the side. As you probably know, you practically have to barter away your first child to get a drink with ice in it in France, so this was an incredibly touching gesture. And useful! I'll never forget the generosity of that French waiter.

continued in part 2

http://www.chuc  kthompsonbooks.  com