Top 7 Bits of Travel-Related Wisdom From The Guy Who Wrote the Book

NTAA’s Most Valuable Lessons According To the Author

There are 10 “pro-tips” related to travel sprinkled throughout the 333 pages that make up Not That Anyone Asked (NTAA for short). They’re mostly practical things related to saving yourself money and future headaches. Here are a few examples to wiggle your eyebrows and tickle your interest with my big toe under the table. There are 10 listed in the appendix in order of appearance.

Here are numbers four through seven, as a taste:

4. Wet salads and veggies have caused many a chaffed butthole while traveling, so consume with caution.

5. If you’re going to travel with a guitar, invest in a travel guitar or guitalele. Most airlines (except punitive-ass RyanAir with their rules) will allow a travel guitar to be stowed in the overhead at no cost as your “extra item” (read: purse, essentially). Almost all airlines will charge well over $50 for a full-sized guitar in a case, which really adds up during extended travel.

6. A.B.C. Always be charging. All of the devices, downloads, apps and maps are only as good as their battery life.

7. Always double-check your flight info. Some cities have two airports and some relationships won’t survive that.

As you can see, they’re mostly lessons I learned the hard way during the four-year adventure my book covers. I believe the tips to be helpful but not deeply insightful. What I want to share here aren’t snippets of advice that I learned from a “whoopsie” or a missed flight. Instead, they’re truths I discovered the long way round. They’re examples of what feels most like wisdom gained. The result of 100,000 small riddles solved, of over 1,000 days backstroking around in the middle of my growth zone.

None of these lessons are “true” in the sense that they can be proved or universally agreed on, but they’re true to me. As true as math or global warming. It took me the better part of four years to round these ideas up, then another four years to process and find language that did the learning justice. I traveled hard and then wrote about it as honestly as I could — and in the end, these seven pieces of travel wisdom feel…