Escape Clauses: Getting Away With a Travel Writing Life

Bob Payne's terrific memoir is the kind of book that makes you want to quit your job and get out of Dodge. His account of how he managed to write his way around the world was so entertaining I couldn't put it down and it left me hoping for more travel tales from this talented author. A sequel perhaps?

I didn’t know armchair travel can be so exciting. Reading this book is like a dream come true: you get to visit all the most fantastic islands written up in travel magazines. Payne lands you there, no matter how remote it is. With good humor he introduces you to the locals. Then he takes you on a dangerous adventure, hair-raising sometimes, and I have to remind myself I’m still sitting comfortably at home. Entertaining, informative, and full of hilarious punchlines.

A witty account of former Conde Nast writer Bob Payne's adventures set around the world, mostly on tropical islands, the High Seas (oceans?) and rivers. His experiences were quite literally, poles apart - we find him aboard a super-warm ship carving its way through the Arctic icepack, but you'll have to read the rest yourself.He writes engagingly with a dry humour, and provides insights into humanity. (I'd expect nothing less.)His lesson is that we are quite different in small ways - what we eat and wear, for example - yet humanity is remarkably the same the world over. I wholeheartedly agree with this nugget of wisdom as all I ever want to do is lounge in a town square with a coffee and gawp.Thanks Bob. Filed next to "The Old Patagonian Express" for reference.

In a short attention span world of Insta stories and sound bytes, there is the refreshing oasis of Bob Payne’s memoir. Escape Clauses is non-stop entertainment, depicting the life and adventures of a veteran travel writer who has literally been to the ends of the earth. From the deck of a nuclear-powered icebreaker traveling to the North Pole to the frozen sheets of Antarctica, Payne has visited almost everywhere in between and has a fantastic story to tell about it. His writing makes remote locales (for example, Bora Bora, Zanzibar, the Amazon) sparkle with life and is often laugh out loud funny, such as the warning he received from a Venezuelan extreme adventure organizer: “Please come. If you survive this will be good.” Payne, who has enjoyed a prolific writing career, knows there’s always a story behind the story. Escape Clauses brilliantly captures the journey to tackle each assignment, which ends up being a whole tale of its own.

Loved, loved, loved every page. Bob delivers a refreshing, breezy read about his lifetime of adventures generously seasoned with a sense of humor. I am grateful for the wisdom of the many, many editors who dispatched Bob across the globe to come home with a memorable story. When a talented wordsmith cleverly and economically arranges his phrases and reflections to coax a chuckle (about "devils, dragons and dodos", for example) and make an appropriate point I'm smitten. You will be too.

ESCAPE CLAUSES is a marvel—a smoothly written, often downright funny, and overall compelling book about traveling and writing across the globe. While the magazine articles author Bob Payne produced were no doubt engaging and fun—producing that frisson of envy that makes readers look up from glossy pages to start seeking deals on flights and hotels—what Payne writes in ESCAPE CLAUSES about the experiences behind these articles just makes the reader want to BE him. As he roves to places far away and often obscure, he is honest, respectful, and self-effacing; never the ugly American, he (although sometimes the silly or slightly delusional one, but Payne owns this completely and with great humor and generosity).ESCAPE CLAUSES is a book for travelers and wannabe travelers and perhaps above all for people who care and are curious about the future of the planet and particularly those who dwell in the places that history has ignored or mistreated (try scuba diving on Bikini) or on which the future may visit its own special forms of doom. The great lesson of ESCAPE CLAUSES is that resilience and optimism are human qualities even H-bombs and rising sea levels cannot conquer. Thank you, Bob Payne!

As a travel photographer and occasional writer who has traveled to nearly as many countries as Bob Payne, I seldom find a book on travel that fully engages my interest and maintains my attention. Nevertheless I found Escape Clauses thoroughly entertaining. Payne's sense of wonder about his next destination and slightly off-kilter view of the world kept me engrossed in his narrative and anticipating what adventure might come next. An exceptional story-teller who obviously delights in meeting people, his insightful and frequently humorous anecdotal accounts of his encounters broaden the reader's understanding of places Payne visits, a task most travel articles fail to accomplish.

A broad sampling of exploring places, people, climates and traditions around the world, tales of which told with humor and humility.

This book by Bob Payne is just what I needed to relax , at times holding my breath , but turning the pages while smiling and enjoying his adventures to the fullest . I travelled quite a bit myself , and so it came to no surprise : we have some mutual friends mentioned in his various Polynesian encounters . What I liked best is that Bob is foremost a real Mensch . He likes to communicate , makes friends easily , is empathetic , and , thinking of the bleach bottle , sometimes teaches them - hopefully - a lifelong lesson . The writing style flows easy and uncomplicated , and he quotes lots of interesting historical facts as well as the people connected with them. All in all the book is a total delight , except that I hoped he could find the meaning of his tattoo . I believe Toti just guessed around ! And Jean-Pierre is mostly in opposition with any stranger . I might be able to solve the problem after all since I have all the books by Karl von den Steinen , who documented the meanings of Marquesan tattoos during his long stay in the Marquesas , and which served the Polynesian people by relearning and renewing their once forbidden traditions . I envy Bob for the trip to the North Pole on the Russian ship. But I must be content having arrived in Canada on the Alexandr Puschkin, which was a big adventure on its own , given the rough passage in early April storms . Amusing , witty , hilarious , honest and also written with sensitivity , I really enjoyed his adventures to the fullest and recommend this book to all that travel or dream of travelling . With compliments , Uschi

I never thought that canned tuna, Spam or corn beef could ever make it in a travel memoir...but leave it to Bob Payne to include these culinary delights in Escape Clauses. A good read as we continue on our 'revenge travel' journey.