Bad Tourist: Misadventures in Love and Travel

I read these personal essays about the author's global travels with interest, amusement, envy, and sometimes distaste; she lays it all out there--the fun, the freedom, and the dangers of traveling as a woman, both alone and in company. From Mongolia to Disneyland, India to Ecuador, the author takes us on a tour of nightclubs and seedy hotels, beautiful beaches and museums and homestays. I sometimes found myself gazing wistfully in the direction of what she wasn't talking about--modern American travel has a historical and environmental context, and this book barely touches on it. The essays do occasionally confront the sexual politics of tourism--but then we're back on the road, moving on to a new locale.

Bad Tourist is not your grandparents’ travel book. Suzanne Roberts updates the genre with fearless self-revelations, multi-continent risk-taking, and love, sex and lots of wine. That doesn’t mean that we don’t get insights into the various countries and their inhabitants that she makes her mission to experience and understand. She has toured for so many years to so many places that the regular meaning of the word “tourist” doesn’t apply. She is out to experience the real deal, both in terms of people and places, and this means she gets herself into a series of sometimes funny, sometimes hair-raising situations. Not that she blames other people. She is completely honest about her own personal and tourist shortcomings. Most of us would be on our 4th excuse while Suzanne immediately takes full responsibility for the fix she’s in. She knows a lot, but she knows she doesn’t know everything about the world and her own love life. That refreshingly honest approach to forging ahead is found in every chapter. Bad Tourist is definitely worth the travel time.

I really loved "Bad Tourist". To me, it felt like I was sitting down with a best friend going through their photo album of travels. Flipping through the pages, we jump around in time and place and stories, but the through line is the same. In these vignettes, I see a woman coming into her own, learning self-worth, and understanding what it means to let go and the importance of change.In "Bad Tourist" Roberts' stories go from slice of life, to gripping, to subtly heartbreaking and completely poignant, and I am one hundred percent here for it ;) Especially now, in the middle of a global pandemic, when I have wanderlust and really wish I could travel, this book was a wonderful escape.I'm a woman who has also chosen an unconventional life by many people's standards, so I loved the honesty that Roberts infuses into her storytelling, and I saw much of myself in her life's journey. I'm very excited to read the rest of her work!

I had the privilege to attend high school with Suzanne but we were not in the same friend group. Reading this book, The Bad Tourist definitely shared with me who she was after high school. She pulls you into her adventure and love with each story. To experience this many adventures in travel good and bad, she definitely makes you feel like you were there experiencing it with her. Highly suggest buying this book.

Bad Tourist is an entertaining travel memoir that takes readers on a global journey of self-discovery. I had fun accompanying Suzanne Roberts on her many adventures in South America, India, the UK, and Europe. I don’t usually read memoirs, but after being stuck at home for the past year due to Covid, I may pick up more travel memoirs to live vicariously through others until it’s safe to travel again. I found the author likable and brave for sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly in a world that's quick to judge. I recommend Bad Tourist for those looking for an entertaining escape.

Bad Tourist: Misadventures in Love and Travel is the memoir in essays you're looking for--pandemic or not, it will make you long for the kind of wisdom and misadventures that can only come through travel. Suzanne Roberts has managed to create the perfect Netflix binge on the page. Heart heavy, humor forward, her collection is an example of the power of authentic honesty and what it looks like when you're not afraid to see yourself in a new light, even a bad light, if it means getting closer to the truth. I dare you not to find some of yourself in her travels, and like all good vacations, to rediscover yourself and the world with a fresh perspective.

I love how Roberts thinks so honestly and candidly about what it means to move through the world. She’s smart, funny and not afraid to hold herself accountable. Even given her crazy adventures, I think I’d love to travel with her!

As someone who is more of an accidental than intrepid traveler, I tend to be intimidated by traveler writers who have been everywhere and done things I would never dream of doing. That was not the case with this book, which I thoroughly enjoyed because Roberts is unflinchingly honest about her failings and vulnerabilities in love and travel. Using self-deprecating humor and the wisdom of hindsight, she guides us to remarkable destinations and, through her encounters and reflections, the deep places of the heart.