May Day Armchair Travel Swap

Normal 12 hour rules
Please leave moves if you know you are going to be gone for more than a couple of hours
Feel free to PM me (catsalive) if you have any questions


book revealed
book held
(number of steals)
max=5

1. morsecode ~ (~); ~
2. rootmartin ~ (~); ~
3. rebeccaljames ~ (~); ~
4. nwpassage ~ (~); ~
5. candy-is-dandy ~ (~); ~
6. msjoanna ~ (~); ~
7. teachie ~ (~); ~
8. tranq1 ~ (~); ~
9. catsalive ~ (~); ~
10. AlterEgoZoe ~ (~); ~


Morsie, take it away. Who would you like to reveal :flasher: ?

I'm going to ask msjoanna to reveal

I'll get my reveal organized and send it to a few people before I go to bed tonight

Sahara Unveiled : A Journey Across the Desert (Vintage Departures) by William Langewiesche



From Publishers Weekly
Besides evoking the Sahara's power, majesty, emptiness, heat, beauty and terrors and describing its ecology and meteorology, Langewiesche (Cutting for Sign) adds details that may astonish armchair travelers who still think of the desert as populated by camels and Bedouins. Camels haven't disappeared, but paved roads through much of it support travel by taxis and buses, both of which Langewiesche used frequently. At oases, sophisticated cities offer tourists luxurious hostelries and shopping. Langewiesche, who does not explain how he got to North Africa, or why or when--although his official ID as a foreign correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly suggests possibilities--describes his treks from Algiers to the desert towns south and west of it, stopping at cafes with Parisian friends who trap two scorpions in a box to take home as souvenirs, conversing with locals, visiting a desert zoo with the unhappy wife of a Muslim friend and accepting the favors of a variety of wheelers and dealers, politicos and tribal characters whose portraits are illuminating. He is knowledgeable about the imprint of French colonialism on North African economy and politics, and about Muslim beliefs in practice. Throughout this vivid account, he scatters many charming native folktales. Photos.

(TBR)

I'll update :)

May Day Armchair Travel Swap

Normal 12 hour rules
Please leave moves if you know you are going to be gone for more than a couple of hours
Feel free to PM me (catsalive) if you have any questions


book revealed
book held
(number of steals)
max=5

Moves:
morsie asks msjoanna to reveal 'Sahara Unveiled'

1. morsecode Sahara Unveiled (~); ~
2. rootmartin ~ (~); ~
3. rebeccaljames ~ (~); ~
4. nwpassage ~ (~); ~
5. candy-is-dandy ~ (~); ~
6. msjoanna ~ (~); Sahara Unveiled
7. teachie ~ (~); ~
8. tranq1 ~ (~); ~
9. catsalive ~ (~); ~
10. AlterEgoZoe ~ (~); ~


Rootmartin, take it away. Who would you like to reveal :flasher: ?

I'm stealing Sahara Unveiled. I'll PM morsecode but could someone update as I have to do baths and bed with my kiddos?

let's try this again!

May Day Armchair Travel Swap

Normal 12 hour rules
Please leave moves if you know you are going to be gone for more than a couple of hours
Feel free to PM me (catsalive) if you have any questions


book revealed
book held
(number of steals)
max=5

Moves:
morsie asks msjoanna to reveal 'Sahara Unveiled'
rootmartin steals 'Sahara Unveiled' from morsie
morsie asks catsalive to reveal


1. morsecode ??? (~); ~
2. rootmartin Sahara Unveiled (1); ~
3. rebeccaljames ~ (~); ~
4. nwpassage ~ (~); ~
5. candy-is-dandy ~ (~); ~
6. msjoanna ~ (~); Sahara Unveiled
7. teachie ~ (~); ~
8. tranq1 ~ (~); ~
9. catsalive ~ (~); ~
10. AlterEgoZoe ~ (~); ~


Catsalive! Come and reveal for us! :flasher:

catsalive's reveal:



The Naked Man Festival by Brian Thacker (TBR)

Bestselling author of Rule No. 5: No sex on the bus and Planes Trains and Elephants, searches out the most bizarre festivals in a frantic race around the world.
'It was only a degree above zero and the rain was coming down in sheets, yet here I was about to run around in nothing more than a nappy. I was pretty sure it was going to be the silliest thing I'd ever done...'
Join Brian Thacker as he embarks on a round-the-world odyssey in search of as many silly, outlandish and even staggeringly banal festivals as time, distance and severe bouts of exposure will allow. Along the way he is pelted with beans, overawed by giant snow cows and stampeded in a temple full of men wearing nappies in hot pursuit of a stick. And that's just in Japan. Brian also manages to narrowly escape being sacrificed by a Vodou priest in Haiti and to retain his eyebrows after celebrating Hogmanay in Scotland. He discovers 101 new and interesting things to do with a tomato; meets a woman at the UFO Festival in Roswell who is regularly used by aliens for perverted medical experiments and hangs out at the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras with a bloke called Miss Stephanie.

June Armchair Travel Swap

Normal 12 hour rules
Please leave moves if you know you are going to be gone for more than a couple of hours
Feel free to PM me (catsalive) if you have any questions


book revealed
book held
(number of steals)
max=5

Moves:
morsie asks msjoanna to reveal 'Sahara Unveiled'
rootmartin steals 'Sahara Unveiled' from morsie
morsie asks catsalive to reveal


1. morsecode The Naked Man Festival (~); ~
2. rootmartin Sahara Unveiled (1); ~
3. rebeccaljames ~ (~); ~
4. nwpassage ~ (~); ~
5. candy-is-dandy ~ (~); ~
6. msjoanna ~ (~); Sahara Unveiled
7. teachie ~ (~); ~
8. tranq1 ~ (~); ~
9. catsalive ~ (~); The Naked Man Festival
10. AlterEgoZoe ~ (~); ~


Rebecca! Do you want to :pirate: or ask for a :flasher: ?

Ooh! We're off & I've been exposed. :lol:

I would like rootmartin to reveal please.

Getting Stoned with Savages: A Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu by J. Maarten Troost

From Publishers Weekly
Using a format similar to that of his previous work, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Troost creates another comical and touching travel memoir. Troost and his wife, Sylvia, move from busy Washington, D.C., to Vanuatu, a nation made up of 83 islands in the South Pacific. As Sylvia works for a regional nonprofit, Troost immerses himself in the islands' culture, an odd mix of the islanders' thousand-year-old "kastoms" along with imperialist British and French influences. This really means that Troost gets to live in a nice house while he gets drunk on kava; dodges "a long inferno of magma and a cascade of lava bombs" at the "world's most accessible volcano"; and checks out the "calcified" leftovers from one of Vanuatu's not-so-ancient traditions, cannibalism. At the end of the book, the couple move to Fiji so that Sylvia will have state-of-the-art medical care when she gives birth to their first baby. While modern-day Fiji provides little fodder for Troost's comic sensibilities, the birth of his son enables him to share some deeper thoughts and decide it is "time to stop looking for paradise." A funny travelogue with a sentimental heart, Troost's latest work genuinely captures the search for paradise as well as the need for home.

June Armchair Travel Swap

Normal 12 hour rules
Please leave moves if you know you are going to be gone for more than a couple of hours
Feel free to PM me (catsalive) if you have any questions


book revealed
book held
(number of steals)
max=5

Moves:
morsie asks msjoanna to reveal 'Sahara Unveiled'
rootmartin steals 'Sahara Unveiled' from morsie
morsie asks catsalive to reveal The Naked Man Festival
Rebecca asks root to reveal Getting Stoned with Savages


1. morsecode The Naked Man Festival (~); ~
2. rootmartin Sahara Unveiled (1); Getting Stoned with Savages
3. rebeccaljames Getting Stoned with Savages (~); ~
4. nwpassage ~ (~); ~
5. candy-is-dandy ~ (~); ~
6. msjoanna ~ (~); Sahara Unveiled
7. teachie ~ (~); ~
8. tranq1 ~ (~); ~
9. catsalive ~ (~); The Naked Man Festival
10. AlterEgoZoe ~ (~); ~


nwpassage - you're up! Do you want to :pirate: or ask for a :flasher: ?

:pm: to nwpassage

oooo...great books so far. Glad to see this off to a good start.

I've had a rough day, and I have a hankering for a naked man!!! Hand over The Naked Man Festival, morsie! :pirate:

oh, and I'll PM morsie to let her know... :D

I'm going to send a reveal out. :blush:

Morning all.
I think lovemylife also signed up for this great swap, now we can't leave folk out! :wink:

See you all later, I am back to bed to see if I can get to sleep after a cup of hot chocolate.

I was wondering what you were doing up at this hour! I hope that you are able to quickly and contentedly fall to sleep.

I'm heading to bed. I left moves in case anyone has the audacity to steal my book. :nono:

This is going very quickly. And such great books. I am going to sleep now. I dent my reveal to catsalive.

LML is not playing.

June Armchair Travel Swap

Normal 12 hour rules
Please leave moves if you know you are going to be gone for more than a couple of hours
Feel free to PM me (catsalive) if you have any questions


book revealed
book held
(number of steals)
max=5

Moves:
morsie asks msjoanna to reveal Sahara Unveiled
rootmartin steals Sahara Unveiled from morsie
morsie asks catsalive to reveal The Naked Man Festival
Rebecca asks root to reveal Getting Stoned with Savages
nwp steals Naked Man from morsie

1. morsecode ??? (~); ~
2. rootmartin Sahara Unveiled (1); Getting Stoned with Savages
3. rebeccaljames Getting Stoned with Savages (~); ~
4. nwpassage Naked Man (1); ~
5. candy-is-dandy ~ (~); ~
6. msjoanna ~ (~); Sahara Unveiled
7. teachie ~ (~); ~
8. tranq1 ~ (~); ~
9. catsalive ~ (~); The Naked Man Festival
10. AlterEgoZoe ~ (~); ~


Morsie, your Naked Man has run off. Do you want to :pirate: or :flasher: ?

Off to bed, but no moves yet. I'll be around tomorrow.

Yes thanks msjoanna, I see Candy was also up early this morning, must be that darned morning chorus!!

I shall be back after school to see what thievery there has been. :pirate:

:waves: Good morning.

I'm away all day (for at least 16 hours) so shall leave moves in my sig. Will also send my reveal to cats, msjoanna and teachie.

I'm going to bed. I will be back around 10am.

Good morning all! :waves: I'll be popping in to check in throughout the day. Feel free to use my moves if there have been no more reveals; otherwise, please wait for me.

Morning root. I'm off to bed :sleep: :lol: I don't think you'll be needing me for a while.

sorry i didn't leave moves before i went to bed
i was just so exhausted

June Armchair Travel Swap

Normal 12 hour rules
Please leave moves if you know you are going to be gone for more than a couple of hours
Feel free to PM me (catsalive) if you have any questions


book revealed
book held
(number of steals)
max=5

Moves:
morsie asks msjoanna to reveal Sahara Unveiled
rootmartin steals Sahara Unveiled from morsie
morsie asks catsalive to reveal The Naked Man Festival
Rebecca asks root to reveal Getting Stoned with Savages
nwp steals Naked Man from morsie
morsie steals Sahara Unveiled from rootmating

1. morsecode Sahara Unveiled (2); ~
2. rootmartin ??? (~); Getting Stoned with Savages
3. rebeccaljames Getting Stoned with Savages (~); ~
4. nwpassage Naked Man (1); ~
5. candy-is-dandy ~ (~); ~
6. msjoanna ~ (~); Sahara Unveiled
7. teachie ~ (~); ~
8. tranq1 ~ (~); ~
9. catsalive ~ (~); The Naked Man Festival
10. AlterEgoZoe ~ (~); ~


Root, your Sahara has been veiled. Do you want to :pirate: or :flasher: ?

I'll be checking in periodically all day

June Armchair Travel Swap

Normal 12 hour rules
Please leave moves if you know you are going to be gone for more than a couple of hours
Feel free to PM me (catsalive) if you have any questions


book revealed
book held
(number of steals)
max=5

Moves:
morsie asks msjoanna to reveal Sahara Unveiled
rootmartin steals Sahara Unveiled from morsie
morsie asks catsalive to reveal The Naked Man Festival
Rebecca asks root to reveal Getting Stoned with Savages
nwp steals Naked Man from morsie
morsie steals Sahara Unveiled from rootmating
root steals Naked Man from NWP

1. morsecode Sahara Unveiled (2); ~
2. rootmartin Naked Man (2); Getting Stoned with Savages
3. rebeccaljames Getting Stoned with Savages (~); ~
4. nwpassage ??? (~); ~
5. candy-is-dandy ~ (~); ~
6. msjoanna ~ (~); Sahara Unveiled
7. teachie ~ (~); ~
8. tranq1 ~ (~); ~
9. catsalive ~ (~); The Naked Man Festival
10. AlterEgoZoe ~ (~); ~


NWP, your naked man ran off. Do you want to :pirate: or :flasher: ?

:pm: to nwpassage

Morning. I'm on my way to work and will be around all day.

:waves: Just popping in to say hi. I'm not in the swap, but that doesn't stop me from adding to my wish list!

Great books so far! I'm sorry I'm not playing in this one! :lol:

I'll have morsecode reveal please!

morsie's armchair travel swap reveal:

Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa by Matthew Fort



In an epic scooter trip from the South to the North of Italy, award-winning food writer Matthew Fort explores the local gastronomy, culinary culture and tumultuous history of a country. Taking as his starting point Melito Di Porto Salvo, the southernmost town on mainland Italy, Fort eats, drinks, and talks his way through Calabria, rich in spices and Arabian-influences, and on to Campania, where he falls in love with Naples, but despairs of its Pizza. He crosses the remote, mountainous landscape of Molise and adjoining Abruzzo, with their delicious cheeses and traditional lamb dishes. In Emilia-Romagna, he revels in La Salama da Sugo of Ferrara and Risotto alla Pilota of Mantua. He nips into Lombardy where he falls foul of heartless hoteliers and is refreshed at a trades union rally, finally passing through Piedmont where the cooking of France and Northern Europe fuses with that of Italy. As he travels on his scooter, Fort examines the country through its food and the people who produce it. He discovers a land where regional differences are still vibrantly alive, and uncovers the rich connection between history, tradition and cuisine. The enticing sum of these parts - the dishes, producers, ingredients, consumers and eating occasions - is nothing less than a contemporary portrait of the country.

'This delightful and enticing book makes your mouth water just to read it.' – Observer

For more info, here’s the book website