Book Review: 'Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus (confessions of a tour leader)' by Brian Thacker

This book is one of the first travel books I ever read. I read it back in high school when I first started contemplating that 'idea' of travelling abroad. It was this book which truly ignited in me a flame for wanting to take the 'idea' of travelling and to actually do it. If you've read my 'about me' section, you would know that I haven't come from a well travelled background. I have family who have travelled but at the time hadn't really exchanged a lot of conversation with them about how to make it tangible.

Brian Thacker is now one of Australia's most successful travel authors. What I love about his novel is that it tells stories about a time in his life before he was really someone 'notable'. He was a guy who loved the world, loved travelling, and was able to take his passion for travel and live it - by leading tours around Europe. The book is separated into sections by location, with clever section titles which give you a feel for the tone of the book and the humour he uses - the very first section is labelled 'Prostitutes, Potheads and Poffertjes.' He uses the assorted tales and anecdotes from his time leading tour groups in order to deliver the material about each location.

If the book title wasn't enough of a indication, this isn't a book for the conservative traveller. The tours that he lead, on the whole, could be summed up as being 'party tours'. The stories involve alcohol, a more than healthy amount of swearing, politically incorrect remarks and sex. If this doesn't make you feel uncomfortable or squeamish, what is contained within the pages is an amusing and fresh tale. Brian himself is a well travelled and intelligent individual so as narrator, he reflects where the tour passengers are naive or misinformed, without being pretentious or condescending.

I've yet to attend such a party tour, and I'm not sure if I ever will. I reread the book very recently and it's interesting reading it now with the experience that I do have - I've only been to Europe in the one extended trip prior to the trip I'm embarking upon now, but it's interesting comparing my own trip objectives and philosophies with those that I can imagine the subjects who Brian tells stories about do.

For me, it is Brian himself and his remarkable, humorous and refreshing storytelling ability which drew me in when I first read it about ten years ago, and which I still revere today. He has a passion for travel, a passion for the world and its people and cultures which is absolutely unmistakable. It is this book which made me think about travelling the world as being 'within reach'- something tangible that real people actually do - and lead me to his other novels which offer perhaps more culturally diverse offerings, but with the same down to earth and approachable tone. This book represents, for me, the start of my travel adventure, and I find myself turning back to reread it every now and again, reminiscing about that feeling it ignited in me.