The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel

I got this handbook for my birthday and I have been laughing ever since. Though some people probably bought this because they actually wanted to know the answers to all those things. I got it because it was just hysterical. All the answers are literal and probably the best known way to survive things that are described. I have heard some of those things before so they are not made up or anything. But the assortment of things it describes are just really funny. And after you read it, if something might happen to you, you would know what to do.

The statistics are against you: More than 50 percent of all travellers run into problems.This is the start of the introduction in this book, and to help you deal with these problems Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht have once again consulted experts on various areas, so that if you're going travelling somewhere you'll have expert knowledge at your hand, should you need to deal with a crisis.If you've been to a third world country or somewhere politically unstable you know the discomfort of being a tourist in the midst of it all. Sometimes protesters go bezerk, and should you be in a foreign country where protesters outside the hotel are throwing molotovcocktails and firing guns, the odds of you making it to the airport safe are very grim. This book does, however, give an EXCELLENT guidance on WHAT to do WHEN and HOW, not only in a situation such as that mentioned, but also if you're hanging over the edge of a cliff in your car, sitting in an airplane that's about to crash, tied up or in a runaway passenger train. Crisises that common sense simply does not have a solution for. Through this book you also get the entertainment value of reading (whilst sitting in Denmark) how to steer a runaway camel, foil a UFO abduction etc. but also great travellers tips and usable emergency phrases in 4 languages.Think you've got it all covered? You're in Tokyo and a thug tries to mug you. How do you call for help? Well?See, how would you know that you say: "Tasukete! dorobô"??? There's no way a normal tourist would know that, which is why this book is indispensable to any frequent traveller.

The Worst Case Scenario books are really great conversation pieces. You'll receive tongue-in-cheek education on such topics as "How to Ram a Gate" and how to say, "Hello, I am seriously injured. May I borrow towels to mop up the blood?" in five languages. The instructions are clearly written and illustrated, and it will give you a chuckle to imagine yourself in these scenarios. However, if you ever find yourself needing to bribe a customs official, just whip out this handy guide!

A lot of the topics probably will never apply to us in our whole lifetime, i.e. how to control a runaway camel, how to cross a piranha-infested river, etc., so I could simply read them & laugh out loud. It contains useful info, though, such as strategies for packing & flying. I'm not a frequent traveller & could've used those tips, especially since I just got back from a vacation. Of course, I had thumbed throught the table of contents prior to my vacation (and prior to purchasing it), & the topic "how to survive an airplane crash" did not appeal to me at that time--it made me antsy as I was about to go on a plane! I did not want to visualize or even think about airplane crashes at that time! :) But hey, I bought the book afterwards, & I love it.

Don't take this book too seriously and you'll love it! It's a fascinating survival guide, with accurate and real information--the folks who say it doesn't tell you enough are missing the point. It tells you just enough to make you laugh, help you through some difficult situations, and maybe save your life. A great gift for the guy in your family--I know, I'm one. And, to respond to the reader who says that train cars do have ladders, read more closely--passenger cars do not, and that's what they're talking about!