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Travel Tips for the Timid: Or, What Guidebooks Never Tell
Carolyn Cassady documents her longed-for trip to and across Europe in 1979: the fun, and often challenging, experiences she and her daughter Jami encountered on their pre-technology journey in her own words, drawings and poems.
"Travel Tips is great fun. I especially loved Carolyn’s drawings in the book, where she captures the essence of life on her travels. As Carolyn and Jami found out, surprises—both good and bad—are what you remember best about a trip. Things that go smoothly are just not as much fun to remember years later. Also surprising to me, having known Carolyn since 1947, is that her poems in this book are so wonderful, and that they really showcase this facet of her many talents. This is a jewel of a book”
—Al Hinkle, “Ed Dunkel” in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road
Carolyn, Beat Generation muse and prolific author in her own right, had previously been married to icon Neal Cassady; and would go on to live the rest of her life in England, from 1983 to 2013.
"Travel Tips is great fun. I especially loved Carolyn’s drawings in the book, where she captures the essence of life on her travels. As Carolyn and Jami found out, surprises—both good and bad—are what you remember best about a trip. Things that go smoothly are just not as much fun to remember years later. Also surprising to me, having known Carolyn since 1947, is that her poems in this book are so wonderful, and that they really showcase this facet of her many talents. This is a jewel of a book”
—Al Hinkle, “Ed Dunkel” in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road
Carolyn, Beat Generation muse and prolific author in her own right, had previously been married to icon Neal Cassady; and would go on to live the rest of her life in England, from 1983 to 2013.
Kindle Edition
Published May 7, 2018
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About the author
Carolyn Cassady
14 books23 followersCarolyn Elizabeth Robinson Cassady was a memoirist/ American writer associated with the Beat Generation through her marriage to Neal Cassady and her friendships with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other Beat figures. She became a frequent character in the works of Jack Kerouac and became a prominent figure in documentaries, movies, lectures, books, and events discussing the legacy of the Beat Generation Movement.
Ms. Cassady, whom Jerry Cimino, director of the Beat Museum in San Francisco, called “the grande dame of the Beat Generation,” was a central figure in the real-life circle of friends whose travels across the country in search of kicks and revelation were immortalized in “On the Road.” She was the inspiration for the character Camille, the second wife of Dean Moriarty, the “wild yea-saying overburst of American joy” who makes the novel go go go. Dean Moriarty was based on Neal Cassady, her husband during the period recounted in the novel.
For a woman in the 1940s and ’50s, this was not an easy role. While her male peers, including her husband, celebrated the freedoms of sex, drugs, literature and the open road, Ms. Cassady was by turns an eager participant and a dissenting adult, the one who kept the utilities on, raised the children and watched with dismay as the next generation of young men emulated the self-destructive impulses of the last.
Ms. Cassady, whom Jerry Cimino, director of the Beat Museum in San Francisco, called “the grande dame of the Beat Generation,” was a central figure in the real-life circle of friends whose travels across the country in search of kicks and revelation were immortalized in “On the Road.” She was the inspiration for the character Camille, the second wife of Dean Moriarty, the “wild yea-saying overburst of American joy” who makes the novel go go go. Dean Moriarty was based on Neal Cassady, her husband during the period recounted in the novel.
For a woman in the 1940s and ’50s, this was not an easy role. While her male peers, including her husband, celebrated the freedoms of sex, drugs, literature and the open road, Ms. Cassady was by turns an eager participant and a dissenting adult, the one who kept the utilities on, raised the children and watched with dismay as the next generation of young men emulated the self-destructive impulses of the last.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 22, 2021
Amusing tales from a mother-daughter European tour in the sixties or seventies. The mother was in her seventies and the daughter, her fifties. Charming anecdotes about traveling before smartphones and apps. Miscommunications where they don't speak the other languages abound. My favorite part is when they are seeking authentic fado performance in Portugal and when they saw the Japanese ballet in a fancy Oprah house, in Spain, perhaps. Soo many details and countries, a plethora for my brain.
Displaying 1 of 1 review