ABANDONED. Travel Book - Europe, Middle East - read in 1983

[Pete]

Browsing the library in Tenby, Sth Wales in 1983, I selected a thick travel book that I went back to on other visits but never finished. I cannot track it down! I got the impression that it was considerably older that the early 80s and probably something of a classic. The details I can remember are as follows (apologies for how vague they are – sometimes small details stick with me):-

Early in the book, the author is starting his trip on a large ferry. He’s in a conversation with a group and one of his interlocuters is struggling with his English and asks if they can switch to French. The author says, “yes, we can speak French if you like”, but his pal’s French turns out to even worse than his English.

During a trip through (I think) the middle east, at a visa checkpoint a bureaucrat makes a hash of stamping his passport and has umpteen attempts at it. Later on in the trip, another bureaucrat gets very suspicious of the multiple attempts at the stamp, jabbing the tip of his pen at the edges of the ink. This makes the author feel strangely guilty.

He either visits or recounts an earlier trip to Eastern Europe. I think through Yugoslavia. He talks of how friendly they are on discovering a foreigner and as an example, tells of how he tried to buy an egg and was offered it for free, “because you’re a foreigner, I’ll GIVE you one”.

He remembers being written a letter by a friend who has a hotel job in a strict Middle Eastern country where chances of encounters with the opposite sex are non-existent. He’s asked to send a sex doll.
That’s all the detail I can remember for now – as I mentioned, very vague small details! I’ll be amazed and very grateful if anyone can identify it!

Thanks.

[Pete]

NB: It isn't Evelyn Waugh's "Labels".

[Pete]

Bump

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Please note you can bump your thread every 30 days, but not more often because the group is so large. If you remember new information you can add that at any time.

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Pete (OP) was last active on the site in May 2019.