Without Reservations : The Travels of an Independent Woman

by Alice Steinbach

Release Date: 12 March, 2002

Edition: Paperback

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Not a book to turn to for interesting travel tales

I have always enjoyed travel tales---often written with a very wry and humorous touch, or full of interesting and bizarre characters, or just plain fascinating, with new and exciting locales around every corner. This book looked promising to me, but it does nothign I mentioned above! The author takes a year from her life to visit Paris, England and Italy. Money seems to not be an object, and she dines and shops, visits toristy spots while being annoyed by other tourists and meets up with rich locals and fellow tourists, and goes to some fancy parties and restaurants. I think she thinks she is somehow undergoing self-discovery during this time, and maybe she is, but it is not of a type that readers unconnected with her life would really be interested in. I did finish this book, and enjoyed bits and pieces of it---mainly descriptions of meals and hotels and apartments, which she did describe well! But there is so much better travel writing out there, I wish I had saved my reading time for other books.

A wonderful journey...

I picked up "Without Reservations" last week and immediately became enchanted with Alice Steinbach's journal of her trip to France, England and Italy. The book not only gives us wonderful details of the places she saw and people she met, it also shares with us her inner journey. Who hasn't dreamed of traveling without reservations, free to stay or go, to explore more fully those things that we find appealing? Ms. Steinbach does this physically and emotionally, turning down odd little streets of memory and thought, connecting the past, present and future. I think any woman at or approaching middle age would enjoy and understand the musings of where travel takes us, and the trips we ALL will eventually be making as we age, as we let go of some relationships and take up others.

The book is, in addition, beautifully bound and illustrated - a pleasure to look at and hold. I recommend you read it a bit at a time, savoring the separate events, preferably while sitting in a sunlit square or balcony of your own, with a fragrant cup of coffee and perhaps a biscuit or two nearby.

I know I will enjoy rereading this book at intervals every bit as much as I enjoyed my original read, just like revisiting a favorite travel destination or a favorite friend.

My only regret for this book? That she didn't get a chance to visit Ireland and Scotland. Maybe next time, Ms. Steinbach?