After spending three months traveling along the border, Danelo wrote The Border: Exploring the U.S.-Mexican Divide.

In this interview, BNT talks with Danelo in-depth about his experiences and the book.

Julie Schwietert Collazo

(BNT): You were an Marine Corps infantry officer who served in Iraq. When did you become interested in journalism, and what path led you to your current career?

During my 2004 tour in Iraq, I corresponded… with Steven Pressfield, a screenwriter and novelist best known for “The Legend of Bagger Vance” and “Gates of Fire.” Pressfield told me I was a great writer and I should give it a shot professionally. It made me feel like Michael Jordan had said I was a good basketball player.

I didn’t really know the first thing about professional writing, but I wanted to see what life was like outside the Corps and I figured it was worth a shot. I’m still doing it, so I guess it worked out.

How did you become interested in border issues?

I attended high school in San Antonio, where I was a white minority, and I didn’t understand the illegal immigration protests and the Minutemen — my experience had been different than the political rhetoric.

I was also interested in the national security implications of the border issues, but, because of my military background, I thought the story was much more complex than a Lou Dobbs sound bite.

Julie Schwietert Collazo

Tell me a bit about your research process– this wasn’t a book only about your in-person observations along the entire U.S-Mexican border, but clearly involved an extensive amount of research…. How did you choose your sources, how did you evaluate their credibility, and what kind of effort did the research involve…?

I read before my first trip– mostly to get some sense of where to go and how to get there– and then I looked deeper into issues that pinged my interest. Going back and forth was useful for me; each time I took a trip, that led to contacts, which led to new sources of information.

Assessing source credibility is something we all learn to do, whether we’re journalists, officers, businesspersons, engineers, etc. My own process is simply to observe, check my gut, and keep questioning my conclusions (which I’m still doing, by the way)….

One of the attributes of your book that I appreciated was that you tell a lot of stories overlooked in the very bipolar debate about immigration in the United States…. Why do you think these important border stories tend to be overlooked by the mainstream media?

Groupthink. Mainstream media reporters (both right and left wing) see the border as an illegal immigration issue, and the border itself gets diced into policy soundbites or prescriptions because journalists inevitably pick sides. It’s human. Our biases are hard to avoid.

In combat, I learned the necessity to distill “noise” from facts. When you command a convoy, you’re betting dozens of lives on what you know, and also what you think you know. Much of that knowledge works in shades of gray– ambiguity, hunches, instinct.

From that, you make assumptions; from assumptions, you might eventually find facts. But your life depends on knowing the difference between a fact and an assumption.

As you can tell from reading the book, my views conflict with both political sides. It isn’t that I’m trying to be “in the middle” just for the sake of it, but my own experience and study has led me to form certain conclusions.

I’ve taken a different route than most into studying this issue, which probably accounts for some of the different results.

In terms of the border issues, the reporters who avoid groupthink the best are (unsurprisingly) those from border states.

What would you identify as a few of the biggest myths and misconceptions about the U.S-Mexico border?

From the right, I get annoyed every time the media makes a stink about a “Mexican military incursion.” During the late 19th century, Texas rangers and Mexican rurales used to ride back and forth at will — the U.S. and Mexican governments had a hot pursuit clause to deal with Apaches, Comanches and bandits. Today, if the Mexicans accidentally drive on our side, you’d think we were back in 1848.

The “military incursions” fall into two categories: 1) Mexican soldiers have gotten lost or 2) Cartel elements have stolen uniforms and are posing as law enforcement. This isn’t a threat to our sovereignty; it’s an indication of Mexico’s failed local police and our failed security policy.

From the left, I’m troubled by the idea that legalization represents a panacea from the violence. I support legalization for many reasons, but even if/when that happens, you’ll still have security issues. Even if it’s legal, why will the cartels allow their trade to be legislated? Who would enforce taxation? And what happens now that Mexicans have seen
their police and military fail when it really counted?

In the mid-1980s, smugglers were doing big business in pet tarantulas; it was a temporary US. fad, but customs required 90 days to import new arrivals. Cartels were literally killing each other over the turf to move spiders into the US.

I can’t speak for Mexico City, but my observation in northern Mexico leads me to believe the threat to law and order goes well beyond drugs and cannot be contained by legalization. The north has been overwhelmed by banditry before in Mexican history, and I think we are seeing it happen again.

Julie Schwietert Collazo

One of the conclusions that you reach…is that the border is not a monolith– it’s characterized by distinct zones, relationships between cities, industries, and many other qualities. Taking this into consideration, how can we develop and implement border policies that are effective and consistent while recognizing these crucial differences?

The anarchy and violence on the border as not on the same level as illegal immigration, water rights, or English-only schools. Our geographic and economic ties with Mexico make this a “red alert” problem. It should be treated as such.

A start might be to institutionalize a security cooperation zone instead of a hard line. Take the 100km US-Mexico free trade zone (50 km on both sides) and create an binational government organization/task force authorized to freely navigate both sides at any time.

Julie Schwietert Collazo

Because of the current conditions in Mexico, this would probably have to include US military (to work with Mexico’s soldiers), as well as Border Patrol and federal/state/local law enforcement. You’d also have to re-examine some Posse Comitatus issues, which might raise eyebrows. It would also be expensive. In my view, it’s worth a shot.

Another observation you make is how US policy efforts (I’m thinking, for example, of counterterrorism coordination efforts) lack effective coordination among multiple law enforcement and/or military entities. Even when coordination efforts are made, they don’t seem to function well, as your poignant story of Esequiel Hernandez illustrates. How can this improve?

In many ways it has improved — especially since 9/11 and Iraq. Keep in mind that Esequiel Hernandez was in 1997. Institutionally, the military has probably changed more as a result of the Iraq War than it would have otherwise.

Had the war in Iraq not happened, and had the military not been so incompetent initially in confronting counterinsurgency, we probably would never have seen any discussion of language, culture, or the military/law enforcement/judicial relationship in the nature of war.

If a squad of Marines who were Iraq veterans were sent down to the border today, there’s no way they would buy any of that “sit in a hole and don’t talk to anyone” crap. Their schools– all developed post-Iraq– have taught them to work under a different set of tactics that leverages more law enforcement techniques.

I’m not trying to use this answer as an argument for going to war in Iraq. Just because some positive unintended consequences unfolded does not make the decision strategically wise. But the military, like all human
organizations, is forced to adapt under pressure and adversity.

Interagency coordination is better than it once was because government organizations have learned from Al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents: coordinate or lose. Prospective failure helps clarify your options.

Finally, what’s the take-away lesson for readers? And what was the biggest take-away lesson for you?

A reader’s take-away might best be summarized by the advice I received before starting the project: “Do not understand the border too quickly.”

My own take-away is to not understand ANYTHING too quickly! Information is easy to find, but new, wise, insightful thoughts are hard, really hard, to obtain. I couldn’t have written this to you even a year ago. So my lesson is to put attention, patience, and energy into learning something– and then trust that it will pay off when the time is right.

Oops- that’s not all. One more question! What’s your current project?

I’m working on a novel — and, for superstition’s sake, I’ll not say more until I am finished!

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

To learn more about David Danelo, visit his website.

Havana / Photo by bartpagoda

Today is July 4. Time to reflect on independence. Freedom. Patriotism. What it means to be an American.

In a sense, the country I call my homeland was founded upon the cherished value that the right to travel should be protected. The idea is implied by U.S. laws, which permit Americans to travel with greater ease and to more countries than perhaps any other government in the world.

It is also inspired by the dramatic journeys of the first colonists who traveled long distances to establish one of the world’s most radical social and political experiments.

America is not simply a nation of immigrants; it is a nation of travelers: Gold rush prospectors pushing their horses to pull wagons across the country in search of riches. Anthropolgists, sociologists, and naturalists convinced they could discover new people, new species, new lifeways.

Settlers who braved rough terrain to push the boundaries of the nation further and further west. And, as the nation progressed, aviators and risk-taking adventurers of all sorts who wanted to explore areas that seemed to exist beyond reach: the sky. Space. The deep sea.

What united all of these travelers was not a simple hedonistic desire to see their country and the world, but to do so as representatives of the United States, traveling on behalf of their fellow Americans. In going, they would share news of America with the world. In returning, they would share news of the world with America.

That’s the reason I travel to Cuba, the one country to which Americans are technically forbidden to travel unless they possess a US government authorized license.

The Need To Explore

The thought of visiting Cuba never occurred to me until I befriended the man who who would become my husband.

What country had produced this human who was so funny, so caring, so smart, so complex? What was it about the country that compelled him to leave? And why was it so much a part of him that it influenced everything from our daily conversations to the food we ate to the music we listened to?

I had to find out.

I first traveled to Cuba in 2005 and have returned at least twice each year since. I traveled there because my husband couldn’t. I traveled there to be welcomed into Francisco’s family.

I traveled there so I could come back and share with Francisco what he could not see for himself: that his son, nine months old when he left, is so much like him. That his mother still loves to complain and boss people around. That his family is poor, but incredibly close and mostly happy.

I traveled to Cuba because I wanted to learn and understand more about the country that my own government demonizes.

I wanted to cut through the superficial analyses of anti-Castro reports that failed to acknowledge that Cuba has a lot to teach the world about agriculture, education, environmental responsibility, and medicine.

And just as much, I wanted to cut through the equally shallow and overly romanticized pro-Castro views, which fail to acknowledge the shortcomings and missteps of the Cuban Revolution. There was only so much that books could teach, especially since so many are written with either pro- or anti-Cuba agendas.

An Important Service

Peeking in Cojimar

Each time I went to Cuba, I understood more about the country.

With my own eyes, I saw how important family was. I saw how creative people could be under conditions of limited resources, and how the generosity of the human spirit soars in such circumstances. I saw joy and resilience that I’d not seen in any of the other countries I’ve visited.

I listened to people who openly told me what they thought about Castro and the Revolution: It was an important and worthwhile experiment, one that had achieved great successes and, at the same time-like any other country-suffered from oversights and mistakes.

Each time I wrote about my experiences because I believed they were important; that the power of words was so strong and the insight of first-hand experiences gained through travel have no match.

I knew what I was doing was important when I started receiving e-mails from people who wanted to know how they could travel to this forbidden country.

The power of travel was manifest when they went to Cuba, came back, and shared their stories. I attached my name to what I wrote despite the risks because I believe that the act of traveling and then sharing is the most American, the most patriotic, the most democratic act an ordinary citizen can take.

I’m not the only American who believes this.

Presidents On The Road

In his thoughtful article on the little-studied subject of the influence of travel experiences on world leaders, James B. Hunt wrote, “travel experiences [give people] perspectives on their own lives and help to forge an independent vision or voice of expression.”

John Quincy Adams was one such leader. Adams was able to travel at an early age thanks to his father’s diplomatic post.

At the age of 11, Adams found himself in France. His journals show a boy who was eager to immerse himself in the culture and even learn the language. With visible passion, he wrote home to his brother,

“As my thoughts are principally busied upon the French tongue, & as I wish you to turn yours the same way, earlier than I did, I cannot think of a Subject to write to you upon more agreeable & useful both to you & me than this….”

Before he turned 20, Adams had traveled to France, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and England. The effect, wrote Hunt, was an increase in “Adams’ cross-cultural awareness, self-confidence, maturity and the esteem of family and friends.”

Theodore Roosevelt was also an avid traveler, both in the United States and beyond. In his voluminous travelogue, A Book-Lover’s Holidays in the Open, Roosevelt describes his journeys and wilderness adventures in North and South America, sharing his insights.

During a trip to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay, Roosevelt wrote,

“Darwin… in speaking of the backwardness of the countries bordering the Plate River, dwells on the way they lag behind… compared to the English settlers in Australia and North America. Were he alive now, the development of the countries around Buenos Ayres [sic] and Montevideo would make him revise his judgment.”

Upon the trip’s end, Roosevelt concluded that

“Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Brazil have far more to teach than to learn from the English-speaking countries which are so proud of their abounding material prosperity and of their wide-spread, but superficial, popular education and intelligence.”

A Patriotic Act

Were he alive now, I wonder what Roosevelt would say about what Cuba can teach the world.

And I wonder what he would say about a decades-old isolationist foreign policy that believes, erroneously, that a travel ban, just one part of a complex blockade, will actually make America and the world a better, safer, more democratic place.

Travel. It’s the most patriotic, American thing you can do. Happy Fourth of July.

Photo by Tom Purves

Destination weddings have become increasingly popular in recent years, and a growing number of couples say they’d like to celebrate their special day in an exotic location.

Planning a destination wedding, however, can seem overwhelming, especially when so many details are being coordinated from afar.

This guide-from someone who planned her own destination wedding-can help simplify planning so that you can have an extraordinary day that’s as memorable for your guests as it is for you and your partner.

10. Consider Your Destination

This sounds obvious enough, but choosing the best destination ultimately depends upon a variety of factors: Where do you and your partner want to get married?

Who among your friends and family do you want to attend? How long of a trip can your guests take-both in terms of distance and duration?

What kinds of accommodations (in terms of transportation, lodging, and accessibility) will be necessary in order for your guests to come, and what accommodations are available in the places you’re considering?

When my husband and I planned our wedding on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, we knew we wanted to get married in a place that was meaningful to us, but which was also not so far-flung that guests would feel the journey was cost-prohibitive.

Also, we had a number of older guests who we wanted to share in the experience, and some had physical conditions that needed to be taken into consideration.

Puerto Rico was the perfect location-and the bonus was that since it’s a commonwealth of the United States, no one needed to get a passport!

9. Put your dream, and a budget, on paper.

Weddings, regardless of whether they’re in your home town or far away, can become very expensive very fast. For destination weddings, costs you don’t expect can crop up without warning if you don’t perform due diligence during the planning phase.

What are the non-negotiables of your dream wedding and what extras are you willing to sacrifice?

Once you have those down on paper, start developing a budget, and be sure to factor in easy-to-overlook items such as local taxes in the place you’ve selected for your wedding.

If you’re planning, as my husband and I did, to get married on a beach, you’ll need to check with local officials to determine if there’s a permit required for public land use, and if so, how much it costs and how far in advance you must request it.

8. How local can you go?

My husband and I had our rings made by a local, independent jeweler who specialized in handmade jewelry. Lou etched lines from our favorite poem on the outside of our wedding bands.

We were-and still are-thrilled with our unique, and she was thrilled to have the business.

We didn’t want a cake, but our guests did, and they found a local baker who made a simple, one-tier homemade cake, which she decorated with native flowers.

Rings, reverends, and revelry makers-the more local you go, the more fun you’ll have and the more positive an impact you can make on the community.

7. Guide your guests.

Photo by The Lawleyes

The more exotic your destination, the more your guests are likely to be excited- and anxious, especially if they’re not as seasoned in travel as you.

Help build the thrill and contain the worries by providing your guests with guides every step of the way.

For our own wedding, my husband and I didn’t send out traditional invitations, but we started an e-mail list, and sent regular updates about wedding plans.

Other couples choose to build simple websites or blogs that guests can check frequently for new photos and information.

We also sent out packages with maps, biographies of our guests (so they’d know a bit about each other before the wedding), a short history of Vieques, and a card with all of our contact information, as well as information about the airport, weather, and suggested items to pack.

If you’re traveling to a place where your guests won’t know the language, you may want to include a small phrase book.

Finally, let guests know what’s expected of them. We told our guests that they could wear whatever made them comfortable to the wedding, and we were thrilled that some showed up in tank tops and shorts, while others wore dresses or shirts and ties.

Your guests will really appreciate your planning and thoughtfulness, and your preparation will make the on-the-ground experience of the wedding much smoother.

6. Make the wedding a vacation.

My husband and I invited friends and family to join us five days before the big day for fun and relaxation on the island. We rented three simple houses on the beach and let our guests know they’d be welcome to stay as little or as long as they could prior to the wedding day.

We stocked up on food, cigars, and beer, and planned at least one activity a day (besides the big evening family-style meal). Most of our guests did join us before the wedding, and some even decided to stay after the wedding for several more days.

5. Gift your guests.

What activity is the must-see/must-do experience in the locale you’ve chosen for your wedding?

For our guests, we made it clear that we didn’t want gifts, but that we wanted to give them a gift in gratitude for their friendship and their presence.

Vieques is famous for its bio-luminescent bay, so we hired an eco-tourism guide to take everyone on a night-time kayaking tour of the bay. Two years later, our friends and family still talk about this amazing experience.

4. Learn local laws.

One of the most complicated aspects of planning a destination wedding is learning what local laws govern your marriage and your ceremony. Check these out well in advance, as this may alter your destination of choice.

Puerto Rico has very stringent laws about pre-wedding details such as blood tests and certificates of matrimony, so we decided to do our formal paperwork in New York.

3. Plan transportation.

Help your guests get to and from the airport, lodging, and activities. This was the most complex detail of our own wedding, as Vieques is off the mainland of Puerto Rico and is accessible only by ferry or small plane, both of which operate on fixed schedules.

Once on the island, there are limited cars for rental, so this detail needed to be planned far in advance as well.

2. Minimize stress.

If you’ve dreamed of a flawless fairy-tale wedding, then a destination wedding probably isn’t for you. With even the best planning, there are likely to be variables you didn’t anticipate and that are beyond your control.

Realize that no destination wedding goes off exactly as planned. Keep your expectations realistic and go with the flow.

1. Create and share memories.

For many of your guests, your destination wedding will be the memory of a lifetime. Keep that good energy going after the wedding by sharing mementos of your time together.

Create a DVD of the experience and send it to your guests after the wedding. Share photos and written memories about good times you had together.

Our wedding was so memorable that people who didn’t know each other beforehand are still in touch with one another, and guests have requested that we plan annual wedding reunions!

BONUS TIP: Don’t forget your honeymoon! While many couples who have a destination wedding may choose not to take another trip after the wedding, the stress of planning a wedding–even a fun destination wedding–may leave you feeling like you need a honeymoon. If you’d rather have your guests help fund a honeymoon rather than give traditional wedding gifts, check out the Honeymoon Registry, which allows your guests to contribute to a fund for your honeymoon.

Community Connection!

There are several newly-weds in the Matador Travel community, including editor David Miller and BNT editor Ian MacKenzie.

Then there’s contributor Theodore Scott, who recently quit his job to travel around South America with his fiancee and tried, unsuccessfully, to marry her in every country they visited.

What are you tips and experiences with destination weddings? Share your thoughts in the comments!

I once worked with a man named Victor. We forged a friendship that was contingent upon a shared penchant for searing social criticism, ironic humor, and good food, (though not necessarily in that order).

The evening we decided to go out for dinner to indulge all three interests was a watershed moment for me.

As we waited outside for the handicap ramp to be slid over the restaurant’s steps, and as Victor rejected my offer for help, using his calloused, dusty hands to heave his wheelchair over the lip of the ramp, I thought about how much effort Victor had to exert every day just to move his paraplegic body from point A to point B.

Years later, I thought about Victor as I watched tourists with walkers and wheelchairs try to navigate the uneven cobbled streets and narrow sidewalks of my adopted hometown of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and I began to think about the accessibility of travel for people with disabilities.

How are the challenges of travel exacerbated by disability? How are the joys possibly tempered? I could only imagine how difficult travel must be for disabled people. But I was wrong.

Walt Balenovich and Dave Wilkins set me straight. These intrepid travelers and travel writers recently spoke with me about their experiences in the air and on the road. Both men are seasoned backpackers whose passports are well-inked with the evidence of their intercontinental journeys.

Here are the highlights of our exchange about traveling with disabilities.

Julie: What type of disability do you have?

Walt: I had polio when I was 12 weeks old and spent the first 5 years of my life in the hospital. I used to walk on crutches, but when I was 27 I moved into a…wheelchair full time. Far from confining, the increased mobility freed me up to travel.

Dave: I had a brain hemorrhage in ‘97 which has left me with no feeling on the left side….I have balance problems and can’t see anything coming from the left. I also suffer anxiety….My scrambled brain cannot cope with noise, large crowds, and rapidly changing situations.

Julie: How do you go about choosing your destinations? Do you look for places that are disability friendly in terms of transport, accommodations, and the like?

Walt: I just decide what continent to go to. Usually access doesn’t enter into it. I am backpacking the world alone, so I have to rely on help sometimes.

Dave: Where I go is certainly NOT disabled friendly! I chose Ecuador as my first destination as I knew the country and lacked the confidence to try somewhere totally new at that time. Then to SE Asia because it had always attracted me. In recent years I have concentrated on West Africa because I have been bitten by the Africa bug and can’t ignore the continent!

Julie: Do you tend to travel independently or as part of a tour or package?

Walt: I travel independently. I love doing my own thing. I like going when and where I want in my own time, so I usually avoid long tours, though I do go on boat tours often. Those are good because you can watch the sights float by!

Dave: I have never traveled with a group and would never consider it. I hate the idea of having to fit in with someone’s wishes…I need to concentrate on looking after myself.

Julie: What kinds of challenges have you encountered as a disabled traveler?

Walt: Mostly just stairs and washrooms… sometimes a place to sleep, but not often.

Dave: Have you got all day? My life is a never-ending challenge from getting up and having to get washed and dressed, to eating/drinking/moving about, to getting to bed at night.

Magnify these by adding the novelties of a foreign country, customs, language, and food, to finding a means of traveling to the next destination, fighting off crowds, suffering bouncing journeys, and hunting out a bed that isn’t too bug-ridden and with water for washing…. (Dave’s personal best for a long-haul vehicular journey is 52 hours in a 7 seat taxi with 13 passengers plus luggage).

Julie: Among the places you’ve visited, which ranks best for the disabled traveler?

Walt: Iguazu Falls in Argentina, on the Brazil border. The upper track of the National Park is fully wheelchair friendly and you are suspended over the gorge and surrounded by over 100 waterfalls in the beautiful tropical Amazon basin.

Dave: Laos is my favorite destination… however I fell in love with a dusty little village in Cameroon that doesn’t appear on any map. I return there are least once a year….By no means is this place disabled-friendly, but I love it.

(He loves it so much, in fact, that he’s started a charitable organization to promote women’s rights and children’s health in the extreme north of Cameroon).

The Verdict on Disabled Travel

Walt and Dave agreed that while it might be nice for more places to be accessible-especially with respect to transportation systems, they also insisted that people with disabilities need, in Walt’s words, to “get out there and be visible.”

Dave acknowledges that meeting the needs for diverse disabilities isn’t feasible in many cases-”the cost would be astronomical,” he says, “and it would adversely affect the beauty of such places.” Both men hope that by traveling without limits, they can inspire other people with disabilities to travel anywhere in the world.

Increasingly, it is becoming easier for people with disabilities to travel.

John Weaver, of the company Special Needs at Sea, explains that advocacy groups such as the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality have been instrumental in uniting disabled travelers and encouraging them to travel, as well as representing their interests and needs by working with local governments and private businesses to understand accessibility needs and improve practices.

SATH authored a Code of Conduct towards travelers with disabilities that was adopted by the World Tourism Organization in 1991.

Weaver also reports that certain segments of the tourism industry are improving accessibility significantly, noting that cruise ship companies are becoming increasingly accommodating of disabilities.

Many ships now have signs posted in Braille and in December, 2007 Royal Caribbean realized just how much of a boon disabled travelers can be for business when more than 3,800 deaf and hard of hearing passengers set sail together on a cruise that was specifically designed to meet their needs.

But for those adventure travelers with disabilities who aren’t willing to wait for the tourism industry to adapt to their needs, Walt and Dave say that the world is waiting for them.

Most people on their journeys around the world have been friendly and helpful, and both have learned that few places are totally inaccessible to them.

Visit their blogs to read more about their experiences, and check out Walt’s recently published book, Travels in a Blue Chair.

Julie Schwietert Collazo is a writer, editor, researcher, and translator who lives in New York, Mexico City, and San Juan. She has a BA in English and Women’s Studies, a Masters of Social Work, and is working on a PhD in Literature at the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe.

Inspired by Walt and Dave’s courage? Got a story of your own to tell? Please join the conversation by leaving a comment below!

I wanted to, and I wanted to like it; I really did. The simplicity and crisp color of the cover drew me in when I first saw it in the bookstore, as did the author’s premise.

He would spend a year traveling to ten countries in search of something that was, for him, as elusive as the Fountain of Youth: happiness.

As a self-admitted mope, Eric Weiner, a veteran foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, wanted to find out if some places in the world were happier than others, and if so, why.

But when my review copy of The Geography of Bliss arrived, it was in the form of a hefty package of 11 CDs. The audiobook version of The Geography of Bliss runs right around 12 hours.

12 hours.

And if Weiner’s being honest about himself, I should be forthcoming, too. I don’t like audiobooks. Still, I set aside my preference for the written word and spent 12 hours with the spoken word, read by the author himself.

I was interested enough in the reason for Weiner’s journey, not because I believed he’d find the geography of bliss, but because I thought the trip itself might make for some interesting stories, both about the people and places he’d met and about Weiner coming to know himself.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Ask The “Experts”

The principal problem with Weiner’s book is that he sacrifices the richness of his own travel stories by constantly indulging his maddening propensity to turn to “experts” to explain what happiness is and what makes humans happy.

While many writers have worked wonders unscrolling their personal narratives against the backdrop of a well-rendered historical and sociocultural context, Weiner’s attempts to do so are both awkward and distracting.

Weiner is particularly fond of scientific studies, and he logs empirical results as if piling up a sufficient number of scholars’ conclusions will substantiate a hypothesis that he himself has not defined clearly.

This narrative conceit could work in defter hands, but Weiner seems to be more confident in studies than he is in his own experiences. This is a shame because the best travel writers know that it’s the story-their story-that’s everything.

A Shallow Search

Since we’re talking science more than travelogue, it’s worth mentioning that Weiner’s methodology is also problematic.

There’s the matter of Weiner’s crossing a border long enough to get a feel for the country but short enough to avoid too much of its reality, the layers and complexities of which are only exposed over time.

Weiner says that his schedule was dictated by “local rhythms” rather than the journalist’s deadline to which he was accustomed, but the moments in the book when Weiner “goes local” are few and far between.

More often than not, his “local” connection is an expat, whose decision to live in the place he is visiting is verification enough for Weiner that his contact is a representative liaison qualified to pass judgment on local happiness.

Fondue + Trains + Chocolate = Happiness?

Weiner’s strategy for cultural immersion is also limiting. Weiner begins his visit to Switzerland, for instance, by connecting with Susan, an American whose “candor is constantly bumping up against the Swiss reserve.”

Susan hardly seems the best person to introduce Weiner to Swiss life and facilitate his search for the happiness grail. Yet Weiner doesn’t find it problematic that Susan’s assessment of the Swiss is that they are “culturally constipated.”

Instead, he entrusts Susan to give him entree into the Swiss mindset. She takes that trust and makes sure Weiner eats some fondue, which, along with impeccably clean Swiss trains and chocolate, is so deeply satisfying that Weiner doesn’t feel compelled to dig deeper into Swiss life.

The perpetually glum Weiner has experienced happiness, however superficial and fleeting it may be, which is good enough for him. Next country!

The Swiss, he concludes hastily before moving on-in much the same way he will conclude about the other countries he visits-are not particularly happy, though they are capable of a mix of contentment and joy, for which he coins the term “conjoyment.”

This strategy of avoiding any definitive conclusions allows Weiner to seize his own moments of happiness while absolving him of the responsibility to arrive at any meaningful or decisive declarations for his reader.

A World Traveler Falls Short

What makes Weiner’s willingness to be guided by others particularly troubling is the fact that his travel resume is fairly impressive.

As a foreign correspondent for NPR, Weiner has a good bit of ink in his passport, having reported from Bhutan and the Middle East. Clearly, he’s no stranger to the world’s trouble spots.

Perhaps it’s his career-long immersion in conflict zones and his reportorial bent that made it difficult for him to view The Geography of Bliss as anything other than a quasi-academic exercise.

On his website, Weiner writers that The Geography of Bliss is about place. “Change your place, I believe,” he writes easily, “and you can change your life.” Perhaps.

But The Geography of Bliss fails to convince the reader that Weiner understands the places he visited, much less the joy of discovering others… and oneself.

Grab your copy of The Geography of Bliss from Amazon.

What do you think about The Geography Of Happiness (the book or the idea)? Share your thoughts below!

Julie Schwietert Collazo is a writer, editor, researcher, and translator who lives in New York, Mexico City, and San Juan. She has a BA in English and Women’s Studies, a Masters of Social Work, and is working on a PhD in Literature at the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe.