The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure

Edited by Sean O’Reilly, Larry Habegger, and James O’Reilly

Introduction by Tim Cahill

Including stories by Elliott Hester, William Dalrymple, Rolf Potts, Jennifer L. Leo, Laurie Gough, Richard Sterling, Doug Lansky, and many more

Missed connections, awful meals, embarrassing situations, ghastly faux pas, and less than perfect accommodations: nothing makes a travel story more entertaining than something gone wrong. The adventurers in Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why have had more than their share of travel challenges, and were willing to swallow their pride to share these mishaps with lucky readers. The fifth book in the award-winning travel humor series from Travelers’ Tales, Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why is sure to take a cherished place in the collection of every traveler who possesses a sense of humor.

From a monster dildo that won’t go away to becoming the prey of religious zealots at the world’s largest human gathering to the proverbial “hair in my soup” at a fancy French restaurant, these 28 true tales of misadventure will entertain, amuse, and occasionally horrify. In locales ranging from Costa Rica to Calcutta to the African Bush, the well-known and emerging writers in Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why invite readers along to explore the lighter side of travel. Warning: you may require an oxygen mask and your ribs fixed after reading this collection.

In Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why, readers will:

  • Come face to face with a deadly snake and a giant Russian the very same day
  • Enter the world of East African scams at their hilarious worst
  • Explore the mystery of a gigantic dildo that dominated a Mexican journey
  • Endure the ridicule of millions at the world’s largest gathering in India
  • Experience the curse of being monolingual in a Geneva copy shop
  • Enjoy a U.S. border crossing in the company of a young woman dressed like Morticia Addams…and much more.

About the editors

Sean O’Reilly has coedited numerous books in the Travelers’ Tales series, including Danger!, The Road Within, France, Paris, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. He lives in Peoria, Arizona with his family.

Larry Habegger, executive editor at Travelers’ Tales, has worked on almost all of the Travelers’ Tales books. He is co-author, with James O’Reilly, of the syndicated newspaper column “World Travel Watch,” and he regularly teaches the craft of travel writing at workshops and writers conferences. He lives in San Francisco with his family.

James O’Reilly, president and publisher of Travelers’ Tales, wrote mystery serials before becoming a travel writer in the early 1980s. He’s visited more than forty countries and worked on virtually all of the Travelers’ Tales books, winning many awards for excellence. James lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

About Travelers’ Tales

Founded in 1993, Travelers’ Tales publishes the best in travel writing from world-famous authors and new and emerging writers. Our goal is to inspire and enlighten readers through true stories by travelers who have explored the depths of their experiences. The series includes: country and regional guides; books which explore the themes of women’s travel, spirituality, food, humor, and adventure; travel advice books; Footsteps: The Soul of Travel, a series of single-author travel narratives; and Travelers’ Tales Classics, a series which introduces out-of-print favorites of travel literature to a new audience.

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Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why: The Best of Travel Humor and Misadventure
Edited by Sean O’Reilly, Larry Habegger, and James O’Reilly
Travelers’ Tales, October 2003
$14.95, Trade Paperback, 232 pages, 5 1/8″ x 8″
ISBN: 1-885211-97-X