Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic Read
Review: If you are sick of the normal travel books, try Mr. Haffar's guide!It is informative and funny at the same time. Good advice with a sense of humor thrown in. From both a male and female point of view, you get both perspectives.A true insider's tips to the rest of the world, proves an invaluable tool to have with you on your next trip abroad.
Rating:
Summary: Pure pleasure
Review: Make no mistake: this is not your same ol' same ol' travelogue. This is pure pleasure - a colorful, significant trip around the world with a witty and knowledgeable companion who cares enough about the places he visits and people he meets to be honest about them and enough about his readers to make sure we are never left out of the experience. Throughout, the author has a sharp eye for meaningful, often ironic, detail and a fine, fine sense of humor to convey what he sees. If you're looking for information, it's here. And if you're looking for heart, well, that's here, too - in abundance from start to finish.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe 'Away from my desk' but NOT away from his ego
Review: One of the worst travel books I've read of late. Rif is an insensitive writer who seems to be obsessed with trying to be funny and has no capacity to be anything but a self absorbed [individual] as he travels around the world with a companion who's in all likelihood as shallow as he is. Read at your own peril.
Rating:
Summary: Annoying, judgemental, unfunny and worst of all, dumb.
Review: The one claim the author doesn't make that he should is the sad but true fact that you can go around the world these days without planning or a brain. If you have plenty of cash, don't waste time doing research, just bring your passport and you're off! Many things annoyed me about this silly little book, but the most egrigious were the following: 1. The author plans a trip around the world and does not even do BASIC research. He's never heard of a carnet - which means he did not do a minute of research, or read a book by a fellow traveller. His motorcycle is dutifully taken from him in India as a result - no one's fault but his own, despite what he'd have you believe. 2. Despite his wealth, he doesn't buy any of the proper all-weather gear available for long-distance motorcyclists. Guess there was no research done on this front either. 3. The author is quick to pass judgement on the locals he comes into contact with, but doesn't try any of the delicious local food, like cerviche in Peru - but makes sure he hits the McDonalds in many locations. 4. The author insists on making generalizations about the countries he visits - "The roads are good here, so you know the country is a great place". Lots of very narrow-minded editorializing that shows they should have stayed in their downtown apartment with their Starbucks frappucino. 5. Finally, and most damning, are his little 'jokes' and puns. You can't get through a page without the author's insidious, annoying quips about the local scene. I found myself hoping that the author would meet a grisly end every time I turned the page. I never thought I'd find a worse narrator than Jim 'Investment Biker' Rogers but here he is. Buy something by a real traveller like Ted Simon or Danny Liska instead.
Rating:
Summary: Never laughed so hard!
Review: This book is funny and satirical and sometimes sarcastic, but there are passages that had me rolling on the floor. Haffar has a gift for simplifying complex cultures down to their bare essentials, without being patronizing. This should be required reading for anyone who plans to ever leave the U.S. on an overseas trip.
Rating:
Summary: Very hard to put down, an excellent read
Review: What a great book. Rif's ability to put the reader in the location that he is writing about is flawless. When reading about the filth and grime of Bombay it is like you can actually smell the air, or listening to him describe riding through New Zealand you almost feel yourself leaning with the cycle around turns. Rif Haffar has a unique gift of description coupled with a sharp and funny wit that makes the most desolate places entertaining and the most vibrant locations appear almost live and in Technicolor. I feel like I was there with them. Great Job!
Rating:
Summary: Wow!!
Review: What a great travel journal! Rif had me going from the start with his adventures across the world. The details & pictures provided me with tremendous insight to the places seen and the people met. A great read
Rating:
Summary: Utterly wretched
Review: Whether you're a motorcyclist or not, stay far away from this awful book. This guy is not a rider -- he takes a leisurely luxury tour aboard an ST1100 from Lisbon to Istanbul and that's it. The bike is shipped from Istanbul to Bombay. Haffar didn't even know what a carnet is! So his bike -- which any rider guards with his or her life -- gets stuck in Bombay, and he evidently lacks the wherewithal and ingenuity to extract it. Travels thru the Middle East, Asia, Oceania, South America, Central America, and the U.S. are accomplished via public transit, plane, and rental cars. Yawwwwn. Worse still, this book is worst variety of insipid amateur travelogue -- unless you like tedious crybaby complaints about bad tea, inadequate restrooms, and tepid showers. Ugh! Don't look here for insights into culture, or conversations with locals. Haffar is too busy looking for his next cup of tea, about which he is bound to offer some banal observation. The little good that can be said of the regrettable work is that Haffar will occasionally spin a pleasant phrase. Other than that, this self-absorbed loser of a book annoyed the bejeepers out of me. Grade: F.
| 
