Rating: 
Summary: Carpe Diem
Review: "Seize the day" is the underlying theme of this truly inspirational book. The author, Eric J. Raff, quits his respectful job and jettisons the creature comforts of New York City to live out his dream- a trip around the world sans itinerary! No Sense of Direction recounts his fascinating journey. This book works on many levels. If you are a backpacker with a limited budget, there are plenty of helpful hints to aid your journey. Some of which are rather counter-intuitive: For example, if you need train tickets in Post-Glasnost Russia, don't be a rube and wait at the ticket counter. Be smart and look for the scurrilous characters lurking in the background- the chances are that they have "pre-purchased" all of the available tickets. (Hopefully, this has been reformed) Or if you are boarding a Songthaew in Bangkok -look for the truck that is dangerously overcrowded or you might be waiting awhile. The book has a cast of a thousand crazy characters. There is the 6'4 Dane who drives what resembles a Mini Cooper. Or "Scarface" the ten year old Vietnamese street tough who could probably shake down the original Chicago gangster for his milk money. And lets' not forget the author himself, who brazenly sneaks into Russia without a visa. In Post 9/11 America, we are all re-assessing our priorities. The current Zeitgeist screams "borrowed time". No Sense of Direction will give you the inspiration to get some dreams done.
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Summary: No sense of direction helped me to find my way
Review: After reading No Sense of Direction, I decided that I must take a break from the everyday routines of life. It provided me with the motivation to realize my goals of traveling the world. Thanks Eric for changing my life!
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read on Your Next Vacation
Review: Eric Raff does what most of us dream of doing but do not have the nerve to do...take a sabbatical from work and travel the world. I read this book on vacation which is the venue in which it should be read, where the mind is free to wander and wonder. Eric took me back to my backpacking days after college and adventures on trains to China I probably will never have. The only part it kept me wanting to know more about was the author himself. I yearned to know more about his feelings about returning to work after these adventures which he just touched upon and what went on in his head from a more personal perspective. You'll envy his nerve and verve to get up and go and travel the world.
Rating:
Summary: A Guide for Living
Review: Eric Raff has done what many of us have talked about for years, but not had the diligence or talent to do - write a book about our travels. No Sense of Direction captures the simultaneous thrill and abject terror of walking away from it all and striking out on your own Unlike the neighbor's vacation slide show, Eric has that rare ability to bring his journey to life and make you glad you decided to come along for the ride. His personable style, intelligence, boundless curiosity and clever wit qualify him as an exceptional guide to places and situations most readers would not have the wherewithal to go by themselves. To his credit, this is a well-balanced tale highlighting not only beautiful scenery, a Felliniesque cast of characters, unexpected delights and moments of insight, but also the missed connections, somewhat less than desirable accommodations and bone crushing discomfort. That is to say, he has distilled the reality of backpacker travel down to its essence: the good, the bad and the things you don't write home about. On another level this book works not simply as a tale of travel, but a guide for living. Raff takes off on his journey with an open mind, the willingness to be a part of wherever he lands and only the vaguest itinerary beyond looking for interesting experiences and people to meet. Guess what? He finds them. All in all, No Sense of Direction makes me want to pack a bag, take off for places unknown and hope I meet up with people like Eric along the way.
Rating:
Summary: A Guide for Living
Review: Eric Raff has done what many of us have talked about for years, but not had the diligence or talent to do - write a book about our travels. No Sense of Direction captures the simultaneous thrill and abject terror of walking away from it all and striking out on your own Unlike the neighbor's vacation slide show, Eric has that rare ability to bring his journey to life and make you glad you decided to come along for the ride. His personable style, intelligence, boundless curiosity and clever wit qualify him as an exceptional guide to places and situations most readers would not have the wherewithal to go by themselves. To his credit, this is a well-balanced tale highlighting not only beautiful scenery, a Felliniesque cast of characters, unexpected delights and moments of insight, but also the missed connections, somewhat less than desirable accommodations and bone crushing discomfort. That is to say, he has distilled the reality of backpacker travel down to its essence: the good, the bad and the things you don't write home about. On another level this book works not simply as a tale of travel, but a guide for living. Raff takes off on his journey with an open mind, the willingness to be a part of wherever he lands and only the vaguest itinerary beyond looking for interesting experiences and people to meet. Guess what? He finds them. All in all, No Sense of Direction makes me want to pack a bag, take off for places unknown and hope I meet up with people like Eric along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Go For It!
Review: I enjoyed this book very much! I have travelled some myself years ago (before kids) and this book brought back so many wonderful memories of the adventure of being on the road. If you haven't travelled in a while or you have never adventured out, Mr. Raff has created a very entertaining record of what you might expect. This book is very smoothly written and filled with such detail that I felt like I was along for the ride!
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Summary: Author's response to Rachel Lu's June 1 2003 review
Review: Ms. Lu, Every reader is entitled to their opinion on whether or not they enjoyed reading a book and I'm disappointed you didn't enjoy mine. However, as you've questioned the accuracy of the information I've presented in my book I felt I needed to reply. In response to your questioning the existence of a ferry between Taiwan and Macau, please note that there is (unless it has been discontinued since my travels in Taiwan) a ferry from Kaohsiung, a port city in Taiwan to Macau. As substantiation of this ferry, I offer the following, taken from the Lonely Planet guidebook: Taiwan
Getting There & Away
Taiwan has international airports at Taoyuan, near Taipei, and Kaohsiung. You can fly to Taiwan from just about anywhere in the world except, ironically enough, mainland China. Ferries run between Okinawa in Japan and Keelung and Kaohsiung in Taiwan. There are also weekly boats between Kaohsiung and Macau. You'll need to pay about US$10 to leave the country. I hope this resolves your confusion. Best regards, Eric J. Raff
Author
Rating: 
Summary: A travel journal
Review: No Sense of Direction is about a NY advertising executive who quits his job, takes a year off to travel anywhere he wants. The story itself is interesting, which kept me reading the book. He is a brave traveler, not shy about things. This sometime makes him seem insensitive to other cultures, especially in Asia. But, he seems to make his way around the world, with only the English language, which is great. However, the book is not well written, with to many repetitous phrases, "...collecting our backpacks..." being one of them. I would think this would be obvious after a while. One chapter ends with the plane landing - "...we sped across the dark tarmac like a bullet." and the next chapter begins with "We stepped off the plane...and crossed the dark tarmac to the customs hall..."
Mr. Raff seems to run out of adjectives.
The book is any easy read, and I would recommend it, just to follow the adventure.
Rating:
Summary: A Keen Sense of Living
Review: The best travel books are about something more than where the author went and what he saw. They're about life, or culture, or history, or something beyond one person's adventures. "No Sense of Direction" is an especially satisfying case in point: Although it might be modestly useful as a guide for inexpensive travel to Moscow or Bangkok, its real pleasures lie in Eric Raff's subtler themes: spontaneity and receptivity. This is a book not about how to travel, but about how to live -- expansively, without limits or forethought, completely immersed in the people and surprises that arise along one's way. Time after time, Raff confronts a choice between taking the prudent, sensible course and doing something completely irresponsible. Each time, he picks the latter, usually with consequences that other people can only envy. It's precisely because this is not a "literary" book -- because Raff's style is unpretentious and straightforward -- that the book gives off a gentle wisdom that's easy to digest, yet lasting. Actually it's more than easy to digest -- it's fun. Raff is a born story-teller, who can turn a visit to the dentist into a page-turner (and does). Unless you like to stomp roaches in flea-bag hotels and suffocate in third-class rail cars, you probably won't get many useful vacation tips from this book. But you'll end up with something far more valuable.
Rating:
Summary: A Keen Sense of Living
Review: The best travel books are about something more than where the author went and what he saw. They're about life, or culture, or history, or something beyond one person's adventures. "No Sense of Direction" is an especially satisfying case in point: Although it might be modestly useful as a guide for inexpensive travel to Moscow or Bangkok, its real pleasures lie in Eric Raff's subtler themes: spontaneity and receptivity. This is a book not about how to travel, but about how to live -- expansively, without limits or forethought, completely immersed in the people and surprises that arise along one's way. Time after time, Raff confronts a choice between taking the prudent, sensible course and doing something completely irresponsible. Each time, he picks the latter, usually with consequences that other people can only envy. It's precisely because this is not a "literary" book -- because Raff's style is unpretentious and straightforward -- that the book gives off a gentle wisdom that's easy to digest, yet lasting. Actually it's more than easy to digest -- it's fun. Raff is a born story-teller, who can turn a visit to the dentist into a page-turner (and does). Unless you like to stomp roaches in flea-bag hotels and suffocate in third-class rail cars, you probably won't get many useful vacation tips from this book. But you'll end up with something far more valuable.
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