1 From the Prologue, "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves"

This opening commentary is about the lives and not-so-hard times of travel writers. Its title is not a redux of grammar grinch Lynne Truss's attack on those who misplace commas. I may be many things, but I am not a Chinese panda who eats shoots and leaves—nor is my wife. But we are members of a specialized subspecies of scribblers: journalists who spend short and very intense periods eating (and sleeping and sightseeing), shooting pictures, and t...