Next Exit Magic Kingdom : Florida Accidentally

by Rory MacLean

Abandoning himself to the winds of chance, MacLean stumbles across an alternative Florida, and spends time in the Psychic Center of the World, meets the Saint of Palatka, chats to Wanda Flip--the head mermaid of Weeki Wachee--and pays $5 to drink from the Fountain of Youth. His final destination is Disney's Magic Kingdom where Mickey Mouse can be best man at your Fairy Tale Wedding. Next Exit Magic Kingdom shatters every stereotypical image you have ever associated with Florida. Entertaining and warm, this is a story of the places that chance can take you to and a portrait of the many sides of Florida, where dreams can be made as quickly as they are broken.

Genres: Travel

Hardcover

Published January 1, 2000

About the author

Canadian Rory MacLean is one of Britain's most expressive and adventurous travel writers. His twelve books include the UK top tens Stalin's Nose and Under the Dragon as well as Berlin: Imagine a City, a book of the year and 'the most extraordinary work of history I've ever read' according to the Washington Post. He has won awards from the Canada Council and Arts Council of England and was nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary prize. His works – according to the late John Fowles – are among those that 'marvellously explain why literature still lives'. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he divides his time between the UK, Berlin and Toronto.

Reviews

[Plum-crazy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the travel book I was hoping for. I've been to Florida many times & we love to get off the usual tourist track & see something a bit different so I was hoping to get some inspiration here but on the whole Maclean's Florida isn't one I want to visit. Don't get me wrong, it's an interesting book - though I'd quibble at the marvelously entertaining & funny descriptions the blurb promised - but rather than the alternative travel guide I was expecting, MacLean's focus is primarily on the people he meets, many of whom welcome him into their homes without a qualm...not something that will happen to most tourists however friendly Floridians maybe!

MacLean certainly meets a wide variety of characters. Virginia Blue aka "The Saint of Palatka" is one I'll be hard pushed to forget, mainly due to the shocking footnote ending the chapter. The guy at the Weeki Wachee Mermaid Show will also be remembered but for totally different reasons... *ugh* ...what a creep...

An amusing enough read at times but I'm not really sure what the author was trying to achieve with this trip.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fair travel book although not as good as his others. I felt it lacked any cohesive conclusions/ final reflections on his travels.