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Somewhere Found: Travels in Obscurity
For some, travel isn’t just a holiday, but an identity, a way of discovering oneself by wandering the world.
Like Robert Louis Stevenson, who said, “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go,” modern-day flâneur Kyle Battisti has circled the globe, forgoing Insta-famous destinations in favor of the offbeat and uncelebrated, from Kurdistan to Sudan, Mauritania to Lithuania.
Growing up a self-described outsider in 1980s Utah, he was awestruck by Arabian domes he’d unearthed from encyclopedias and the curiously named Yugoslavia of his sixth-grade school report, a fascination with places unknown that persisted as he stumbled into adulthood, now with boarding passes in hand. Somewhere Travels in Obscurity chronicles his far-flung explorations as he gulps down horse sausage in Kyrgyzstan, battles leeches in Sri Lanka, listens for ghosts in a decommissioned Latvian prison, and, one hot-mess Christmas Eve, makes a questionable purchase from a Moldovan at a gay Moscow nightclub.
In intelligent, insightful, and often hilarious detail that evokes the greats — Jan Morris, David Sedaris, Edmund White — Battisti’s forays in “hidden cemeteries, seductive alleys, elaborate doorways, and quiet gardens that both cats and pigeons call home” take readers on an unforgettable armchair journey to captivating places where most of us will never venture.
Like Robert Louis Stevenson, who said, “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go,” modern-day flâneur Kyle Battisti has circled the globe, forgoing Insta-famous destinations in favor of the offbeat and uncelebrated, from Kurdistan to Sudan, Mauritania to Lithuania.
Growing up a self-described outsider in 1980s Utah, he was awestruck by Arabian domes he’d unearthed from encyclopedias and the curiously named Yugoslavia of his sixth-grade school report, a fascination with places unknown that persisted as he stumbled into adulthood, now with boarding passes in hand. Somewhere Travels in Obscurity chronicles his far-flung explorations as he gulps down horse sausage in Kyrgyzstan, battles leeches in Sri Lanka, listens for ghosts in a decommissioned Latvian prison, and, one hot-mess Christmas Eve, makes a questionable purchase from a Moldovan at a gay Moscow nightclub.
In intelligent, insightful, and often hilarious detail that evokes the greats — Jan Morris, David Sedaris, Edmund White — Battisti’s forays in “hidden cemeteries, seductive alleys, elaborate doorways, and quiet gardens that both cats and pigeons call home” take readers on an unforgettable armchair journey to captivating places where most of us will never venture.
331 pages, Paperback
Published August 14, 2023
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