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The Royal Road to Romance: Travelers' Tales Classics
When Richard Halliburton graduated from Princeton, he chose adventure over a career, traveling to far away places. This vivid book, the first of many he wrote, tells what happened, from a breakthrough Matterhorn ascent to being jailed for taking forbidden pictures on Gibraltar. "One of the most fascinating books of its kind ever written." (In 1939 the swashbuckler was lost at sea in the Pacific).
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1925
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1651 people want to read
About the author
Richard Halliburton
29 books61 followersWriter, Lecturer, and World Traveler, Richard Halliburton published numerous books during his short lifetime. During his world travels, he visited exotic locales such as the Taj Mahal in India, climbed the Matterhorn, flew across the Sahara desert in a bi-winged plane, and swam the entire length of the Panama Canal. He also roamed the Mediterranean Sea retracing the route followed by Ulysses in Homer's Odyssey and crossed the Swiss Alps on the back of an elephant in a recreation of Hannibal's expedition. Halliburton died (or, more accurately, disappeared) in March 1939 as he and his crew attempted to sail a Chinese junk, the Sea Dragon, from Hong Kong to San Francisco as a publicity stunt. The vessel was unseaworthy and went down in a storm around March 23-24, 1939. His body was never recovered
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
May 5, 2026
For $2NZ I picked this up in a small town second hand shop - a surprising find, a book I have been looking for for a number of years.
I was surprised by this book -to find a young Richard Halliburton vagabonding around the world when I am more used to his travelling in style or at least sparing no expense. Writing articles for newspapers as he goes, picking up the royalty cheques in the next major city is a fine way to meet ongoing costs, but Halliburton appears almost allergic to money - no sooner does he receive a windfall than he heads to a casino to blow the majority, leaving him just enough to move on.
Jumping trains, stowing away on ships and most often buying the cheapest ticket available (third in the case of trains or deck / steerage depending on the ship) and sneaking or talking his way into first class. From time to time he is indulged by high society, lent clothes and attends parties, but for he main he is vagabonding with others. He pairs up with companions and for periods they travel together, but never for very long. He also pairs up with ladies (the romance of the title) but is very discrete if there is anything more than companionship.
Page 2/3
Roughly his journey takes him from the USA to Europe - Switzerland, France, Andorra, Spain, Gibraltar, Monaco to Egypt, on to India up through Kashmir and very close to Afghanistan, to Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Russia and Japan, before returning to the USA.
4.5 stars, rounded up
I was surprised by this book -to find a young Richard Halliburton vagabonding around the world when I am more used to his travelling in style or at least sparing no expense. Writing articles for newspapers as he goes, picking up the royalty cheques in the next major city is a fine way to meet ongoing costs, but Halliburton appears almost allergic to money - no sooner does he receive a windfall than he heads to a casino to blow the majority, leaving him just enough to move on.
Jumping trains, stowing away on ships and most often buying the cheapest ticket available (third in the case of trains or deck / steerage depending on the ship) and sneaking or talking his way into first class. From time to time he is indulged by high society, lent clothes and attends parties, but for he main he is vagabonding with others. He pairs up with companions and for periods they travel together, but never for very long. He also pairs up with ladies (the romance of the title) but is very discrete if there is anything more than companionship.
Page 2/3
A wave of exultation swept over me. Youth - nothing else worth having in the world... and I had youth, the transitory, the fugitive, now, completely and abundantly. Yest what was I to do with it? [...] I wanted freedom, freedom to search the farthermost corners of the earth for the beautiful, the joyous and the romantic.Published in 1926, the 600 day journey beginning and ending in America covers a lot of ground. With a penchant for mountain climbing, he tackles the Matterhorn, the rock of Gibraltar (and is promptly prosecuted for taking photographs in a military zone), Kheop's pyramid and Mount Fuji. He is also not shy of a long trek when required, travelling overland from Myanmar into Thailand through a rough and overgrown trail (a route not unlike other vagabonding books I have read).
The romantic - that was what I wanted. I hungered for the romance of the sea, the foreign ports, and foreign smiles. I wanted to follow the prow of a ship, any ship, and sail away, perhaps to China, perhaps to Spain, perhaps to the South Sea Isles, there to do nothing all day but lie on a surf-swept beach and fling monkeys at coconuts.
I hungered for the romance of great mountains. From childhood I dreamed of climbing Fujiyama and the Matterhorn [...] I wanted to swim the Hellespont where Lord Byron swam, float down the Nile in a butterfly boat, make love to a pale Kashmiri maiden beside the Shalimar, dance to the castanets of Granada gypsies, commune in solitude with the Taj Mahal, hunt tigers in the Bengal jungle - try everything once. I wanted to realize my youth while I had it, and yield to temptation before increasing years and responsibilities robbed me of courage.
Roughly his journey takes him from the USA to Europe - Switzerland, France, Andorra, Spain, Gibraltar, Monaco to Egypt, on to India up through Kashmir and very close to Afghanistan, to Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Russia and Japan, before returning to the USA.
4.5 stars, rounded up
July 6, 2012
This is an incredible book that could make the most stable homebody want to store all their junk and take a long trip. When I turned 16 I didn't know what I wanted for my birthday so I asked all of my relatives to give me a copy of of their favorite book from when they were 16- and the only person that delivered was my grandmother who gave me this book. Halliburton inspired in her a love of travel and adventure that never faded- and it's done the same for me. From sneaking back into the Taj Mahal at night to swim in the fountain to hiding camera film from the authorities in a rain gutter after taking pictures of Gibraltar at night to climbing Matterhorn with practically no climbing experience, Halliburton was an exciting traveler.
December 12, 2024
🕌 My uncle Bill gave me this book when I was the merest wisp of a boy. I don’t know why. But I devoured it and dreamed my own royal road and, once I was tall enough and strong enough (and wild enough), I began to race along it into an exciting world - the Taj Mahal, Jerusalem, Everest, Cairo, the Sahara and Arabian horses, Tehran … I lived the dream thanks to this book which wove a spell of adventure in me.
⛩️ It’s really the most amazing volume, the kind you can take anywhere and dip into at anytime. He went to magical places and did magical things. Each chapter fascinates and dazzles. It’s highly entertaining, a trip to a world that is gone.
🗿Or maybe not completely gone.
⛩️ It’s really the most amazing volume, the kind you can take anywhere and dip into at anytime. He went to magical places and did magical things. Each chapter fascinates and dazzles. It’s highly entertaining, a trip to a world that is gone.
🗿Or maybe not completely gone.
June 5, 2013
When I think of Richard Halliburton, I think of a poem, "The Truly Great," by Stephen Spender. Spender writes of those,
. . . who in their lives fought for life,
Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre.
Born of the sun, they traveled a short while toward the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.
Halliburton traveled a short while toward the sun before his untimely death at 39, and the air was vivid with his life, leaving on earth his books, a testament to his honor. I think of him as a remarkable man, one truly blessed with fire, life, and a burning desire to see it all, do it all, before he became dying embers.
In our modern age he might be described as blessed with a fine cocktail of DNA but what he saw, what he felt, what he did belonged to him, not his genes. A few facts do not explain him. He was born in 1900. He died in 1939. He grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. He was lost in a Chinese junk halfway between Japan and Midway Island. So much for that.
What we have of him are his books, and they tell us about ten men, all of them Richard Halliburton. Ten men, because it would take that many normal people to live his life if fueled by a desire to escape the nine-to-five convention of office walls.
Each book is a testament to a way of seeing, a vision of life, that enabled him while others would turn away toward the comfort of the familiar--the neighborhood, the family, the job. The familiar was what he did not want. Instead he wanted his life to become its own art. He did not write poetry. He lived it. He would sign the vivid air with his experiences.
We read his signature only because of one book, The Royal Road to Romance, for without its publication his remarkable life might have fallen out of memory. You see, the book almost did not get published. Some editors thought it too adolescent, others regarded its prose as too florid. The difference between its 1925 publication and the obscurity that meets so many other manuscripts is this: Richard Halliburton's dogged determination and great reserve of energy.
Not yet twenty-five he had returned from his astounding travels and adventures, enough for a lifetime of many hardy individuals. He knew he had a story, indeed, many stories, and he wanted to make writing his career. But he had not reckoned on the indifference of New York City, where as he put it, life was dog-eat-dog.
If not New York, then somewhere else. With pluck and luck he took his energy to Indianapolis and Bobbs-Merrill Publsihers, where the potential of the book was recognized. Farm girls in Iowa, librarians in Ohio, railway conductors in Kentucky bought the book and read it. It said something to them, that the world was a grand place far larger than Iowa, Ohio, or Kentucky,
and that it was filled with wonders. It was a book for an America awakening from her isolationist slumbers, a book that lifted horizons, opened vistas readers had not imagined.
True, this is a youthful work, and, true, his mature books rely less on flowing description and more on pointed commentary.
That aside, this book is a testament of youth. In it we see the world with new eyes as we climb the pyramid of Choeps, spend the night at the Taj Mahal, ascend Mount Fuji, have our ship boarded by Chinese pirates, trek across the Malay Peninsula, ship as an ordinary seaman on a tramp freighter. Having read all this, we have just scratched the surface of his early adventures. It is a fine, wonderful world, the young Halliburton tells us, and waiting for us. Travel writer Paul Theroux has written that Halliburton's travel-adventure books pointed him toward his own vocation. Fictionist, intellectual, and playwright Susan Sontag read Halliburton as a girl and credited his books for openin the wide, wonderful world to her. She learned from him that it was a fine place with much to learn and explore.
The Royal Road to Romance has a voice for readers today with its descriptions of far-off places., with its adventures. In it we can trek across the Himalayas, relax on houseboats in Srinigar, meet the American tutoress of the last Chinese empress. We can travel through war-ravaged China, visit White Russians escaped to Siberia, bicycle across a Europe impoverished by the first great war, climb the Matterhorn, one slip away from plunging to death. The book lives on because it has a timeless call to life beyond office walls and small town sidewalks.
. . . who in their lives fought for life,
Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre.
Born of the sun, they traveled a short while toward the sun
And left the vivid air signed with their honour.
Halliburton traveled a short while toward the sun before his untimely death at 39, and the air was vivid with his life, leaving on earth his books, a testament to his honor. I think of him as a remarkable man, one truly blessed with fire, life, and a burning desire to see it all, do it all, before he became dying embers.
In our modern age he might be described as blessed with a fine cocktail of DNA but what he saw, what he felt, what he did belonged to him, not his genes. A few facts do not explain him. He was born in 1900. He died in 1939. He grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. He was lost in a Chinese junk halfway between Japan and Midway Island. So much for that.
What we have of him are his books, and they tell us about ten men, all of them Richard Halliburton. Ten men, because it would take that many normal people to live his life if fueled by a desire to escape the nine-to-five convention of office walls.
Each book is a testament to a way of seeing, a vision of life, that enabled him while others would turn away toward the comfort of the familiar--the neighborhood, the family, the job. The familiar was what he did not want. Instead he wanted his life to become its own art. He did not write poetry. He lived it. He would sign the vivid air with his experiences.
We read his signature only because of one book, The Royal Road to Romance, for without its publication his remarkable life might have fallen out of memory. You see, the book almost did not get published. Some editors thought it too adolescent, others regarded its prose as too florid. The difference between its 1925 publication and the obscurity that meets so many other manuscripts is this: Richard Halliburton's dogged determination and great reserve of energy.
Not yet twenty-five he had returned from his astounding travels and adventures, enough for a lifetime of many hardy individuals. He knew he had a story, indeed, many stories, and he wanted to make writing his career. But he had not reckoned on the indifference of New York City, where as he put it, life was dog-eat-dog.
If not New York, then somewhere else. With pluck and luck he took his energy to Indianapolis and Bobbs-Merrill Publsihers, where the potential of the book was recognized. Farm girls in Iowa, librarians in Ohio, railway conductors in Kentucky bought the book and read it. It said something to them, that the world was a grand place far larger than Iowa, Ohio, or Kentucky,
and that it was filled with wonders. It was a book for an America awakening from her isolationist slumbers, a book that lifted horizons, opened vistas readers had not imagined.
True, this is a youthful work, and, true, his mature books rely less on flowing description and more on pointed commentary.
That aside, this book is a testament of youth. In it we see the world with new eyes as we climb the pyramid of Choeps, spend the night at the Taj Mahal, ascend Mount Fuji, have our ship boarded by Chinese pirates, trek across the Malay Peninsula, ship as an ordinary seaman on a tramp freighter. Having read all this, we have just scratched the surface of his early adventures. It is a fine, wonderful world, the young Halliburton tells us, and waiting for us. Travel writer Paul Theroux has written that Halliburton's travel-adventure books pointed him toward his own vocation. Fictionist, intellectual, and playwright Susan Sontag read Halliburton as a girl and credited his books for openin the wide, wonderful world to her. She learned from him that it was a fine place with much to learn and explore.
The Royal Road to Romance has a voice for readers today with its descriptions of far-off places., with its adventures. In it we can trek across the Himalayas, relax on houseboats in Srinigar, meet the American tutoress of the last Chinese empress. We can travel through war-ravaged China, visit White Russians escaped to Siberia, bicycle across a Europe impoverished by the first great war, climb the Matterhorn, one slip away from plunging to death. The book lives on because it has a timeless call to life beyond office walls and small town sidewalks.
February 9, 2019
Travel a century ago, to experience the Alhambra, Great Pyramid, Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat alone and tourist-free. Romance, indeed. And how very pleasant to have the concomitant white man's privilege that made it possible; fortunately Halliburton's prose while unconscious of his privilege can convey the experience.
September 29, 2016
Richard Halliburton, the grandaddy of adventure tourism, left Princeton in the early 1920s to do the world. With hardly a penny to his name he tramped, mooched, and often stole his way from New Jersey to Europe, then Egypt, India, Indonesia, China, and Japan. Along the way he climbed the Matterhorn, was jailed in Gibraltar, swam the Nile, hunted tigers in Bengal, trekked to Leh, hacked his way through Malaysian jungles, reposed in Bali, lost his clothes to Chinese pirates, and scaled Fujiyama in the dead of winter. The Royal Road to Romance (1925) is his report of his grand adventure, a narrative of some sixteen months of "hobohemism" across the globe. His mother must have been mortified when she read it.
It's a jolly tale told with dash in impetuous, flamboyant prose that fully captures the author's youthful energy. And it's very much a piece of its time, a product of the young author's entitled upbringing and waspish attitudes that can make a modern reader squirm almost as much as the hair-raising tales of his reckless escapades. Tuck into it if you're in the mood for a mad, jaunty, and sometimes embarrassing read that scores low on ethnology but off the scales on irrepressible enthusiasm for life.
It's a jolly tale told with dash in impetuous, flamboyant prose that fully captures the author's youthful energy. And it's very much a piece of its time, a product of the young author's entitled upbringing and waspish attitudes that can make a modern reader squirm almost as much as the hair-raising tales of his reckless escapades. Tuck into it if you're in the mood for a mad, jaunty, and sometimes embarrassing read that scores low on ethnology but off the scales on irrepressible enthusiasm for life.
November 26, 2008
At first I got a little bored of this book. That's probably why it took me three or four months to read but that is neither here nor there. What is of significance is that I picked it up last week and finished reading the 2'nd half of the book. And I finished it in enjoyment.
My complaint against the beginning of "Royal Road to Romance" was that Halliburton’s lofty speech got to me, in an annoying way. I found his writing to be overdone yet I kept reading because although he can give too many details at times, sometimes he can write very eloquently. Plus his adventures were interesting and at times captivating. I found his journeys through Asia to be the most entertaining. Halliburton also was kind of bad-ass. His attempt and completion of Mt. Fuji was pretty ballsy. He comes across as stubborn, full of life, admittedly arrogant, prejudice and extremely passionate. All in all I would recommend this book to anyone who loves too travel and wants to read about a time in the world when traveling as an adventurer was vanishing but had not vanished. And I would give it a 3.75 out of 5 stars.
May 14, 2021
Fun adventure
Other than Halliburton being a white male and an obvious product of his times, the stories of his adventurous travels are weaved with humor and gorgeous descriptions of the landmarks he conquered.
I think a little editing out of slightly sexist and infrequent racist remarks would make this a perfect geography read for any teen. (Or just a warning so they aren’t blindsided.)
Other than Halliburton being a white male and an obvious product of his times, the stories of his adventurous travels are weaved with humor and gorgeous descriptions of the landmarks he conquered.
I think a little editing out of slightly sexist and infrequent racist remarks would make this a perfect geography read for any teen. (Or just a warning so they aren’t blindsided.)
March 14, 2016
I might say 2.5 stars. It was better than just "okay," but I didn't "like" it wholeheartedly, either. A lot of the accounts of what Halliburton did and the places he saw are pretty interesting, though some I had moral objections to, and some chapters weren't that interesting to me. The book is good for gaining a better understanding of the places discussed, as well as the time period (written 1925).
While I appreciate Richard Halliburton's writing and stories in some ways, he isn't my favorite character. I had previously read parts of a book he'd written for children, and didn't remember him coming across the same way, so maybe he made himself more presentable in children's books or I didn't read enough to get a good feel. In this book, he is completely reckless, seems to have little to no respect for almost anyone besides himself, goes about breaking all the rules he can, and just generally has an attitude toward life I don’t much care for. Nor is he much of a role model. Morally, he is not a great example. To top it off, while his view of and treatment of people aside from Americans or Europeans may have been pretty typical for the time period, it makes me cringe.
I think if I have teens who are interested they can read this book with discussion, but it’s not a book I’m super excited to share, and it contains several things I would want to discuss with them. It does have some value, though, and not everyone may find his manner as irritating as I did. Some of my dislike may just be that I’m not the type who would want to go gallivanting around the world taking unnecessary risks for basically no reason but novelty, on barely any funds, and without any plan whatsoever much of the time. But if they read it, it might be good to discuss risk-taking behaviors in this context, because Halliburton seems to have been an extreme thrill-seeker, and that seems to be becoming more and more in vogue these days. It isn’t surprising to know that he died at a relatively young age as a consequence of his risk-taking lifestyle.
While I appreciate Richard Halliburton's writing and stories in some ways, he isn't my favorite character. I had previously read parts of a book he'd written for children, and didn't remember him coming across the same way, so maybe he made himself more presentable in children's books or I didn't read enough to get a good feel. In this book, he is completely reckless, seems to have little to no respect for almost anyone besides himself, goes about breaking all the rules he can, and just generally has an attitude toward life I don’t much care for. Nor is he much of a role model. Morally, he is not a great example. To top it off, while his view of and treatment of people aside from Americans or Europeans may have been pretty typical for the time period, it makes me cringe.
I think if I have teens who are interested they can read this book with discussion, but it’s not a book I’m super excited to share, and it contains several things I would want to discuss with them. It does have some value, though, and not everyone may find his manner as irritating as I did. Some of my dislike may just be that I’m not the type who would want to go gallivanting around the world taking unnecessary risks for basically no reason but novelty, on barely any funds, and without any plan whatsoever much of the time. But if they read it, it might be good to discuss risk-taking behaviors in this context, because Halliburton seems to have been an extreme thrill-seeker, and that seems to be becoming more and more in vogue these days. It isn’t surprising to know that he died at a relatively young age as a consequence of his risk-taking lifestyle.
May 1, 2017
Undoubtedly one of my favorite travel writers / authors ever since I stumbled upon my first Halliburton adventure in a book shop in Norway last summer. We join our intrepid and bold explorer once again as he globe trots from Princeton to Germany, the first stop on yet another "glorious adventure;" and ultimately to the heights of Fujiyama in Japan; and stopping along the way at the most romantic places on earth; albeit romance holds many a meaning as we follow Halliburton on his journey.
"The Royal Road to Romance" is another fine tribute to his brilliant poetic, and oftentimes quite humorous prose of his adventures and expeditions from lands afar. Revel in the stunning beauty of the sights, the landscapes, and cheer for him as he narrowly escapes from the authorities; it's an endless pursuit of the visual romance of the places he visits despite any obstacle or interdict that stands between him and his destiny.
Not only will you too soar to the top of the Matterhorn, spend a forbidden night at the Taj Mahal, thrill in the games of chance in Monaco, cheer for his release from the prisons of Gibraltar, perch atop the icy slopes of Mount Fuji; you'll revel in each step of his road to romance, and laugh a lot too!
This is my second Halliburton book after "The Glorious Adventure" and I loved this one just as much. It's hard to fathom that these books were written almost 100 years ago, 1920s actually, however, his writing is just as relevant, exciting and full of adventure as any modern-day travelogue.
"The Royal Road to Romance" is another fine tribute to his brilliant poetic, and oftentimes quite humorous prose of his adventures and expeditions from lands afar. Revel in the stunning beauty of the sights, the landscapes, and cheer for him as he narrowly escapes from the authorities; it's an endless pursuit of the visual romance of the places he visits despite any obstacle or interdict that stands between him and his destiny.
Not only will you too soar to the top of the Matterhorn, spend a forbidden night at the Taj Mahal, thrill in the games of chance in Monaco, cheer for his release from the prisons of Gibraltar, perch atop the icy slopes of Mount Fuji; you'll revel in each step of his road to romance, and laugh a lot too!
This is my second Halliburton book after "The Glorious Adventure" and I loved this one just as much. It's hard to fathom that these books were written almost 100 years ago, 1920s actually, however, his writing is just as relevant, exciting and full of adventure as any modern-day travelogue.
April 16, 2021
This adventure travelogue gives a glimpse into a vanished world. Depending on your viewpoint, you will admire or abhor
Halliburton’s account. He certainly followed paths that few Westerners would take, and in politically tricky times. His lack of reverence shows how young he was, and how privileged. (In fact, you should avoid this book if you are triggered by White privilege and American superiority.) Halliburton was born the same year as Hemingway, so that might give you an idea of the author’s general worldview. The author never delves deeply into cultural differences—he’s too busy saying “Look what cool thing I did!” But he certainly delivers on his promise of an exotic “road to romance.”
Halliburton’s account. He certainly followed paths that few Westerners would take, and in politically tricky times. His lack of reverence shows how young he was, and how privileged. (In fact, you should avoid this book if you are triggered by White privilege and American superiority.) Halliburton was born the same year as Hemingway, so that might give you an idea of the author’s general worldview. The author never delves deeply into cultural differences—he’s too busy saying “Look what cool thing I did!” But he certainly delivers on his promise of an exotic “road to romance.”
June 5, 2022
My grandpa recommended it to me because he read it when he was young and it is inspired many of his travels. If you ignore the sexism and racism that you can maybe attribute to the times, it was an exciting read.
February 6, 2019
A autobiography of my favorite explorer Richard Halliburton. What wonderful stories and experiences!
December 29, 2022
Globe trotting Into the Wild.
May 30, 2022
A restless young man, fresh out of Princeton in 1921, travels the world in order to inflict his privilege upon native populations, and then writes about their discomfort and sells the stories to parochial publications back in the States. Okay, that’s the utterly harsh assessment of this book. The more balanced truth is that Halliburton worked his way around the globe, capturing shimmering little corners of the world that would soon be extinguished by World War II. He was equally at home working on tramp steamers and dressing in a white coat for a diplomat’s dinner. True, his gallant, frat-boy ebullience leads him to break local rules, but because he takes us along, I found myself indulging him. One also wonders about the embellishment of some of these tales—the world was too large then to have fact-checkers verifying his every move. But as a nostalgic read, this is a good one, full of exotic locales described well, if a bit sentimentally. A pleasant read during the Covid shutdown.
January 12, 2009
One of my all time favorites! Halliburton made his living by LIVING and then writing about all his fantastic adventures. He did what I can only dream about. He was a fun character; positive & happy and relays this in his writings.
March 6, 2011
One of the best travelogues I have read. This book should be standard reading when it comes to the travelogue genre. From breaking into the Taj Mahal, the Alhambra, being arrested in Gibraltar you cant help but be captivated by Haliburton's adventure.
April 11, 2007
This is amazing book about the beauty of adventure. I am a huge traveler and this book inspires that part of me!
February 25, 2019
Recommended to me many years ago by my good friend Paul -- a famously prolific reader. I've finally read and enjoyed this 1920s true life adventure tale. My takeaways are ... Adventure and beauty exist all over this planet, and daring curiosity is a good way to find it.
June 4, 2024
Neither about royalty nor romance, Halliburton’s thrilling stories detailing his exotic travel encounters as a young writer on a budget in the early 1920’s were fascinating. I was half expecting a dry and dated travelogue, but this timeless book was surprisingly modern, written with humor, insight and in a style as fresh today as it was 100 years ago.
February 19, 2025
Some of this didn’t age well, but I loved reading about (most of) Halliburton’s adventures.
July 10, 2017
When this book was published, racial equality was unknown as even an option, let alone attainable, in many places of the world. And Richard Halliburton was a very young man, filled with the thrill of being young, healthy and able to travel, with no idea of his own mortality or the contribution he could make just by trying to understand humanity in some of the countries he visited.
I had to keep this in mind as, for what seemed like the sixth or seventh time, he found the smell and discomfort of his purchased third class accommodations abhorrent and wandered up to first class on the train, refusing to move when confronted by the native conductors. Or jumped a train with no money instead of earning the required cash on the spot. Or ate a meal that he couldn't pay for. Or gleefully got forbidden pictures at Fort Gibraltar, by sneaking past military guards. He was unimpressed by the Tibetan's practice of Buddhism or the Balinese Funeral rituals, scorning these and other native practices. Richard clearly liked to travel and see the sights - he just didn't like natives, or following the rules.
With that said, once you get past his attitude that the rules didn't apply to him and his feeling that the countries would be a lot cleaner without the natives - his stories are interesting, his bravery downright foolhardy, and he takes you to the most interesting places with the most interesting methods of travel, while you enjoy his mishaps and the fruits of his inappropriate behavior. He describes his own reactions more than he describes what he sees - but again, he's a very young traveler starting out, and his descriptions give you a good idea of what's going on. If I see another Halliburton, I'll pick it up and see how he matured back when the world was much bigger, pictures were black and white, and and world traveling was cutting edge.
I had to keep this in mind as, for what seemed like the sixth or seventh time, he found the smell and discomfort of his purchased third class accommodations abhorrent and wandered up to first class on the train, refusing to move when confronted by the native conductors. Or jumped a train with no money instead of earning the required cash on the spot. Or ate a meal that he couldn't pay for. Or gleefully got forbidden pictures at Fort Gibraltar, by sneaking past military guards. He was unimpressed by the Tibetan's practice of Buddhism or the Balinese Funeral rituals, scorning these and other native practices. Richard clearly liked to travel and see the sights - he just didn't like natives, or following the rules.
With that said, once you get past his attitude that the rules didn't apply to him and his feeling that the countries would be a lot cleaner without the natives - his stories are interesting, his bravery downright foolhardy, and he takes you to the most interesting places with the most interesting methods of travel, while you enjoy his mishaps and the fruits of his inappropriate behavior. He describes his own reactions more than he describes what he sees - but again, he's a very young traveler starting out, and his descriptions give you a good idea of what's going on. If I see another Halliburton, I'll pick it up and see how he matured back when the world was much bigger, pictures were black and white, and and world traveling was cutting edge.
September 4, 2011
This guy travelled around the world immediately following his graduation from Princeton, logging over 40,000 miles by ship, train and bicycle, and living only on the money he made along the way publishing his writing. What amazes me is that he accomplished this in the 1920's, prior to the days of a real commercial tourism/travel industry.
I think part of what makes his stories good - or more interesting than the occurances of ordinary tourist - is that he would put himself "in harms way" for the sake of the story - and it paid off because he did have some better-than-average stories to tell. For example he was jailed in Gibralter, assulted and almost bitten by a viper in Cambodian jungle, and summiting Mt Fujiyama in the heart of winter all alone. And, of course, the list goes on.
The combination of good content, Halliburton's knack for writing and witty storytelling, made for a quality read. If you don't like travel, adventure, or good literature, then I wouldn't recommend The Royal Road.
I think part of what makes his stories good - or more interesting than the occurances of ordinary tourist - is that he would put himself "in harms way" for the sake of the story - and it paid off because he did have some better-than-average stories to tell. For example he was jailed in Gibralter, assulted and almost bitten by a viper in Cambodian jungle, and summiting Mt Fujiyama in the heart of winter all alone. And, of course, the list goes on.
The combination of good content, Halliburton's knack for writing and witty storytelling, made for a quality read. If you don't like travel, adventure, or good literature, then I wouldn't recommend The Royal Road.
November 10, 2021
Entertaining read. Written about a century ago (published in 1925), this book is the ostensibly true story of Richard Halliburton’s adventures around the world at age 22 after graduating from Princeton. With little money, he travels by ship and train throughout Europe, Africa and Asia, climbing mountains (Matterhorn and Fuji) meeting the president of Andorra, getting raided by pirates, being treated on occasion to high class outings and weaseling his way into first class travel and tourist attractions after closing time. I vacillated between rooting for him and getting annoyed by his arrogance. Either way, he was surely a captivating man.
July 20, 2023
Published in 1925. An ideal for living - happy, hale fellow graduates college and travels the simpler world. Without much money, by hook or by crook, stowing away on freighters and running from train conductors, circling the globe, sleeping in the gardens of the Taj Mahal and the Al Hambra. This is my style - this guy reminds me of me.
November 18, 2015
I read this as a boy, and it is a hard book to find, but Haliburton was a privileged kid who chucked it all in favor of adventure, and to hear it told in his 1930's voice transports you to a time when you had to actually go places to see things.
February 19, 2022
This was written a long time ago so a lot of the language used is outdated. This man has tremendous stories to tell though of the year and a half he spent travelling the world and I enjoyed reading about a very different world as he experienced it.
January 7, 2008
A classic of adventure travel. You won't realize just how much Halliburton defined the modern adventure traveller. He is the forefather of an industry.
February 16, 2008
I read this book every year! It reminds me that there is a big world out there to explore and that where there is a will there is a way.
November 2, 2012
I read this book back when I was in high school and it is just as enjoyable now!
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