What Color Is Your Jockstrap?: Funny Men and Women Write from the Road

by Jennifer L. Leo (Editor)

A good story improves with the telling, and nothing improves a travel story more than something going wrong. Once the anguish fades, the frustration, embarrassment, danger, and inconvenience provide great material for a tale that can be told again and again. The adventurers in What Color is Your Jockstrap? encounter just about every absurd, surreal, and wacky moment imaginable, from a monster dildo that won’t go away to becoming the prey of religious zealots at the world’s largest human gathering. The proverbial “hair in my soup” at a French restaurant is spiced up by the proprietor’s remarkable solution to the “problem.” Nothing is too ridiculous on the road, and as these men and women generously share without shame or undue embarrassment, they prove again and again that a sense of humor is the one tool no traveler should be without.

Genres: Travel, Humor, Nonfiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2006

About the author

Jennifer L. Leo is a writer, editor, and fearless adventurer with a flair for humor and misadventure. She edits the best-selling Travelers' Tales women’s humor series and writes for books, magazines, and websites. Her blog, WrittenRoad.com, was named one of Writers Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers. Based in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, she covers the poker world as author of Night + Day Las Vegas, columnist for BLUFF and Women Poker Player, and creator of VivaLasVegasBlog.com, blending travel, humor, and gambling in her dynamic lifestyle.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun little collection of travelogue stories, each little less than an average chapter. Most are fun anecdotes from the road, with a central theme of this installment of mishaps with bodily fluids. Not exclusively and I enjoyed the escapism the collection provides. This book has essays that pretty much date from the 1990's as it was published in 2006 so some aspects already feel a bit dated but overall still enjoyable.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I laughed at some of the stories, but found myself skipping a couple of them because to me they were boring. But I finished it. I was fascinated with the story of the young Australian woman who wanted to take a tourist trip to war torn Chechnya to the couple who took a second honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas and ended up in bed the entire time. Funny!

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spotty but riveting collection of tales from the darker side of adventure travel. Some are howlingly funny, and one, the one about the bot fly, will gross me out forever. The editing had some gaps, most notably "breaks" for "brakes" numerous times, which a pedant can find terribly distracting.

[Unwisely · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun collection of travel-writing. I think overall I prefere more focus on one author, but this wasn't unpleasant.. Definitely an interruptible book, suitable for reading in short intervals.

[Nancy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very funny collection of travel stories.