Baier, Molly J. The Fire Escape is Locked for Your Safety: On the Road in the Former Soviet Union. Lost Coast Press, 2001.
Reason read: I read somewhere that the Baltic Singing Revolution took place in August. Well, to be fair it took place between June and September 1987 – 1991.
The problem with reading some travel stories is that they become outdated and if you aren’t up on your geography or travel laws, the content becomes muddled. Example: are hotels in Eastern Europe still charging in 24-hour increments from the time you check in? Do trains still give provodnitsa-issued toilet paper to passengers? If you travel by bus in the Arctic, do you still pay by the kilometer and not the final destination? Is Finland still one of the most expensive countries? What about maple syrup? Do they know the breakfast condiment? Despite all these questions, Bier’s three-month solo trip in 1999 was a fun read. Her sense of humor peppers a no-nonsense travelogue. Some of my favorite moments were every time she challenged a ticket seller with Article 62 of the Russian Constitution, stating it was unlawful to sell a tourist an inflated priced ticket, whether it be for a museum or train ride. This happened a great deal. (Theroux mentions the same maddening system in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star.) A final comment. I was impressed with Baier’s travel philosophy. Her itinerary was not planned out to the minute. She seemed to go from place to place by the seat of her pants, never knowing how she was going to go from place or where she would stay when she got there.
Confessional: Bad timing on the title of this book. On the day I started to read it one of the buildings on my campus was hit by lightning and caught on fire. Despite only being a two-alarm fire, I heard the building is a total loss. On the day I finished The Fire Escape is Locked for Your Safety Maui was on fire. This fire took the lives of many people.
Author fact: Baier is not a prolific writer. I only have one book written by her for the Challenge.
Book trivia: The Fire Escape is Locked for Your Safety is illustrated by Lisa Jacyszyn.
Nancy said: Pearl; did not say anything specific about The Fire Escape is Locked for Your Safety.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “The Baltic States” (p 34).
~*LunaSea*~ 