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Shamelessly freeloading his way around the world, cadging free food and accommodation wherever and however he can, Brian Thacker is a'couch surfer'par excellence. This is extreme travel at its most'out there'.Our couch is not in an excellent shape, however all the conventional facilities are there. I also expect decent standards of hygiene from you (i.e. no peeing on the floors).Shashank, New Delhi, Indiawww.couchsurfing.com What sort of person offers up their couch to complete strangers? And how can said strangers be sure that the owner of that couch is not an axe-wielding psychopath? Intrigued by this fast-growing phenomenon Brian Thacker set out on a couch surfing tour of the globe to discover how and why dossing on someone's lounge room floor has become the latest, hippest way to travel.It's time to grab your passport, strap yourself in and join Brian as he travels through the Americas, Africa, India, Iceland and places in between, sleeping on floors and couches, under drum kits and in wardrobes; hanging out with some of the strangest, most charming, entertaining or just plain crazy people you could hope -- or perhaps hope not -- to meet. There's Mariana of Rio de Janeiro, who is, in her own words, the coolest and happiest Carioca in Rio; Sm ri from Reykjavik who fed Brian rancid shark; and not forgetting the very hospitable Bob from Chicago (who even threw in a riot just to make him feel at home) to name but a few. Then again, after a night fighting off malaria-carrying mosquitos in a sweat pit in Nairobi you may never feel like leaving home again.Brian has no idea just where he's going to end up or what he's getting himself into, but you can bet your bottom dollar (and his) that this will be one strange, weird, wonderful, mildly terrifying and very funny adventure. BRIAN THACKER is the author of five previous travel books and has slept on beds, couches and floors in 77 countries. Brian lives in Melbourne with his wife Natalie and daughter Jasmine where he only very rarely gets sent to sleep on the couch.

More travel adventures from the best-selling author of Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus, involving every possible mode of transport, from the ruggedly intrepid to the downright dubious.Whether you're an explorer or a tourist, the journey often proves more exciting than the place you eventually end up at. Not to mention more alarming, spectacular, dangerous or farcical. It's all pretty closely connected with the mode of transport you're dependent on - from stubborn mule to bumpy hovercraft to ancient plane. Brian Thacker has been on the look-out for unusual vehicles ever since he travelled down the Ovens River on a rubber inner tube when he was nine years old. Here he writes about his most memorable journeys, including his trip on the Trans Siberian Express, a pub crawl on the London tube, his journey down the east coast of Australia in a truck, and a safari with a particularly grumpy camel.'The author of Rule Number 5: No Sex on the Bus is back with more funny traveller's tales If you think you've seen and done it all, you'll enjoy reading this book'Sun-Herald'Light and snappy and excellent for armchair travellers to read whilst dreaming of intrepid adventure, but avoiding the pain that inevitably goes with it'Good Reading

In the spirit of Stanley and Livingstone, Brian Thacker is striking out for destinations unknown. Under-equipped and totally unprepared, Brian leaves the guide books behind and gets off the beaten track, out of his comfort zone and into trouble in some of the oddest countries you've never heard of.Paul Theroux, Bill Bryson, Michael Palin all have ventured forth to provide vivid and compelling accounts of exotic peoples and strange lands. But none has ever been daring (or perhaps stupid) enough to arrive in a country not knowing a single thing about the place. Until now.In the spirit of Stanley and Livingstone, Brian Thacker set out for far-flung lands armed with nothing more than an air ticket and an armful of immunisation shots. He didn't know the local language, the currency or even the climate of the various places he was heading for; not to mention their political, religious or cultural situations. He didn't take a guidebook; he didn't even do a quick web search.And so it was that Brian found himself on an incredible journey that would see him set up home inside Gabon airport; dodge civil unrest in Togo; receive a history lesson from a Ghanaian prostitute; anger the Vodou gods of Cotonou; gatecrash the King of Futuna's party; become lost in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan; and narrowly avoid being shot in the backstreets of Bishkek.Brian Thacker has so far managed to get himself lost in 72 countries. He doesn't have his own pith helmet, but he does own a lovely beige safari suit. When he's not lost in the African jungle Brian lives in Melbourne with his wife Natalie and daughter Jasmine.

The author of Rule Number 5: No Sex on the Bus is on the road again, only this time he has Harry, his 73 year old, meat-and-three-veg loving dad in tow. On a two month odyssey they geographically retrace Harry's life, and in the process Brian Thacker finally gets to really know his father and maybe even get him to eat some of that foreign muck'.One of the drawbacks of writing funny, irreverent and - worse yet - honest travel books is that you can't stop your parents from reading them. Because once they have they forever have the upper hand when it comes to knowing about all those insane overseas adventures you'd really rather they didn't. In a fearsomely foolish display of pro-activity Brian Thacker decided the only way to get his own back, and finally uncover the truth about his dad's mysterious early life, was to scam a couple of business class flights and drag 73-year-old Harry Thacker off the couch and half way across the planet to such far-flung and exotic locations as Gibraltar, Sri Lanka, Malta, Singapore and - not forgetting that haven of the international jet set -Butlin's Holiday Camp at Mine Head, in an attempt to retrace his Dad's history Along the way Brian's hoping to finally figure out just how Harry lost those two fingers on his right hand, not to mention where he picked up such an inexhaustible supply of truly awful jokes. Which is all fine with Harry, just so long as Brian's paying and Harry doesn't have to eat any of that bloody foreign muck'

Bestselling author of Rule Number Five: No Sex on the Bus and Planes Trains + Elephants, searches out the most bizarre festivals in a frantic race around the world.It was only a degree above zero and the rain was coming down in sheets, yet here I was about to run around in nothing more than a nappy. I was pretty sure it was going to be the silliest thing I'd ever done'Join Brian Thacker as he embarks on a round-the-world odyssey in search of as many silly, outlandish and even staggeringly banal festivals as time, distance and severe bouts of exposure will allow. Along the way he is pelted with beans, overawed by giant snow cows and stampeded in a temple full of men wearing nappies in hot pursuit of a stick. And that's just in Japan.Brian also manages to narrowly escape being sacrificed by a Vodou priest in Haiti and to retain his eyebrows after celebrating Hogmanay in Scotland. He discovers 101 new and interesting things to do with a tomato; meets a woman at the UFO Festival in Roswell who is regularly used by aliens for perverted medical experiments and hangs out at the Sydney Gay + Lesbian Mardi Gras with a bloke called Miss Stephanie.

Brian Thacker, bus tour-leader extraordinaire, tells it how it really is in this funny, rollicking, absurd, ride through Europe.Crew Manual Rule No. 5 : Crew must not engage in sexual activity on board the bus with passengers or fellow employees.Crew Manual Rule No.2 : learn all names on day one.Crew Manual Rule No.3 : don't get lost.But then, who follows the rules?Brian Thacker confesses all as he reveals the best (and worst) of 20 trips as a tour leader around Europe. He tells how he fed passengers horse meat spag bog, hamburgers made from breakfast cereal and roosters'testicles. How he left a passenger standing by the side of a motorway in France for three hours in his underwear clutching a purple toothbrush and how, along the way, he lost his driver, his cook, his bus, 10 brightly coloured canal bikes, a large church and eventually his patience.