If you see our best seller list, most of them are books that are given as gifts. They are books you give to flatter somebody. John Gimlette More Quotes by John Gimlette More Quotes From John Gimlette Buenos Aires is my favorite city. I think it's fantastic - but is a troubled, sort of psychologically troubled city. John Gimlette buenos-aires cities thinking I am sure you have met diplomats; they probably travel far less than you do. Okay, they get to know a place very intensely - sometimes only the capitol city. John Gimlette diplomats cities sometimes Diplomacy was what I wanted to do. From really quite an early age and I think I had a false impression that diplomacy equals travel. John Gimlette impression age thinking I am certainly very pro-Europe. John Gimlette europe People my age and younger do think much more towards Europe. We have to fill the gap sometime - we can't think we are an empire any longer after all. John Gimlette europe people thinking My parents don't think about Europe at all. The Continent is somewhere else. And they call it the Continent - to reflect, they are no real part of it. John Gimlette real europe thinking My parents probably feel closer to the U.S. They feel America came to our rescue in the war and all that sort of thing. And for their generation the war still goes on. We still save food and little bits get scraped off and boiled out the next day. John Gimlette next-day war america Originally I wanted to be a diplomat, and by attrition I started giving up that idea. John Gimlette diplomats giving-up ideas The United Nations was the thing I wanted to work for. Like the United Nations Commission for Refugees is what I was interested in. And then people said if you do that you'll hit glass ceilings all the time, because you are not Ghanian or Nigerian and that's the way to progress though a multinational organization like that. In any event, they said do five years' legal experience and come back. And after five years I decided to stay where I was. So I am really an accidental lawyer. John Gimlette glasses organization years I don't want to sell other people trips! I want to be there! John Gimlette sells want people Lawrence Millman is a favorite writer of mine. He did a travels on the trail of the Vikings. John Gimlette vikings trails mines That's more about lifestyle [Peter Mayles], living abroad. It's about buying a donkey and house in south France, and that's a slightly different thing. A very popular genre but that's not quite my thing. John Gimlette different buying house I'll always love Paraguay. It's this most exotic place configured out of the imagination, the whole country.Paraguay will always be a special place in my heart. I go back a long way. I first arrived as a refugee in 1982 from the Falklands War. So it was a safe haven then, and it has become something exotic since then. I feel like I'd like the dust to settle a little bit before going back. John Gimlette heart war country Paraguay has had a U.S. supermarket boss as its ambassador for a while. He did the job well. He was there because he wanted to be there. Rather than the British diplomat who didn't want to be there. John Gimlette ambassadors boss jobs It is a gift, and you realize as soon as you cross the border into Paraguay, as I did, the first time in '82, that you are in a sort of wonderland. Nothing is quite right: the buildings, they've got their own architecture, their own language; and everything is just a little bit off key. John Gimlette wonderland borders keys In both places [Paraguay and Newfoundland] people rise despite everything - both are pretty tough environments. John Gimlette tough environment people I want people to laugh with me and Paraguay and Newfoundland, but I don't want to laugh at them. I hope in my books at the end of the day you come across with the impression that I really admire both of these places. John Gimlette laughing book people I slightly feel, having written Paraguay and Newfoundland - and both of them have developed eccentricities through isolation - I am quite relieved to be back in France and Germany, and I want people to enjoy these books for the writing and not because they feel they can laugh - some will laugh - at these eccentric places, that's not what I intend. John Gimlette writing book people Benedict Allen gives you the impression that he hasn't done any research at all, and I am sure he has. And when he is off doing his ice dogs and that sort of thing - and therefore its not only an exploration of the place but also his imagination in a sense. It's very successful as technique. John Gimlette ice successful dog There is a whole genre of funny travel writers - that's very popular. There's Bill Bryson and people who follow that route and sell travel writing through making people laugh. It's a very difficult group to take. The line between comedy and mockery is sometimes a bit thin. John Gimlette writing laughing people