In the everything-everywhere world of travel writing—which accommodates Bruce Chatwin’s In Patagonia and Rick Steves’s column in your shrunken Sunday travel section—the cruise story written by a well-known author occupies an uncomfortable place.
In essence, it is no different from the classic travel story: a writer observing an alien world. He or she is dropped into a foreign realm where the language (in this case) is familiar but the customs are not. In fact, the rituals and behaviors are far removed from what the writer is used to.
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