The first copy of Vagabonding I ever held in my hands sits in this display case at The Atlanta Hotel in Thailand.
The story of how it ended up there is inseparable from the tale of my own travels in that part of the world.
As was the reflexive habit among young budget wanderers passing through Bangkok in the late 1990s, I initially spent my nights in various budget flophouses on Khao San Road, Southeast Asia’s storied backpacker ghetto (made famous in the 2000 Leonard DiCaprio movie The Beach).
Then, returning to Thailand after years of vagabonding through other corners of Eurasia, I took a tip from Lonely Planet Thailand legend Joe Cummings, and spent a night at The Atlanta, a quirky little art-deco retro guesthouse near Sukhumvit Road.
The place soon became my go-to Bangkok hangout, as it had cheap rooms, a vintage restaurant with terrific Thai food, and a chill courtyard swimming pool (which, according to local legend, had once been a snake-pit belonging to a failed 1950s anti-venom chemical company).
One of my favorite features of the little hotel was a glass case in the lobby that featured books written by people who had stayed there over the years. Looking at those wide-ranging titles, I resolved to one day see my own book sitting in that display case.
Thailand eventually became my home-base when I was contracted to write Vagabonding, and while the bulk of the book was written at a residence hotel in the south of the country, The Atlanta was my perennial refuge when I journeyed up for big-city R&R in the nation’s capital.
When my Random House editor mailed a few advance copies of my first book to Thailand in late 2002, I felt like I had arrived as an author when the management of The Atlanta agreed to display a copy in their lobby display case.
It’s still there — and showing it to Kiki (after a meal of green curry in the hotel’s still excellent restaurant) 22 years later was a real treat.
Indeed, sometimes travel has a way of transporting you through time as it circles you back to the far-flung places you called home (back when you had no idea what “home” might one day look like).
Note: “Dispatches” are short vignettes, profiles, and mini-essays written and posted from the road, often in tandem with my Instagram account. I don’t host a “comments” section, but I’m happy to hear your thoughts via my Contact page.
Share This
