The Titantic Awards: Dubious Achievements in Travel

The world's worst commute? Check out the Titanic Awards for more of the world's worst...

Here at Traveler, we tend to vie between celebrating what's great about travel and criticizing what's just flat out terrible. But Doug Lansky isn't looking for such a balance. He's the author of the forthcoming Titanic Awards: Celebrating the Dubious Achievements of Travel, and the creator of the accompanying survey, which asks travelers to enumerate the worst things they've experienced on the road. Since launching his site a few weeks ago, he's interviewed several travel luminaries about their worsts, and today he's published his interview with our own editor in chief, Keith Bellows, who shares his stories of eyeball soup, overused travel-writing tropes, and why he avoids organized tours (why? because there's always one jerk).

Intrigued by the concept, we asked Lansky for a sneak peek at some of the standings. So far, he tells us, China is leading the polls for world's worst toilets, while France is ahead for most overrated cuisine. And little shock: Americans are polling in first place for rudest tourists. (Agree? Disagree? Take the survey yourself.)

Asked why he'd choose to spend a chunk of his life thinking about terrible toilets and smelly cities, Lansky explains:
"There's this huge gap out there in travel writing. When you go on a trip, the story everyone wants to hear about is what went wrong; what's weird, wacky and crazy. But in travel writing, when you try to tell the dirt, it comes off as negative or whiny. Couple that with the fact that the news hole is shrinking and the industry feels like it's all about the 'escape.' [The feeling is] why should you talk about the place that stunk rather than the place that was good? But when you meet with other travel writers, this is the stuff they're talking about, but there was no venue for it."

Lansky says he was inspired by the Darwin and Razzie awards, and set about seeking the "great underachievements" in the travel world. The book is expected to come out this spring, but in the meantime check out his blog for some great video clips and interviews, and take the survey to make sure your opinions are added to the mix.

[The Titanic Awards]