Misadventures in Tuscany - David M. Addison

David M. Addison provides a refreshing, alternative perspective in travel writing. A bit like Mr Bean on holiday, picking up the wrong piece of luggage at the airport is just the first in a series of misadventures which bedevil the author and his long-suffering wife on this ill-starred trip to Tuscany. From the lesser-known Lucca, which serves as the epicentre for his disasters, to Pisa and Florence, the author takes the reader not only on a hilarious journey, but also on one of discovery as he lurches from one crisis to the next.

His frequently toe-curling account of his misadventures with the wrong bag is the link that blows like a gale of laughter throughout this narrative. Yet, for all his bungling, the author is surprisingly knowledgeable about the art, architecture and the history of Florence, Pisa and Lucca - places famous on the tourist map but what attracts his attention in these places is the weird amidst the wonderful, the curious and the quirky details that pass unnoticed by the majority of tourists.

In addition to this, the author takes the reader off the beaten track to places most tourists never venture. There are frequent laugh-out-loud moments at his technophobia, his blunders, his brushes with officialdom and those who just happen to cross his path, who either amuse him, intrigue him or as often as not, provoke his irritation.

A word of sympathy however, must be mentioned for his long-suffering wife and travelling companion who, amidst all this mayhem, is an innocent and unwitting accomplice.