For Sale: Train Trip with Writer Paul Theroux. $12,000.
Travel Blog • Jim Benning • 09.08.08 | 12:34 PM ET
Photo by Exeter International is offering a 14-day trip aboard the Trans-Siberian Express to the Arctic Circle with none other than Paul Theroux. The trip is scheduled for June 2009 and starts at “just” $12,795 per person based on double occupancy.
I can’t help but imagine Theroux wincing at the prospect of this trip, thrust into the role of entertainer for two straight weeks after enjoying relative invisibility on his most recent big rail trip.
But perhaps I’m wrong. I dialed up Kevan Cowie, director of product planning for Exeter international. He told me he was surprised to hear my perspective, adding, “I’ve spoken with three different people who’ve been on trips with him or have had personal experience with him who said they thought he’d be wonderful on the trip.”
Up to 90 slots are available. The offering, he said, is generating “a huge amount of interest.”
Theroux, of course, has made a great career of writing about train trips. The Great Railway Bazaar ranked No. 3 on our list of the all-time best travel books. His new book, “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star,” earned a rave review last month on World Hum.