Day: August 14, 2014

Getting your first big break in writing can take a lot of hard work, determination, and maybe just a little bit of luck.

This is the tale of travel writer Brian Thacker, successful author of seven travel books including Rule number 5: No sex on the bus and The Naked Man Festival. His former life was as an advertising art director, and when you lose an account in advertising, many people lose their jobs. His was one of those jobs.

So he decided to do something different. “I saw an ad in a paper for tour leaders in Europe and winter work,” he recalls. “So, I got this big silly dream. I went over and got a job as a ski guide in Switzerland. And, in the summer I was taking tours around Europe, busloads of drunk Aussies and Kiwis around Europe.”