The Tales of a Fly by Night

This collection of short travel stories should come with a public health warning These tales have been proven to cause restlessness, perspective shift, and travel itch in reasonable people, which may result in you being branded a "Fly by Night" by your mother's friends. Author Val Karren will recklessly tempt you to grab your passport, buy a one-way ticket and go get lost with him in far flung corners of Europe that you will never read about in a guide book. This anthology of both hilarious and tear-jerking short stories compiled from constant adventure seeking, will immerse you in the sensual languages, music and food of the Mediterranean Sea, before scaring your socks off in the snow and ice of Russia.Karren will take you along to Vienna to enjoy ten days in the hospital, and then get you lost and stranded in the far north of Sweden, in winter. He will drive you through breathtaking Transylvania, over treacherous mountain highways, and get you arrested in Moscow. If you're lucky, you will get off with just a warning while he is publicly berated for disorderly conduct by the Sicilian food police. It took Val six years to earn a bachelor's degree because he wouldn't sit in the classroom as the Velvet Revolution spread through Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. He did everything he could to be in the middle of it; to experience it for better or for worse.He eventually graduated with a bachelor's degree in Slavic languages and literature from the University of Washington in Seattle. From his studies and his career in international trade that have carried him to many corners the world, he has compiled a library of hilarious, eye-opening and sometimes heartbreaking stories from across Europe, Russia, and Arabia. He lives in Europe still with his wife and four kids, travelling and writing with every chance he gets.This book will confirm the wisdom of your previous decision to keep your job, call your mother, and stay right where you are You will laugh. You will cry. You will wonder what else in the world you're missing.