An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington

Karl gives us a view of the various lifestyles, that are lived all over the world, through the mind and eyes of someone that is average in every way. Not an intellectual, or a person that easily fits in with different societies, he still goes out there, to experience these lifestyles and societies, so that he can give us his unfiltered opinion of things that are different or foreign to him. The book is refreshing in itself, as you have no clue what to expect from it. And if you do expect something from it, you will probably find it is different from what you expected. It is a brilliant book, expressing an average man's thoughts about what most folks see as extraordinary things.

"An Idiot Abroad: The Travel Diaries of Karl Pilkington" is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It's an accompaniment to his fantastic television show "An Idiot Abroad" in which Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant get Karl to see the seven wonders of the world in a (sort of) travelogue format for Sky TV. Pilkington is caused massive amounts of grief by Gervais and Merchant who design itineraries and scenarios that Karl has no knowledge of and would never electively choose to participate in. These adventures are frequently punctuated with phone calls, voicemails, or texts from Ricky or Stephen ("Call me. Need to go over the rules of Mexican wrestling with you.")Although perpetually agitated by his tormentors, Karl has a worldview all his own and sometimes even though he hits all the wrong notes he still reveals great truths. The book is almost funnier than the series, and on several occasions I found myself laughing out loud while reading even though I knew the general outline of what was going to happen as I had seen the series previously.If you want a travel book that tells it like it really is or if you simply want to find out why hippos don't get eczema, buy "An Idiot Abroad"!

I like the Ricky Gervais Gang well enough, but I'm not obssessed. I've heard a few podcasts, seen 2 episodes of the HBO cartoon, etc. so I get the humor. That was why I thought I'd love this book - it's Karl Pilkington! Everyone's favorite Eeyore!The book is ok. It's Karl's travel diary as he's going around to the Seven Wonders of the World and not enjoying himself. In addition to his usual hermit-like tendencies, Ricky and Stephen have created various other diversions, intended to humiliate and frustrate Karl. That alone sort of let the air out of the balloon for me. I think I would have liked it better had it been Karl's initiating because he would have naturally bumbled into funnier situations. Instead, the show's crew books him into shared hostels in the slums of Rio and into enormous festivals in India. Plus, this completely limits the appeal of the book to ONLY people who know these people. I sincerely doubt anyone would randomly pick this up and love it.The hardest part for me, though, was the voice. I know what Karl sounds like and the cadence at which he speaks which is MUCH slower than the way I read. So in my head, I'm hearing him narrate and he's lagging behind what I was seeing. That was odd. Also, the editing sucked. I read the Kindle version of the book, so maybe the printed copy is better, but I can't imagine that the book was re-typed just for the Kindle. The spelling errors are glaring and LOTS of incorrect words (thanks to auto-correct). That's a huge distraction for me when I'm reading and especially when I've paid full-price for something.Anyway, the long and short: it was ok. Some funny parts, more smiles than laughs but those were infrequent. If you're a huge Gervais & Gang fan, you'll love it. If not, it's really a take-it-or-leave-it book.

I have watched a few of the TV episodes before and loved them. I was very surprised to find that the book is exactly the same as the shows, it even included the dry but hilarious conversations between Ricky, Stephen and Karl. I think having watched part of the series gave me a better understanding of who Karl is as a person and his attitude, the book might start off a bit confusing without this background.I loved reading about Karl's always eventful trips away, and was ridiculously jealous of the places he got to visited. I thought he gave a comical and one-of-a-kind insight in to each of the places he visited, although I felt that Machu Picchu was a little rushed and didn't have the same level of detail that the others had.I loved reading about Karl's trip to each of the 7 Wonders, and this made me want to visit each of them myself even more. A great read for those who love to travel.

I absolutely love this program! Karl must be the antichrist of T.V. travel programs because he does not display awe and wonder at every place he visits, but rather bemoans all the trials and tribulations that are not seen or expressed by world travelers while filming a show and conveyed onto the screen.Finally someone expresses their displeasure for the experiences they find while they travel at different destinations despite the hype of whatever attractions make us think to go there. There are indeed pratfalls, glitches, and awkwardness as a visitor that are not shown behind the scenes.His deadpan expressions, that sometimes liken to a "deer caught in the headlights" are classic.For one so timid, I have to say I would never have had the courage to "wing walk" on a plane as he did in season two in the U.S. Bravo!I highly recommend watching this to everyone considering travel, or in need of a hilarious unscripted entertainment.Thank you Karl for letting us share your simple observations while visiting locations we can only hope to see in our lives.

For anyone who has watched and loved "An Idiot Abroad" on television, then this book is an absolute must have. Perhaps if you've watched the show (especially more than once) you may think this book is one to miss, already feeling you might have seen it all but I promise you, you've only seen/heard the half of it.While the show lets you see everything visually (even Karl's extreme awkwardness and that expression of soul-crushing humiliation), the book gives you so much more depth into what Karl thinks about during his encounters at each destination. The episodes may show you scenes of Karl's travels, but the book gives more information about what's really going on, and Karl lets you into his private thoughts about the people and the things he sees. The book gives much further insight also into what happens between the travelling, or what occurs once the cameras are off (like Karl's getting locked in a public lavatory for ten minutes because he didn't pay the caretaker and unknowingly then didn't have the handle for the door to get back out). Sometimes, the true gems are truly what happens when Karl isn't being filmed and that's what makes this book such a must-have for anyone who really wants to know what it's like being in such places without Michael Palin making it look like a luxury holiday.Karl's inner thoughts are as just as hilarious as his monologues on the show, each chapter is so perfectly written, that you can almost hear him narrating each paragraph to you with just the right inflection. Karl Pilkington is an absolute 'everyman' and writes as one; he needs no fancy prose or ten-page descriptions of the great Pyramid to make the viewer see the world through his eyes; simply by being himself with his neurotic worries and absurd sense of humour anyone can read this book and feel connected to him and see the world as he sees it (as a twisted, odd, yet fascinating place). If life is hard, then reading about how hard Karl Pilkington has it during his adventures will definitely make you smile and thank your lucky stars you're not an Idiot Abroad.

I'm not of the younger generation and quite honestly had never heard of Karl Pilkington before, but I was somehow drawn to this book by just reading a sample of it and by then was aware that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Marchant were in some way connected (I had heard of them!!).This was one of the funniest books I'd read and to quote one reviewer (and sorry Hans, I've just stolen a paragraph from your review hope you don't mind :-) as it describes me almost to a "t". ""The appeal of Karl is not merely that he says stupid things, or that his concerns are petty - anyone could do that - it is that there is some semblance of logic in his thinking, and, personally at least, it mirrors a part of myself. The part of me that is more concerned with immediate comforts than new experiences, and is underwhelmed by things that I have been told I should find spectacular. Karl takes these feelings and runs with them to their absurd conclusions, so that a book about the wonders of the world spends much of the time detailing toilet concerns"".As an aside, I have just watched an episode on the TV where he was sent to Brazil, visually the appeal wasn't quite there for me but please buy the book and weep it's so worth it.

It's been a few years since I checked in with Karl. I used to love the Ricky Gervais show on XFM and even the podcasts/audiobooks that followed have been good (but not as good as the radio shows) and I loved the subsequent books "Happyslapped by a jellyfish" and "Karlology" and would recommend anyone who enjoyed "An Idiot Abroad" to check those out. So it was interesting to check back in with Karl after a break of years to see what he's been up to. Thankfully, he hasn't changed. At all.The moaning Manc is still talking about his various body parts as if they're individual to him: "me legs get tired before the rest of me body does" and "me brain was stressing me out - it knows I don't like it so why does it do that?". And of course he's still being picked on by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, this time from afar, as they send him into the world to see the Seven Wonders and throw obstacles in his path. When he goes to Israel he's kidnapped and held captive except Karl doesn't know it's not for real, it's training. When he goes to China he's made to fight trained Shaolin experts and when he visits Mexico he's put in the ring with other Lucha Libre wrestlers. And of course wherever he goes he's challenged to eat the local delicacies involving animal parts like eyes, brains, as well as various bugs.Karl handles it as best he can but as a reader you're always rooting for him, he's just too likeable. His no-nonsense approach to life coupled with his strange outlook and way of seeing the world are what has made him so famous, and if you're a fan (a KP nut) of his previous books and recordings, you'll enjoy seeing Karl deal with these odd situations and places in his own unique way. "An Idiot Abroad" is a great read and had me laughing throughout, the only thing missing was Monkey News. Karl really is a national treasure and should be titled the Eighth Wonder of the World.

I've seen a few episodes from the TV series and wanted to give the book a go. I love Karl Pilkington: his generally unimpressed take on supposedly impressive things, his strange and intricate way of viewing the world and his unapologetic grumpiness.An idiot abroad sees Karl on seven trips to see the wonders (the new ones, except one): the pyramids in Egypt, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, the Taj Mahal in India, Chichen Itza in Mexico, The Great Wall of China, Petra in Jordan and Machu Picchu in Peru. I love the illustrations and photos-mainly of him looking miserable- but couldn't enjoy them to the full because my kindle is black and white. At the beginning of each chapter there is a famous quote about the wonder, followed by one from Karl. For example, he says of the Great Wall, "It was knackered. So knackered that it wasn't really a wall. I remember hearing that you're supposed to be able to see the great wall of china from the moon, but that has got to be b*ll*cks 'cos even as I stood right next to this bit I had problems seeing it."In general he hates everywhere he goes, partly because he's not a fan of being out of his comfort zone, but also because Ricky and Stephen go out of their way to make his life difficult. They force him to meet up with random, weird people and eat scary food such as fried insects.I did find his pessimism and nonchalance a bit irritating at times, especially when he visited Christ the Redeemer, a place I really, really want to go to. I found that the more I read, the more he was actually putting me off going anywhere ever again. Then I realised how unfair it is that he got to do all this stuff for free, in fact he was paid for see all these famous sights. How unappreciative! But that's just it, isn't it? Often when things are given to us for free we don't appreciate them.But then I forgave Karl because he had an epiphany where he acknowledged that he was lucky to get to go to all those places for free.And he is completely hilarious. He takes bags of monster munch with him on every trip and hates most of the customs and food of the cultures, but still jumps in and does everything he's asked/made to do with plenty of enthusiasm: from dancing on a float at the Rio carnival, to wrestling in Mexico and riding a camel in Jordan, he really got into things. He is also very inquisitive and not afraid to question other people's customs.The book has left me with images of a far too busy Christ the Redeemer, a dead sea with tons of spit in it, a great wall that's falling down and many more reasons not to go to any of these places. The one wonder he didn't slag off too much, however, was Machu Picchu, which just sounds great and is still top of my list of places to visit.I have to say I find Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant pretty annoying. They don't give Karl much credit for the fact that he is the funny one and the one whose words people enjoy reading. Just near the end of the book Ricky calls to tell Karl they've changed the name of the series from 'Karl Pilkington's Seven Wonders' to 'An Idiot Abroad.' Karl's pretty unhappy and definitely doesn't agree to it, but as the title proves, he was bullied into it in the end. I suppose the bullying is all part of the act, and you could say that he would be nothing without the other two having made him famous, but still sometimes it's a bit much.I would definitely recommend this book.

It has to be said, Karl Pilkington is a comedy genius, even if he does not realise it himself.I bought this book after watching the TV series, but it is well worth the extra. There is a lot of ground covered in the book that did not make it to screen. You also get Karl's added insights on things that did occur on screen - many of these thoughts you could see almost written on his face during filming, the book merely confirms them.It's easy to poke fun at the Little Englander as Ricky and Steve do throughout. But if we are all being honest, there is probably a little bit of the Karl Pilkington in all of us.Any man who takes Monster Munch and Twix abroad with him in case he doesn't like the food is alright by me! I am more of a mini cheddars man myself, less space in the suitcase for more snack product, there is a little tip for you Karl.