Let’s be real—travel writing should transport you, not preach at you. The 2019 edition of *The Best American Travel Writing* does both, with wildly uneven results. Some essays? Absolute gems. Others? Cringe-worthy detours into political soapboxing.

Standout pieces like the Victorian travel guide critique are *brilliant*. The author’s comparison of rigid 19th-century advice to a modern Illinois mall visit is witty and fresh—exactly why I pick up these anthologies. Another favorite: the Turkey essay where the writer’s veil experiment becomes a lens into cultural connection. These stories *deliver*—vivid, thoughtful, and genuinely eye-opening.

But then there’s the Myanmar essay. Picture this: a parade of ‘I’ statements, gratuitous digestive woes, and a local guide reduced to wallpaper. It reads like a first draft, not ‘best of’ material. Jason Wilson’s intro warns about bad travel writing—this one checks every box.

Now, the elephant in the room: politics. Yes, travel intersects with policy, but heavy-handed Trump critiques dominate to the point of exhaustion. Even as someone who leans left, I wanted *escape*, not a partisan echo chamber. The series has always had a slant, but this year it drowns out the wanderlust.

Final verdict? Worth reading—but selectively. Skip the duds (you’ll spot them fast) and savor the standouts that remind you why travel writing matters: to discover the world through someone else’s shoes. Just maybe wait for a sale.