Pico Iyer's humble Let's Go beginnings

If you've ever read Pico Iyer, you'll know that he is one of those rare, wonderfully eloquent travel writers who can really nail a destination and make you feel as though you were there.

What you probably don't know about Pico, however, is that he began his career writing for Let's Go--the ubiquitous publication so often clutched by young Americans backpacking through Europe.

Pico was at Harvard University studying Old English when his calling in life came in the form of a flyer posted on the campus seeking writers for the series (the books are written entirely by Harvard students). He quickly applied and was soon on his way with $1,400 to get him through 70 days of research.

According to a great article Pico recently penned for Condé Nast Traveler, writing for the budget publication, "was the best vocational training I ever had, a crash course in all kinds of lessons learned on the fly, and a perfect illustration of the ancient Calvinist truth that life and a free lunch are rarely well acquainted."

The hardest lesson learned by a 20-something Harvard student studying Old English, however, was "that what a reader of any guidebook wants is not a wise guy's 20-page treatise on Art versus Nature in the Cotswolds but the dirt on whether that grimy curry house is less poisonous than the grease-stained burger stand down the street."

And that's why we love Let's Go when we're students, and Pico's subsequent books when we're adults.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Books