Travel books are often fascinating, easy to read and definitely hard to put down. This is certainly true of our list of harrowing true stories of travel, drugs and imprisonment.
I remember reading The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison
Reading these books you’ll experience a wide range of emotions but even more importantly they also act as a reminder about the very real dangers of being involved with illegal drugs on foreign soil.
Here’s our list of 7 Travel Books Not To Read Before You Travel:
Marching Powder
by Rusty Young
Drug smuggler Thomas McFadden finds himself inside the notorious San Pedro prison in Bolivia after being caught smuggling. He outlines the strange society that is instilled within the prison. Paying for their own cells, bribery, manufacturing and selling cocaine, McFadden offers some eye opening glimpses into life inside San Pedro. McFaddens ends up making his way by offering backpackers tours within the prison and is even referenced in the Lonely Planet guide.
The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison
by Warren Fellows
Caught trafficking heroin from Thailand and Australia in 1978, Warren Fellows finds himself serving life imprison at the notorious Bang Kwang in Bangkok. Sleeping on the floor with the rats and cockroaches, Fellows highlights a living hell as he battles to stay alive in the most extreme of circumstances. It’s a shocking but fascinating read that you’ll find almost impossible to put down.
Forget You Had a Daughter: Doing Time in the Bangkok Hilton – Sandra Gregory’s Story
by Sandra Gregory, Michael Tierney
After two years traveling around Thailand as well as living in Bangkok, Sandra Gregory is down on her luck, broke and desperate for money. She is then caught attempting to smuggle heroin and temazepam from Bangkok to Tokyo. Sandra finds herself doing time at the “Bangkok Hilton” amongst severe conditions of overcrowding, brutality and drug abuse. At one point she writes home to her family to tell them to forget they have a daughter.
No More Tomorrows: The Compelling True Story of an Innocent Woman Sentenced to Twenty Years in a Hellhole Bali Prison
by Schapelle Corby, Kathryn Bonella
Landing at Denpasar airport in Indonesia, Schapelle Corby is arrested after marijuana is found in her surf board bag. Unlike many other similar titles, Corby is still serving her sentence in an Indonesian jail. The story was covered intensely by the Australian media but Corby didn’t have a chance to put her own voice forward. This book is her story on what happened and on surving the harsh conditions of an Indonesian jail in a country where the penalties for this type of crime are immense.
In the Shadow of Papillon: Seven Years of Hell in Venezuela’s Prison System
by Frank Kane, John Tilsley
A disturbing insight into the Venezuelan justice system as Frank Kane makes a catastrophic decision to smuggle cocaine out of the country. Both Frank and his girlfriend, Sam are caught and Frank finds himself serving a 10 year sentence battling against drugs, gangs, disease and breakdown in horrendous conditions in a South America jail. Again this book is engaging, disturbing and very difficult to put down.
Hell’s Prisoner: The Shocking True Story of an Innocent Man Jailed for Eleven Years in Indonesia’s Most Notorious Prisons
by Christopher V.V. Parnell
On holiday with his family in Indonesia, Christopher Parnell and a friend are arrested at their hotel complex. The police find 12.5kg of hashish and Christopher’s nightmare begins. His friend is later release while Parnell faces the death penalty, it’s later reduced to 20 years in prison. Parnell faces the horrors of the foriegn prison, finding himself eating cockroaches and human flesh. A shocking story that will make you laugh and even cry as it takes you on Parnell’s roller coaster journey.
Journey to Hell
by Donald MacNeil
While teaching sailing in Northern England, Donald MacNeil is hired to skipper a yacht. With great pay and what looked like easy enough work MacNeil takes up the offer but soon finds out that not all is what it seems. He finds himself sailing to South America to pick up a huge shipment of cocaine that is destined for the United Kingdom. MacNeil and his crew are arrested trying to leave Venezuela and he’s found guilty. MacNeil battles against the brutality of life surrounded by filthy conditions,undrinkable water and bad sanitation in the San Antonio prison.
Have you read any harrowing travel books? What was your favourite? Let us know in the comments.
