Two things guaranteed to spoil a holiday, no matter how well-planned, are the weight of expectation, and accidently packing your emotional baggage for the journey.

Looking at glossy travel brochures, or scrolling through beautiful travel photos online, it’s easy to forget that the person on your next holiday will still be your same old self.

While most people are happy when they’re away from work, and waking up in a new country, what happens if you start getting bored? Or worse, what if you’re standing in front of something iconic like the Acropolis or the Eiffel Tower and you feel… nothing?

What if you’re standing in front of something iconic like the Acropolis or the Eiffel Tower and you feel… nothing?

The idea of escaping, only to be followed by crappy moods and attitudes from back home, is a reoccurring theme for author Geoff Dyer in this collection of ten travel essays.

Drifting from Amsterdam to Cambodia, New Orleans to Ko Pha-Ngan, Dyer writes about the sort of life everyone has dreamed of living – and how it frustrates him a lot of the time.

Unlike your typical travel author, where rose-coloured glasses are standard issue, Dyer spends a lot of his time discussing the things no one admits, like how sunsets are overrated, or how there’s a limit to the number of temples a person can handle.

“We were templed out,” writes Dyer. “The experience had been too huge, and because of the millions of carvings – most of which I scarcely noticed – too intensely intricate. We were suffering from stupendous overload and, as usual, it was about a thousand degrees centigrade and humid as an old pond.”

Thought-provoking and hilarious, Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered doesn’t actually include any tips on the ancient Indian practice in its title, but Dyer’s honesty about life on the road makes it rewarding in plenty of other ways.