Because I was just a contributor and not the sole author, I haven't gotten excited each time the two books I was a part of came out. Sure it was cool signing an actual publishing contract and having everything ferried across the ocean by FedEx (including the freshly printed copies of the books) but something always seemed to be missing (my self esteem, maybe?).

I've always had work on my desk when the books came out and, to be honest, contributing to guidebooks becomes such a grind by the end that it in no way resembles the glamor everyone thinks it would when turning to a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet to find a place to crash.

But: Explorer Berlin, an English-language guide to relocating to Berlin, is out and I did the how-to-navigate-the bureacracy section called "Residents" and Marc (of thelocal.de) did some other section that I can't remember. For those keeping track, we co-wrote Moon Metro Berlin, which (nervous laugh) I see now goes for $0.04.

A shout out to Sean the Explorer editor for actually using this photo of me:


However, he removed my reference to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

F*cker.