The Hidden Europe

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The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us is a travel narrative based on Francis Tapon's trips to Eastern Europe. Watch the book trailer! 

Official publication date: April 28, 2012—20th anniversary of the fall of Yugoslavia. Although the ebook and hardcover are now available, the serious promotion doesn't happen until the pub date.

If you need an image of the book cover, you can get it in small, medium, or large.

Download sample chapters!

a) Read the first 3 chapters of The Hidden Europe for free and with no obligation! Download either the PDF that is optimized for onscreen viewing or for printing.

b) If you want 4 chapters of The Hidden Europe + a free video about traversing Spain twice + chapter two of Hike Your Own Hike, then sign up for my newsletter below (you can unsubscribe at any time)!

Background

For many Westerners, Eastern Europe is about as appealing as a deodorant-free French armpit. That didn't scare Francis Tapon because not only did he learn how to rough it by walking across America four times, but he is also half French, so he kind of smells too.

Francis spent nearly 3 years traveling and backpacking in 25 Eastern European countries. It started with a 5-month trip in 2004. He returned in 2008 to spend 3 years exploring all the countries again. The Hidden Europe is Book Two of the WanderLearn Series.

There are 25 chapters (one for each country). Each chapter:

• Examines an Eastern European country's history, food, language, sites, stereotypes, and drinking habits.
• Covers Francis Tapon's personal adventures in that country.
• Ends with a short summary of what practical things you can learn from that country.

The Hidden Europe book trailer and tour

• Read about how I define Eastern Europe. 
• The hardcover book is 736-pages long (330,000 words) and has one color map of Eastern Europe along with a ribbon bookmark.
• It has already received many positive endorsements and reviews.

Dust Jacket

Francis Tapon yearned for a European adventure, but Western Europe seemed too tame and passé. So he traveled for 3 years visiting every Eastern European country—all 25 of them.

The Hidden Europe cleverly mixes insightful facts with hilarious personal anecdotes. It's profound, yet light. Francis Tapon is a sharp observer who helps you distinguish a Latvian from a Lithuanian, while not confusing Slovenia with Slovakia.

You'll also learn:

• Why Baltic people are human squirrels.
• When and why Poland disappeared from Europe.
• Why Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia broke up.
• Why Hungarians are really Martians.
• How Slovenians learn languages so quickly.
• Why the Balkans is so screwed up.
• Why there's much more to Romania than Dracula.
• Which Moldovan tradition saves marriages.
• What the future holds for Belarus, Ukraine, Russia.
• Why communism was a dream . . . and a nightmare.

The book has 16 pages of color photos and a color map!

Dust Jacket flaps

When people say that they're "going to Europe," they're usually referring to Western Europe. But what about Eastern Europe? You don’t really know Europe until you visit its mysterious eastern side.

Francis Tapon’s quest was simple: explore every country in Eastern Europe from the Gulf of Finland to the Black Sea. He saw them all in 2004 and then returned in 2008 to revisit them to see what had changed. He finally left in 2011 to share a side of Europe that few know.

Starting in the Baltic, you'll move through Belarus, Poland, Slovakia and get as far west as Slovenia before heading south into the thrilling Balkans. Then you'll head northeast through Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, and Russia. It's a 25-country adventure spanning several years!

The Hidden Europe is an entertaining travelogue that also shares practical lessons that will impact your day-to-day life. You’ll learn about today's Eastern Europe along with understanding the complex history of this fascinating region.

You’ll also see how the locals live and realize that they do some things better than most of the world. You’ll understand why smart money and groundbreaking tourists are flocking to this undiscovered territory. Best of all, you won’t have to deal with the grumpy train ticket vendors.

About the author

Francis Tapon is a public speaker, world traveler, and life coach. Author of Hike Your Own Hike: 7 Life Lessons from Backpacking Across America, he has traveled to over 75 countries. He was born and raised in San Francisco. He is a first-generation American, born of a French father and a Chilean mother. He has a degree in Religion from Amherst College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Where to buy