Frommer’s celebrates 60th anniversary with vacation giveaway

Arthur Frommer wrote his first travel guide book while stationed in Oberammergau, Germany, as an Army intelligence officer

It was 1953 when he arrived, and at the time, U.S. citizens rarely traveled to Europe. If they did, they would stay at luxury hotels and eat at fancy restaurants, too afraid to explore elsewhere in the post-World War II years. But Frommer was curious–and on a budget.

Anytime he had a weekend off or a three-day pass, Frommer would explore neighboring countries, usually by getting a free lift on an Air Force plane. His fellow GI’s were not as adventurous.

“Most of them had never left the barracks,” he recounts while sitting with his daughter Pauline at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel one afternoon this week.

He decided to spend his free time writing a book that would help them venture beyond the base.

“The G.I.’s Guide to Travelling in Europe,” which advised soldiers on how to travel on a budget, was released in 1955. Frommer self-published 5,000 copies with money borrowed from family. The books were sold at Army Post Exchanges, more commonly known as PX’s, a type of trading post for soldiers. The first printing sold out the first day. Three more reprints followed.

“I had stumbled, on absolute accident,

Article source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/roadwarriorvoices/2017/05/26/frommers-celebrates-60th-anniversary-vacation-giveaway/102182258/