A Tramp Abroad

A Tramp Abroad, jocular travel book by American humorist and novelist Mark Twain that was published in 1880. More than a decade after the enormous success of his first travel book, The Innocents Abroad (1869), a humorous account of the travels of American tourists through Europe, the Holy Land, and Egypt, Twain returned to Europe for A Tramp Abroad, based on a 15-month walking holiday through central Europe and the Alps which he took in the company of his friend the Reverend Joseph Twitchell (called Harris in the book) in the late 1870s.

In spite of the intention of Twain and his companion to walk—or tramp—their way through their Alpine adventure, they managed to avoid walking as much as possible, taking a variety of modes of transport. Their journey begins in southwestern Germany, encompassing observations on Heidelberg, Mannheim, Baden-Baden, and the Black Forest. They continue through Switzerland and eastern France, and finally reach northern Italy. The book, consisting of 50 chapters each filled with stories and essays, interweaves observations and anecdotes with unrelated humorous stories and local legend, some of it invented. One of the best-known of the stories is “Baker’s Blue Jay Yarn.” Among the adventures was Twain’s plan to descend the Matterhorn by riding a glacier, having learned that glaciers are in constant motion, only to discover that the glacier that he has embarked on moves a little less than an inch a day, making it an unsuitable conveyance.

At the end of the book there are six appendices, essays describing hotel porters, the Heidelberg Castle, university prisons, and more. The most celebrated of these essays is “The Awful German Language.”

A Tramp Abroad was not as commercially successful as The Innocents Abroad, and it found a larger readership in Europe than in the United States. Nonetheless, it is a hilarious collection of observations and commentary written with Twain’s customary wit and panache.