The Memoir
Prepare for Departure
Notes on a Single Mother, a Misfit Son, Inevitable Mortality and the Enduring Allure of Frequent Flyer Miles.
A touching and darkly humorous exploration of identity, coming out, aging and death, set against a backdrop of travel and the pursuit of a dream. If David Sedaris, Michelle Zauner or Samantha Irby were travel addicts, they might relate.
Prepare for Departure is a memoir about a mother, a son and the journeys that families sometimes must take together.
IN-PERSON LIVE EVENTS
• Los Cabos Tourism Board Holiday Party, Beverly Hills, California (motivational presentation based on the book, about reconnecting with your younger self)
• NLGJA National Convention (journalism panel host)
(video)
• NYC Book Launch Party & Reading, hosted by The Spot Bar NYC, book sales managed by The Bureau of General Services — Queer Division (live event, book reading, signing, Q&A)
• Western-Monroe Historical Society/Lift Bridge Bookshop (book reception and reading)(video of book reading, reception and TV appearance)
• Albany Book Festival (author/exhibitor at live event)
• ASTA Global Convention, San Francisco (video of live presentation)
• Book Launch Party & Reading at The Queensboro, Jackson Heights, NY
• Louisville Book Festival, Kentucky International Convention Center, Louisville, KY
(writing presentation)
INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
• Forbes (profile feature)
• Louisville Courier Journal (interview)
• Westside News (article)
• Nail Your Novel (interview article)
• Drillinjourneys (interview)
• Traveling IQ (interview)
GRIEF & CAREGIVING PODCASTS
• The Caring Caregiver Show (podcast)
• Grief Out Loud (podcast by the Dougy Center, the national grief center for children and families)
• Grief is My Side Hustle (podcast)
• Give Grief a Chance (podcast)
STILL TO COME: Where’s the Grief (with Jordon Ferber)
TRAVEL PODCASTS
• Speaking of Travel (iHeart Radio podcast interview)
• TravelPulse (podcast)
• The Thoughtful Travel Podcast
• Humans of Travel (TravelAge West podcast)
• The Folo (Travel Weekly podcast)
• Unique & Fresh (Houston, Texas)(starts at 19:56 mark)
LGBTQ PODCASTS
• Coming Out Stories
BOOK PODCASTS
• The Nerd Cantina (podcast)
BOOK EXCERPTS
• Bold Traveller Magazine (book excerpt)
• GayCities (book excerpt)
• What Is That Book About (book excerpt)
BOOK CLUB APPEARANCES
• Wood Library, Canandaigua Queer Lit Book Club.
September 28, 2022 (in-person and virtual), Canandaigua, NY
• Brockport Book Club
September 30, 2022 (in-person), Brockport, NY
• Destin Book Club, Destin, FL
GIFT GUIDE RECOMMENDATIONS
• Travel Weekly
• Recommend Magazine
“Award-winning travel writer Mark Chesnut puts his quick wit, clever observations and excellent story-telling skills to good use in his moving memoir, ‘Prepare for Departure,’ a swan dive into his relationships with everything travel (especially airlines) and his single mother, both equally deep. Pack your carry-on for a trip that will make you laugh, cry and want to stop and smell the roses—and it’s alllll ok.” — Lydia Gregory
• TravelPulse
“Award-winning travel writer Mark Chesnut’s memoir ‘Prepare for Departure’ is at the same time a memoir on grief and the love between a mother and son, as it is about the enduring travel bug that keeps people curious and itching to discover the world.” — Lacey Pfalz
• Passport Magazine
“A nostalgic, sometimes laugh-out-loud look at a boy obsessed … a heartfelt, funny, first-class debut.”
BOOK REVIEWS
•
“Chesnut has spent a life traveling the world and writing about it for various national magazines, but now with his mom near the end of her life his travel must take a back seat. There are so many wonderful scenes both funny and poignant in this beautifully written story. Everyone with an aging parent will identify with it.” — Jack Rightmyer, Albany Times-Union
•
“A thoughtful, amusing memoir … touching, inspirational, and extremely funny”
“As a renowned travel writer, Chestnut has an incredible knack for detail and manages to make everything and everyone in his memoir feel inviting and familiar. “Prepare for Departure” dutifully serves as both a captivating collection of personal essays and a comprehensive guidebook to help one plan accordingly for the inevitable.” — Christopher Verleger, Edge Media Network
• , October 2022: “Written with deftly articulated humor and insight, Prepare for Departure will have a very special and particular appeal to readers with an interest in LGBTQ biographies and memoirs, travel as a career and a compulsion, and maternal family relationships. Prepare for Departure is especially and unreservedly recommended for community, college and university library collections.” — John Burroughs, Midwest Book Review
•
“He doesn’t sugar coat the stress and frustration that comes with navigating long-term care and end of life planning, but he didn’t dwell on them either. This isn’t a treatise by any means, but it’s the sketches of a playbook for others in a similar situation — especially queer people that may still have baggage from less than positive coming out experiences.
The chapter, “The Flight of the Blue Heron,” where he recounts the family history of a sculpture and his mother’s last viewing of it in his home gutted me. It was the perfect balance of family lore mixed with the experience of letting go, both mentally and physically.
Throughout, Chesnut is likable and real. I kept thinking he would be a fun guest at a dinner party. If you’re the type of reader that enjoys memoirs exploring the lighter side of life with some heavier elements, this would be a good read for you.” — Andy: The Avid Listener