Jilted Groom Goes on a Honeymoon with His Brother, Then Discovers How the World Makes Love – Meet NY Times Best-Seller Orange County Native Franz Wisner
Franz Wisner had the world by the tail. He was engaged to the beautiful Annie, with whom he shared a passion for conservative politics and a command of quotes from the movie “This Is Spinal Tap.” He worked as a government-relations official for a California real-estate giant, rubbing elbows with bigwig politicians, driving nice cars, eating fine food. But then his fiancé dumped him days before their wedding, and his boss demoted him. Basically, he had lost everything he lived for in the span of a week.
Now, most men would hit a dive bar with the guys. Wisner went on a Costa Rican honeymoon with his brother Kurt. To be fair, the honeymoon – including the honeymoon suite – was prepaid and non-refundable. Wisner should also get some “man cred” for spilling his guts to a prostitute in the hotel bar. “Not once did it occur to me that I was having a heart-to-heart with a woman who faked orgasms for a living,” he says now.
And amazingly, the crazy move turned into something even crazier, or as totally sane, depending on your point of view. For when the honeymoon was over, the brothers didn’t want it to end. So, both inspired and desperate, the two quit their jobs, sold their houses, gave away their belongings, and traveled the world for two years, romping through Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa. In all, the brothers visited 53 countries and had a thousand adventures.
Along the way, Wisner got to know his brother in a way he never had and patched up their failed past relationship. “Kurt had become my new best friend,” he says. In addition to a newfound brotherhood, the experience resulted in the book “Honeymoon with My Brother,” which became a New York Times bestseller and was optioned for a movie. It’s a touching memoir for anyone interested in travel, other cultures or just a darn good read.
And the travel-savvy Wisner brothers didn’t stop there. Following the success of “Honeymoon with My Brother,” they set out again for their next project, “How the World Makes Love,” which details their year-long odyssey in which, according to Franz, they “gathered insights and stories from heartbroken singles and happily married couples, urbanites and villagers, spooners and spoonees about the most important, and bizarre, topic on earth. Love.”
It all seemed to have worked, too, because currently Franz not only is closer to his brother than most siblings, he has a beautiful wife and two healthy children. Which may account for the fact that he is taking a year off the road to help others write their own memoirs in classes (in his home of New York City) and through his consultancy service, found at www.storydrivenink.com.
Travelers can also get great travel tips – and some fun reading – at either www.honeymoonwithmybrother.com, www.howtheworldmakeslove.com.
The brothers visited 53 countries in two years, covering Russia, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and South America. Franz best travel tip? Throw away the guidebooks, and talk to the locals instead. Franz Wisner is a writer/vagabond who, in a previous reincarnation, used to work as a lobbyist, a public relations executive, and a government press secretary. During his world journeys, he published numerous travel articles and opinion pieces, which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, ABC News on-line, and Coast Magazine, among others.
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