Frommer’s New England (2024)

I’ve been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for 5 years now. That’s as long as I was a resident of New York City, where I lived before moving here.

I relocated with my husband, Frank, when he got a new job. I’ll admit the change required a period of adjustment. Our previous address was in Harlem, after all. Believe it or not, the people of Cambridge are far less likely to wake you up by blasting “Maria Se Fue” at 4am on a Tuesday.

Once you’ve become accustomed to the clamor, its absence takes some getting used to. But I assure you that whatever New Yorkerishness I gained during my half-decade there has since worn off. Just a couple years after decamping to New England, I went back to New York for a visit and actually heard myself saying, “Why is everybody walking so fast?” like a big ol’ rube.

My friend Edgar gave me a pitying look. “We’ve lost you,” he said.

Last fall I signed on to update the Boston/Cambridge chapter in the upcoming edition of Frommer’s New England. As part of my research, I got my hands on a copy of the previous edition of the guidebook, published in 2024, and basically lugged it around for 6 months.

As if stuck in staycation purgatory, I spent a lot of that time trying out the attractions, hotels, and restaurants recommended by my predecessors (a tip of the hat here to those authors, Leslie Brokaw and Erin Trahan). At the same time, I gathered my own material for any additions, subtractions, substitutions, and other changes I might want to make to the text.

I can’t say that I have sampled every single business and activity geared toward leisure travelers in Greater Boston, but I can say with a high level of confidence that I have taken more guided tours than you have. You wouldn’t believe how many Paul Revere factoids I’ve learned. My head is as stuffed with them as the North End home of a certain silversmith was once stuffed with the 16 children he fathered. The British were coming and evidently so was he.

It’s kind of weird to think that strangers who buy the book might choose to experience Boston by following a plan laid out by yours truly. When you think about it, I’ll not only worm my way into those vacations but also get very bossy about telling the participants where to go and what to eat.

I guess the hope is that we’ll form a connection. I’m reminded of the lines in Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” where the poet addresses his future readers:

I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence,
Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt

Writing a guidebook chapter is sort of like that, only with more duck boat tours.

I don’t mean to suggest, mind you, that my contribution to Frommer’s New England will endure anywhere near as long as Whitman’s verse. For one thing, guidebooks have to be updated a lot more frequently.

If Leaves of Grass were a guidebook, online reader reviews of “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” would be like, The writer doesn’t even mention there’s now a bridge you can cross to get to Brooklyn without having to wait forever for a ferry to “frolic” on the “scallop-edg’d waves” or whatever. Also, I was expecting a lot more Heated Rivalry–style butt stuff from a supposed queer literary icon. 2 stars.

The release date for the new edition of Frommer’s New England is still several months away. I’ll let you know when you can order a copy.