Harvey Flea Is a Unique Laugh

In an Internet that is jammed packed full of sites that are all busy selling something or trying to make me click their ads, HarveyFlea.com is a breath of fresh air. It's a nice, clean website jam packed with hilarious, fictional travel essays by Harvey Flea, who claims to be the world's first travel writer who is also a . . . mosquito?

Somehow it all works, though

Harvey Flea is a male mosquito who travels the world, writing humorous essays about the adventures he comes across. As you can tell from his mugshot (copied right there), he fancies himself a bit of an Indiana Jones. His essays, which evidently are based on real fact from the level of detail in them, are fun to read. I laughed my way through his recent trip to Holland, where the little critter fell head over heels in love with a native dessert. I took the liberty of copying a bit here:

I came to De Nieuwe Karmeliet, to risk life and limb for one of my favorite extreme sports: Breakfast. Thankfully, I was able to stay under the radar: The restaurant staff was too busy trying not to drop two-ton plates, and happy diners quickly went into a stupor as blood from their brains assisted in emergency digestion contingencies. A quick reconnaissance flight from the ceiling told me exactly what tables I wanted to target.

I started with the basics: a pannenkoek with sugar. My dining companion, a businessman by the way he was dressed, was busy talking to his table buddies, so I snuck in by the edge of the plate. He generously sprinkled the powdered sugar on the pancake, on the plate, on the table, and - most important - on me. Thus camouflaged, I would be virtually undetectable.

Harvey related how he practically sacrifices his life for just one taste of what we'd call a pancake, except that "It’s dark, it’s thick, it’s mesmerizing." The writer never loses sight of the fact that Harvey Flea is a mosquito. You get so drawn into the story, you forget for the moment that it's just fictional. It makes perfect sense that the writer could get trapped in a drop of pancake syrup.

Psuedo-realistic writing

As I stated above, the essays are replete with the type of detail you would expect from someone who was truly there. You walk away from them with a great chuckle. You also feel as though you have learned something.

HarveyFlea.com also has other amusing characters. There's Grumpy Retired Travel Writer Lady, who seems to be more busy complaining bitterly about Harvey's lack of money to pay her for her work. There's Yuri, a man from Moldova who never has any luck. He reminds me a lot of Eeyore, and he's just as cheerful. According to The Rumor Mill, a sort of news bulletin that Harvey Flea sends out, there's another character coming soon. His name will be Archibald Chops.

I enjoyed HarveyFlea.com very much, and I'm sure you will too. For me, it was a bright spot in my day. As a freelance author, I always love coming across great writing that is put out there simply for the fun of the game - not to get Adsense ads. I got the feeling that whoever is behind Harvey Flea will keep the quality coming.