Need something to do while self-isolating or social distancing? How about picking up some books about travel to help you escape!
I’ll be honest: this post wasn’t supposed to go out today. My original plan was to publish an article on Tuesday about visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam. The tunnels, which are an easy day trip from Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, are part of the amazing underground network once used by the Viet Cong to conduct their guerilla war against US forces. We found them fascinating, and learning about the “American War” from the Vietnamese point of view is an important thing to do when visiting Vietnam.
As Tuesday grew closer, however, something seemed off about allowing the post to go live. I removed it from the publishing schedule, telling myself I’d post it later in the week. I reasoned that it made sense to inject a little breathing room after the two back-to-back posts last weekend.
That uncomfortable feeling didn’t go away, however. I was keenly aware that the world has changed since I first scheduled the Vietnam post a couple of months ago. It felt weird to publish it as if nothing was different. Instead, I reworked another post that had originally been scheduled for the summer but has the opportunity to be useful now.
I still think that content about travel is relevant and important. We don’t know when this pandemic will end, or at the very least when the harsh restrictions will lift. But someday, the world will be open to us again, and people’s desire to experience all the wonderful places it has to offer won’t have gone away. In addition, thousands of destinations (and the small businesses in them) will have suffered significant economic loss and will need travelers’ dollars to help them recover.
For now, reading and dreaming about far-off places is an excellent remedy for cabin fever and provides an escape when life feels uncertain and scary. I hope these books about travel help you pass the time and find some joy.
Unless the situation changes in a way that convinces me that it would be inappropriate to do so, normal posts will resume the first week of April. In the meantime, today I’m sharing a list of some of my favorite books about travel. I hope you find one or two that help you pass the time until we can all get out into the world again.
I hope you and yours are and will continue to be well.
<3 Gwen
What It’s About: The author and her husband take the ultimate international plunge: homeschooling their three children while they spend nine months traveling the world. Along the way, she comes to terms with her two seemingly mutually-exclusive desires: to travel and to have a place to call home.
Why I Loved It: I loved this book so much that I bought my own copy soon after finishing my library loaner. It goes without saying that the idea of taking an extended amount of time to travel the world with M and our kid(s) is the ultimate dream, and Tsh offers lots of great insight into the hows and whys of doing it. What I loved most, however, is how much I could relate to Tsh’s longing for both a life of international adventures and the joy and fulfillment of building a life in a single, settled place.
One of My Favorite Quotes:
Two opposing things can be equally true. Counting the days till Christmas doesn’t mean we hate Halloween. I go to church on Sundays, and still hold the same faith at the pub on Saturday night. I shamelessly play a steady stream of eighties pop music and likewise have an undying devotion to Chopin. And perhaps most significantly: I love to travel and I love my home.
Tsh Oxenreider
Find At Home in the World on Amazon
What It’s About: Before Instagram and digital nomadism made it commonplace, Rolf Potts left his daily grind to pursue long-term travel. In this classic, Potts inspires his readers with tales of his extensive travels, provides ample tips and resources for you to follow in his footsteps, and teaches us that adventure is in the eye of the beholder
Why I Loved It: One of my biggest pet peeves in the travelogue genre is how pretentious and condescending many of them can be, especially toward people who choose to travel short-term and care about building a traditional career. Vagabonding is the opposite. It’s a down-to-earth how-to guide that provides great tips, insight, and inspiration for any traveler, regardless of where and how you choose to spend your vacation days. At the same time, Potts makes long-term travel seem not only infinitely appealing but also completely attainable.
One of My Favorite Quotes:
The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home — and the slow nuanced experience of a single country is always better than the hurried, superficial experience of forty countries.
Rolf Potts
What It’s About: When her husband lands his dream job working for LEGO in Denmark, Helen Russell suddenly finds herself trading the hustle and bustle of London for the quiet Danish countryside. Once settled in the land of hardy Vikings, long winters, and sky-high taxes, Russell goes on a quest to discover what it is about Denmark that puts it at the top of the list of the world’s happiest countries year after year.
Why I Loved It: Ok, so this is more of a fish-out-of-water story about adjusting to life as an expatriate than a traditional travelogue. Nevertheless, I really, really liked this book and couldn’t not include it here. Russell’s warm, witty writing style makes it feel like you’re already the best of friends and she’s writing directly to you. Plus, her in-depth look at Danish culture and what makes a happy society is a fascinating read.
One of My Favorite Quotes:
Being an immigrant is not for sissies.
Helen Russell
Find The Year of Living Danishly on Amazon
What It’s About: An unadventurous travel writer decides to follow in the footsteps of Hiram Bingham, the polarizing man who discovered (or looted, depending on whom you ask) the famed Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in 1911. After hiring an expert guide, a cook, and some muleteers, he sets off into some of the most gorgeous and remote landscapes on the planet. Part history lesson, part adventure story, part love letter to the Andes, it’s easy to see why Turn Right at Machu Picchu has become a travel classic.
Why I Loved It: I listened to the audiobook of Turn Right at Machu Picchu and it was an engaging, funny read. (Can you still call it that if it’s technically more of a listen?) The book is filled with colorful characters, from Adams’s hardy, pragmatic guide to Bingham himself. Having spent a few months in the Andes, the whole story evoked no small amount of nostalgia, and within a few chapters, I was longing to book the next flight to Cusco.
One of My Favorite Quotes:
By 8:00, we were walking along the same path Bingham had taken through the terraces, following a train of photogenic llamas reporting for duty. For whatever reason – our arrival before the big crowds from Cusco, my sense of having earned this visit over the previous weeks of walking, the absence of my sometimes-sullen 13-year-old-son – Machu Picchu was different this time… The distant peaks ringing the ruins like a necklace were higher. The nearby slopes were greener. And of course the city, laid out before the visitor like a LEGO metropolis atop a billiard table, is impossible to turn away from… Nowadays, we throw around the word “sublime” to describe gooey desserts or overpriced handbags. In Kant’s epistemology, it meant something limitless, an aesthetically pleasing entity so huge that it made the perceiver’s head hurt. Machu Picchu isn’t just beautiful, it’s sublime.
Mark Adams
Find Turn Right at Machu Picchu on Amazon. PS: If you haven’t tried Audible yet, use this link to get a free 30-day trial that includes up to two audiobooks and a whole lot more!
*Note: since I transcribed the above quote from the audiobook, some punctuation may differ from the print version.
What It’s About: Widowed and diagnosed with terminal uterine cancer within the same week, 90-year-old Norma Bauerschmidt refuses to spend the rest of her life undergoing chemotherapy. Instead, she joins her son and daughter-in-law on an RV trip across the United States and shows us that you’re never too old to go on a great adventure.
Why I Loved It: I found Miss Norma’s Facebook page about halfway through her journey around the US and fell in love immediately. It was so much fun following her adventures that there was no way I wasn’t going to read the book as well. Entertaining travel stories aside, I also appreciated this book because of the way it made me rethink healthcare and quality of life issues for the elderly and dying.
One of My Favorite Quotes:
I’m 90 years old. I’m hitting the road.
Miss Norma
Find Driving Miss Norma on Amazon
What It’s About: Right before he and his wife leave on a vacation to Scotland, author Scott Crawford discovers that he is descended from a family whose members featured prominently in important events throughout Scottish history. He becomes obsessed with tracking down his noble roots, upending their romantic vacation and taking the couple on a funny, heartwarming odyssey through one of the most beautiful and historically fascinating countries on Earth.
Why I Loved It: This book was such a fun unexpected find! I came across the title while browsing books on Kindle Unlimited and laughed pretty much the whole way through. It made me deeply nostalgic for Scotland, a place that gets into your heart immediately and refuses to leave. It also provided some excellent insight into lesser-known episodes of Scotland’s tumultuous history and prompted me to add a bunch of new places to the list for my next trip.
One of My Favorite Quotes:
“Now, I want to forewarn the reader that my tale for the remainder of this chapter will likely be peppered with sweeping adjectives-wonderful, terrific, perfect, neat!- that might smack of insincerity in their casual claims of the grandiose. Do not be fooled; their usage is sincere and, in my mind, fully justified. I know one should not judge a town based on a single evening (a few hours, really), so I will contain my claim to my own experience. For all I know, at other times, the town of Dunkeld may be a hideous hell on earth, populated by thieves, mean old ladies and obnoxious children, and plagued by blood-thirsty insects. But for the night we passed nestled in Dunkeld’s bosom, it was one of the most perfect places on earth.”
Scott Crawford
Find Where’s Me Plaid? on Amazon
What It’s About: British buddies George and Mark set out to explore the small towns and backroads of the United States in a terribly impractical vehicle. George’s account of the resulting road trip, sprinkled with kinds of astute observations only an outsider can make, made me laugh and swell with pride that I get to call this beautiful, welcoming country “home.”
Why I Loved It: First, I love small-town America and the romance of hitting the open road. This book brought back fond memories of my own cross-country road trip, although we had a much more reliable car, a little more money, and an infinitely healthier diet. I also love a book that can make me laugh out loud. After finishing Not Tonight, Josephine, I quickly added a couple of Mahood’s other travelogues to my reading list and can’t wait to read more.
One of My Favorite Quotes:
The [United States] can be big and brash, loud and arrogant, but it can also be incredibly modest and understated. It is a country that is a world-leader in commerce, technology, and human achievement, yet its countless deserts, mountain ranges, lakes, wilderness areas and even its spectacular cityscapes, make it one of the most stunningly beautiful countries on Earth… America has more than enough splendour in every direction you look.
George Mahood
Find Not Tonight, Josephine on Amazon
What It’s About: Nomadic Matt is one of the biggest names in the travel blogging biz. He’s helped thousands of people see the world through his website and bestselling book about how to travel on $50 per day. His newest book is more autobiographical; Kepnes shares stories from the road while examining why we travel and how it changes us forever.
Why I Loved It: I’ll admit, this was probably my least favorite book on this list, though it’s still worth a read. Having lived a nomadic lifestyle myself for the better part of almost three years, I could relate to a lot of Matt’s experiences and perspectives. His words on travel burnout and the difficulty of coming home to a life where people may not understand your choices and experiences were particularly poignant.
Most of all, this book made me reflect on how taking a chance on that seasonal job in Alaska changed my life. I met so many outgoing, adventurous, charismatic people who instilled in me the idea that it was admirable – and not at all weird – to pursue nontraditional work and travel balances. That shift in perspective changed my life, and Kepnes is trying to empower others to see those possibilities as well.
One of My Favorite Quotes:
The road is about learning to let go of all our plans, no matter how large or small, so we can grab hold of those serendipitious moments that turn into lifelong memories.
Matt Kepnes
Find Ten Years a Nomad on Amazon
Well, there you have it! Eight of my favorite recent books about travel. I hope that they’ve inspired you to curl up with a cup of something hot and do a little reading yourself. This list was such fun to curate that I have already started reading for another, so be on the lookout for my next few favorites sometime in the future!
Do you have any favorite books about travel? Let me know in the comments and I’ll check them out!
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One Week in Scotland: A Perfect Itinerary
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10 Reasons Why the Yukon Should Be on Your Travel List
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