Have you an all time favourite travel book?

1. 96

   chef-de-jourposted 9 years ago

   Have you an all time favourite travel book?
   
   Travel books help us escape out into strange, remote and exotic places of the planet. Do you like to read about foreign or local places as seen by travel writers?

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2. 67

   Rod Marsdenposted 9 years ago

   Well, there's Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift for exotic fictional places. Then there's My Family and Other Animals by naturalist Gerald Durrell. Read it and Greece will never be the same again. Usually I just read travel articles in the weekenders or watch travel docos on tele.

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      chef-de-jourposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I loved Gerald Durrell's book. His enthusiam for the natural world just jumps out of every page. And he's pretty good at describing Greek history and landscape too! Thank you for the comment.

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   Lowdown0posted 9 years ago

   I used to like On The Road by Jack Kerouac, and I still think it's a worth while read yet I don't think of the guy the same as I used to. This is a travel book across the US.  He was an amazing writer if anything.

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   1. 96

      chef-de-jourposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for the comment, appreciate it. I've recently read this book again, after seeing the recent movie, and still think it has great energy. It captures the restless, drifting spirit of the times.

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   Global-Chicaposted 9 years ago

   My all time favorite and inspiration for traveling around the world is the Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys. Simply amazing!

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5. 66

   Lady Guinevereposted 9 years ago

   The very first book I ever read and still my all time favorite book is Travels With Charlie by John Steinbeck.  That would be earthly travels.  For other travels it would have to be books by Larry Niven, Madeleine D' Engle and The Chronicals of Narnia.

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      chef-de-jourposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      John Steinbeck's book is a classic. Who would have thought he'd go journeying with a poodle? Thank you.

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   tirelesstravelerposted 9 years ago

   Generally read travel magazines.  The typical trips I travel aren't the kind most people want to experience.  This summer is Alaska working at a kids camp on the Yukon River.  The accommodations are tents, pit toilets and heated river water in the shower.

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   1. 96

      chef-de-jourposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for the response. Sounds like you're in for an interesting trip! Perhaps a hub or a mini book might come out of your adventure??

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   Suzanne Dayposted 9 years ago

   Here's my list here: http://suzanneday.hubpages.com/hub/travel-books
   
   My favourite would have to be "The Sex Lives Of Cannibals" which is a lot less sexy than it sounds, but a lovely harsh read about living on Kiribati.

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   1. 96

      chef-de-jourposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I'll have to check this title out, looks too good to miss! I recall first hearing about cannibals when I read Robinson Crusoe! Thank you for the comment.

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   MJenniferposted 9 years ago

   If I have to pick "a" favorite, it would have to be Paul Theroux's Kingdom by the Sea.  Just before my first visit to the UK, one of my literature professors (a Welshman) suggested Theroux's book chronicling his foot-journey around the British coastline.  Even now, so many years later, I recall particularly vivid lines and passages. 
   
   Prior to that, I'd fallen in love with Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and with Carl Raswan's Black Tents of Arabia.  As to the latter, I have a personal theory that the man who became known for his tall tales that were later made into the movie Hidalgo had actually read Raswan's book and made up his own stories based on the descriptions in the novel.  It was certainly a book to inspire the imagination.

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      chef-de-jourposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Some excellent titles. Theroux's book I know well because in it he visits a tiny village in Lincolnshire, Barrow on Humber,where I used to live, searching for an elusive old gentleman with a secretive background. Richard Cuthbert Dufill,ex spy.

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   Availiasvisionposted 9 years ago

   My favorite travel book is Vagabonding by Rolf Potts.  It will make you re-think the longevity and purpose of travel.  It will make you question your present existence and the allure of a steady and safe lifestyle.  It will awaken something inside of you that will make you want to dust off your backpack and buy a plane ticket to somewhere far, far away.

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