One of the best parts of travel is having more time to read. A good book can turn airport waits or long bus trips into enjoyable time. So having some good reads for your trip is always important. We both like to read a wide spectrum of books, but since this is a travel blog, we’ll focus in on our favorite travel books. Here are nine books that have made an impact on us over the years and will ignite your wanderlust.
The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton
In January of 2014, we arrived in Bogota, Colombia at the start of a six-month backpacking trip. A few months earlier, while digging around at a used bookstore in Canada, I came across The Art of Travel.
Months later, on a bus from Bogota to Santa Marta, I opened it for the first time. I quickly devoured the book and fell in love with the ideas. It made me think about travel in a deeper and more philosophical way. It made me consider what it was I loved so much about moving around from place to place.
It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the deeper side of travel. – Ryan
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
As a traveler, you know the pull for something more. The experience of seeing the conventional life paths around you and thinking, “there must be something more than this.” We know the feeling of dissatisfaction with the conventional life you see in suburban America, Canada, Australia, or wherever you might be. Our travels are often not about searching for new sites as they are searching for authentic experiences.
Into The Wild follows a similar search. You trace the footsteps of a coming of age story that goes tragically wrong. A young idealist sets out across North America in search of something that doesn’t feel artificial like his childhood and idyllic suburban life.
The story is tragic, but beautiful, and captures an important part of the motivation of a traveler. The quest for a more meaningful life.
The movie is also good, but the book gives you a much deeper experience to the story and the journey that Christopher McCandeless. – Ryan
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
Vagabonding is the manifesto for the long term traveler. Rolf Potts recounts many of lessons that we have learned on our own as travelers.
A quick non-fiction read, vagabonding will spark your wanderlust and inspire you to look at your travels in a deeper way. If it has been a while since you’ve traveled, you may find yourself booking a plane ticket before you’ve finished. – Ryan
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Paris in the 1920’s.
Hemingway’s memoir revisits the cast and characters in the Paris art scene. At the time they were mildly successful, but have since all become legends in their own right. A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition makes you long to experience what life would have been like at that time (played out in the movie Midnight in Paris).
You can’t read this book without experiencing wanderlust to explore France. – Ryan
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
One of the world’s bestselling books is also a great travel read. A young man leaves Spain and sets off into the African desert in search of treasure. It is a fable about following your dreams and while you read you can’t help but think of the adventures you are being called to. The trips you want to take but are putting off because it’s not the right time.
The Alchemist a short, uplifting read, brilliant to take on any trip. – Ryan and Amanda
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mosin Hamid
This is not a travel book in the usual since. And despite the title, it is not a non-fiction about how to move to Asia and make a bunch of money.
Travel is about more than simply moving from one place to another and seeing the sights. It is about engaging with a culture and learning to empathize with the people there. At its best travel is a way for us to live another life. To see options for ourselves that we never considered. To come away feeling excited to learn more, but also grateful for the things we have at home.
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia transports you into life in a developing country. You see the struggles and challenges that go along with life out of the developed world. Despite not actually leaving your couch, by the time you put the book down you will feel like you’ve traveled to the other side of the world. – Ryan
Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner
The The Geography of Bliss is whimsical, well-written, detail oriented, and extremely interesting. Filled with facts, history, and the charm of the author himself, I added multiple travel destinations to my constantly growing list when reading this book. Diving between some of the world’s happiest places, and some of the world’s unhappiest places, Weiner truly gives readers a sense of the world at face value. This was one of my first travel reads, and it inspired me to seek out more, learning more and more about this amazing world that we live in. – Amanda
The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, & Amanda Pressner
What do I love about The Lost Girls? I love how raw and honest these three authors are, discussing everything from stress about travel weight, to the worst of stomach issues, to the problems with each other. I love that this book is written from 3 different perspectives, each author taking a turn to write about a different place. The three different writing styles are tied together nicely to give an overall picture of their travels and what they learned along the way. – Amanda
Eat. Pray. Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Love has taken a lot of flack, but personally, I love it. Not only do I admire Gilbert’s ability to pick up, leave home, and set out on a journey entirely about her, but I deeply admire her ability to write about this journey and share it with the world. It’s not as simple as one may think to bare yourself to the world in such a raw and vulnerable way. Personally, I have always had a longing to practice yoga in India, so I loved this part of the book. After reading Eat, Pray, Love, I added both India and Bali to my list of travel destinations that I will one day (soon!) visit. – Amanda
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