I used to read a lot when I was working overseas. I found it a great way to pass the time when I was traveling around and waiting at airports exc. When in college all I read was business books or autobiographies but since then have changed to travel books. I’m not talking about Lonely Planet books either but real travel stories that inspire, make you laugh or are insightful. I rarely read fiction because I just don’t see the point in it. For me knowing that something is true makes the book 10x better vs. reading fiction I feel like I’m wasting my time.
All the books below I have read and enjoyed. I would recommend any one of them to anyone dreaming of travel. They have all inspired me to travel more and learned a lot from them. These a just a few books that I’m posting as there are many I have but haven’t finished reading yet. I kind of got on an Amazon kick before I quit my job and bought one too many (easy with the internet ya know).
If you have a favorite travel book, leave a comment and tells us, plus why. Maybe I’ll pick it up and read it!
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Goliath Expedition
- Thoughts: Just the shear goal of this guy is overwhelming! The book is a GREAT read and had a hard time putting it down. One of the best travel books I have ever read and made me crave for Part II (which isn’t done yet).
- ISBN-10: 0751536954
- Website: www.goliath.mail2web.com
In Punta Arenas, Chile, in November 1998, Karl Bushby set out on one of the most remarkable journeys of modern times. His plan is as simple as it is extraordinary—to walk up the Americas, across the Bering Strait, through Asia, Russia, and Europe, back through the Channel Tunnel and returning to Britain in 2011. It is a journey of remarkable endurance—20 miles a day, 3,000 miles a year, 36,000 miles in total. By the time Karl returns home, he will have crossed four continents, 25 countries, a frozen sea, six deserts, and seven mountain ranges. But more than that, unlike other similar expeditions, Karl is attempting it single-handed: no huge support teams, no large sponsorship deals, this is the inspiring true story of a man facing remarkable odds—and winning.
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Don’t Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs: She Thinks I’m a Piano Player in a Whorehouse
- Thoughts: One of the funniest books I have ever read! If you read this book and don’t like it…I’ll buy it back from you at whatever you paid for it, plus a beer!
- ISBN-10: 1600940250
- Website: www.paulcarter.net.au
Since age 18, Paul Carter has worked on oil rigs in locations as far flung as the Middle East, Columbia, the North Sea, Borneo, Tunisia, Sumatra, Vietnam, Nigeria, Russia, and many others — and he’s survived (so far!) to tell stories from the edge of civilization (places, as it happens, upon which most of our lives rely). Carter has been shot at, hijacked and held hostage, almost died of dysentery in Asia and toothache in Russia, watched a Texan lose his mind in the jungles of Asia, lost a lot of money backing a scorpion against a mouse in a fight to the death, and served cocktails by an orangutan on an ocean freighter. Taking postings in some of the world’s wildest and most remote regions — not to mention some of the roughest rigs on the planet — Carter has worked and gotten into trouble with some of the maddest, baddest and strangest people you could ever hope not to meet.
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101 Countries: Discovering the World Through Fast Travel
- Thoughts: I like his style of traveling…never stop and keep going. The book covers a lot of ground and is useful for anyone wanting to do a world trip.
- ISBN-10: 1589395026
- Website: www.101countries.anvilgear.com
With an inability to sit still, a knack for handling uncomfortable travel, and a mission to see most of the world with as little time and money as possible, the author embarks on a whirlwind tour of five continents. His style of travel often incurs unexpected adventures, such as sleeping with bums in Tokyo, Rome and Krakow; getting sick from street food in Amman and Shanghai; and being detained in small rooms by authorities in Cambodia, Siberia, Grenada and the United States. His travels take him from the beauty of Scandinavia, Tierra del Fuego and the Caribbean, to the shadier sides of Guyana, Pakistan and Kenya. In addition to the travelogue, “101 Countries” includes background information on places visited, discussions of different standards of living and tips for independent travel.
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The Size of the World
- Thoughts: Direct and to the point, I found this book easy to read and made me feel like I was there with him.
- ISBN-10: 034540551X
- Website: www.jeffgreenwald.com
By the time that travel writer Jeff Greenwald hit his late thirties, he had covered more ground than Magellan, Marco Polo, and Columbus combined. But he also came to a sobering conclusion: airplanes had reduced his exotic explorations to a series of long commutes. So he set out to rediscover the mass, the gravity, and the size of the world. His mission: to circle the earth without leaving its surface.
What followed was a remarkable odyssey, as Greenwald scaled an active volcano in Guatemala, rode a rat-infested ferry across the Persian Gulf, dropped by Paul Bowles’s flat unannounced, saved a baby snow leopard in Tibet, and spent his fortieth birthday marooned in the Sahara. And no matter where he found himself, he sent reports of his exploits from his ever-faithful laptop to the screens of thousands of eager Internet readers. A pilgrimage both hilarious and harrowing, insightful and wise, The Size of the World takes you on an adventure you will never forget.
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Whatever You Do, Don’t Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide
- Thoughts: Makes you want to go to Africa, make crap money while living in a tent but enjoying life’s animals that very few get to see in the wild.
- ISBN-10: 0762745657
- Website: www.peterallison.com
Whatever You Do, Don’t Run is a hilarious collection of true tales from top safari guide Peter Allison. In a place where the wrong behavior could get you eaten, Allison has survived face-to-face encounters with big cats, angry elephants, and the world’s most unpredictable animals—herds of untamed tourists and foolhardy guides whose outrageous antics sometimes make them even more dangerous than a pride of hungry lions!
Join Allison as he faces down charging lions—twice; searches for a drunk, half-naked tourist who happens to be a member of the British royal family; drives a Land Rover full of tourists into a lagoon full of hippos; and adopts the most vicious animal in Africa as his “pet.” Full of lively humor and a genuine love and respect for Botswana and its rich wildlife, Whatever You Do, Don’t Run takes you to where the wild things are and introduces you to a place where every day is a new adventure!
In 1994 Peter Allison set off for a year-long stay in Africa. More than a dozen years and hundreds of adventures later, he’s still leading safaris and collecting stories. Allison’s safaris have been featured in National Geographic, Condé Nast Traveler, and on television programs such as Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures.
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