Posts Tagged ‘books’
Round the World Travel with Books
The following article is a guest post from Suzi at Packabook.com. If you would like to have your travel-related article, journal or review appear on the AirTreks travel blog click here.
Can there be anything more exciting than the idea of setting off on a Round the World journey – or even a Part of the World journey?
You are just filled with the anticipation of all the amazing places you will see, and fascinating people you will meet. You can’t wait to get that rucksack packed, to buy your travel towel and pegless washing line, to get some money in an exotic currency….
But the problem is – while your trip is booked – it might still be MONTHS before you are actually on the road.
So – what to do in the meantime?
Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity by Sam Miller
For all its problems, 2009 was a great year for readers who love to travel. Dozens of new books hit the shelves over the last 12 months practically tailor-made for the explorer inside of us. Rory MacLean at the Guardian UK has taken it upon himself to assemble a list of books that should be on every nightstand of those who have luggage in their closets or backpacks in the hall – of those who appreciate the art of travel. Take a look at his list and think about these for your inner armchair-traveler.
There are endless opportunities to put your nose in a book while on the road: on busses, planes, waiting around in airports, laying on beaches or just sitting by the Seine. Especially if you’re traveling solo, you’ll likely be flipping pages on a regular basis. Unfortunately, carrying a stack of books 
around to suit these scenarios is probably the least efficient way to cover your reading needs.
Here are a few ways of handling the traveling-with-reading-materials issue:
When on a big around the world trip your mind tends to wander, sometimes faster than your feet. It’s natural. It’s also natural to be inspired to write down these thoughts as they fly through your head, if you’re not simply taking pictures of the scenery. However, upon your return all you have is that dingy, dog-eared copy of your travel journal, complete with curry stains from India, Himalayan yak hair and smeared ink from the suprise monsoon that drenched you on the train platform in Thailand.
AirTreks has teamed up with a company to help give your writings/snapshots a good home. Blurb.com is a self-publishing website that, quite literally, puts your travelogue into your friends’ hands. I went through the process and found the site very easy to use, giving you the affinity to even call yourself an author. Something I’ve been waiting to do for a long, long time.
There’s something magical about travel. It brings us out of our comfort zone and places us inside experiences that challenge us, provoke us and exhilarate us. It heightens our awareness and teaches us amazingly valuable lessons. The same can be said about travel writing. But while the act of traveling can exhaust even the most constitutionally sound, reading books allows you take that journey and learn those lessons from the comfort of your armchair.
I present to you today a list of some of the favorite books as given to me by a few of the travel-minded staff here at AirTreks. This is part one of a mulit-part posting about travel media. Next up: travel music!
Happy reading!
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