Have you always wanted to travel around the world, but can’t afford the plane ticket? Here’s a good second best – seven books that will transport you to every corner of the globe, from the comfort of your home!
Included in this post are novels by Mehreen Ahmed, Melissa Burovac, Jill Dobbe, Robert Fear, Heather Hackett, Nancy O’Hare and Gus Pegel.
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Snapshots by Mehreen Ahmed
On a trail of relics and ruins, Snapshots is a travel diary delineating my journeys of four major continents. A travel through the ancient, the medieval, the renaissance and the modern, an historical account has been noted in this diary. Primarily, it is the palaces, the mosques, the churches, the temples and the museums, however, heritage forests and sea beaches have also found their way into this diary. Much of the book comprises my internal monologue, which I have presented in a stream of consciousness technique.
With my rendering, these accounts have been compiled as chronicles of a motley collection. On rare occasion, culinary descriptions have been jotted. Time is of the essence. And on a timeline of this journey, specific dates have been drawn. As great distances have been covered, this travelogue has taken long to evolve. Dynamic in its own right, at the end of each traverse, another began anew and recorded here. My journey begins in Europe, then to North America, Australia and ends in the sub-continent.
Wandering by Melissa Burovac
Traveling solo as a woman certainly has its ups and downs, but Melissa Burovac will be the first to tell you to embrace the adventure as you encounter it.
Facing her fortieth birthday as a single woman in a job she was tired of, Burovac decided to “do something.” Always keen for adventure, she chose to buy a one-way ticket to Mexico-and quit her job, sell her beloved Jeep, and store all her belongings.
Though she’d gone on trips abroad before, Burovac didn’t feel like she’d ever earned the title of “traveler.” But that was about to change.
“Wandering” relates the adventures, and misadventures (she encounters so many major weather events that her friends start predicting where the next disaster will strike based on her next destination), of her nine months traveling through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Cuba, Australia, Cambodia, and Thailand. Her stories will crack you up-and they will inspire you. As someone with no sense of direction, no ability to plan, and plenty of social anxiety, her experiences prove that anyone who wants to travel “can”!
Here We Are & There We Go by Jill Dobbe
A heartwarming travel memoir filled with temper tantrums, disorienting jetlag, and zany, once-in-a-lifetime family adventures. Who says you can’t travel with kids? Dan and I find out we can do just that as we set off with our two very young kids, first to live and work on an island far out in the Pacific, then on to the continent of Africa with a few stops in between. Armed with strollers, diapers, and too much luggage, we travel to over twenty-five countries throughout a ten year span, while working together as international overseas educators. After surviving typhoon Yuri, almost being mauled by lions, and, being nearly shot by a presidential guard, we happily endure all of the good times and bad, while living life to the fullest. A decade’s worth of experiences and lifelong memories remain with us, as we return to the U.S., now with two teenagers in tow, and begin to experience our very own version of reverse culture shock.
Travel Stories and Highlights edited by Robert Fear
Travel around the world with this fascinating collection. 60 compelling Travel Stories and 40 absorbing Travel Highlights from 44 authors, writers, and poets.
An enthralling mix of travel experiences that will let you explore different parts of the world from the comfort of your own home. A book you can just pick up and enjoy whenever you have a spare minute.
Travel from the Australian outback to the wilds of North Borneo. Spend time rafting in Bosnia, trekking in the Himalayas and on a road trip through Europe. Experience living as an illegal immigrant in Mexico. Encounter a shark and swim with dolphins. Enjoy the ambience of Paris and a miracle at Lourdes. Marvel at Bedouin hospitality. Travel by train across India and meet a prince along the way.
Immerse yourself in these and many more wonderful recollections. These enchanting short stories and highlights will stay with you long after you finish reading them.
You never know, this book may just inspire your next travel destination.
Restless: Memoir of an Incurable Traveller by Heather Hackett
This candid travel memoir will not tell you how to travel, or where to go. It will simply show you why you should.
Restless is a book of true stories, of connections with people in situations that stretched the limits of the author’s perseverance and often left her frustrated and angry at the world. It led her down some strange and wonderful alleyways, into situations she would never have found herself in if she had never left the comfort of her home and family. But by making those choices, and walking those paths, she changed her perspective and outlook on the world.
Yes, travel guides and travel books are a dime a dozen, but Restless is different. The author’s travel stories will take you along with her on a journey of self-discovery while living the budget travel lifestyle on the back roads of Asia, sharing the highs and the lows of surviving on a shoestring and flying by the seat of your pants.
Restless is the bestselling travel memoir of a young woman, traveling light, with just a backpack and without the convenience of modern technology, who set out to find herself in the world, and find answers to the eternal questions – who am I and why am I here?
Searching for Unique by Nancy O’Hare
Why choose between a travel story or a guidebook when Searching for Unique gives you both?
After travelling to over seventy countries and living in five, the author distills the best undiscovered destinations and shares insider advice. Searching for Unique is meant for travellers seeking hidden sights that most people overlook or simply do not know exist.
Discover more than twenty-five places across five continents through bite-sized narratives that fit into your busy, pre-trip schedule. Trek through untouched valleys with more sheep than people in the blustery Faroe Islands. Feel the heat of an ancient Buddhist fire ceremony in the secluded Kingdom of Bhutan.
Explore six themes—wilderness treks, little-known hikes, ancient temples, rare festivals, fallen kingdoms and modern metropolises—to find unexpected wonders around our world. Taste the fiery sambal of Brunei’s Gadong Night Market or dance alongside your favourite Malipenga team on Malawi’s Likoma Island.
Where will your unique search take you?
From Australia to Germany: The Ultimate Overland 4×4 Adventure by Gus Pegel
A true story of a fifteen year old, who traveled in a Postie van 4-wheel drive from Melbourne, Australia to Stuttgart in Germany with two others.
Crossing the vast expanse of the Australian outback to Perth in Western Australia, where they caught a container ship and sailed via Singapore to Sri Lanka and India, and from there, continued overland crisscrossing India up to Pakistan, all the way to Europe via Turkey and what was then Yugoslavia.
This book gives an account of the journey, with all its ups and downs. It is not a tourist guide, but a detail of the things they experienced along the way… many of which most tourists would never see.
From Australia to Germany will be enjoyed by those who love to travel along back roads and off beaten paths. Get your copy and go on a 4×4 adventure!
