One thing that I love and appreciate about my personality is my insatiable curiosity. I am not nosy, and I generally couldn’t care less about what other people are doing, but I am constantly awed by the world around me. I want to know all there is to know about the world, and nothing captures and pulls me more than foreign and wonderful lands.
Just like I am sure that I will never read all the books on my TBR (to be read) list, I am sad to acknowledge that I might not be able to visit all the fascinating places there are in the world. But now I can’t even blame it on my lack of time or funds. Thanks to COVID-19, you, I and the planes are grounded for the foreseeable future.
So, I have found myself booking (see what I did there?) a different kind of trip. This journey was not started on purpose. I just found myself picking up different books about travel. This isn’t new to me, just more intense than normal. I joined different authors across time and space and realized that the world was even bigger inside the pages (TARDIS joke, anyone?).
One of the best places to start your journey is Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. It will set the tone to your fantastical journey, because it is a collection of conversations about cities between the explorer Marco Polo and Kublai Khan the Mongol Emperor. Yes, it is a strange book but it is endearing and exploratory in the truest sense of the word.
Once you’ve warmed up, you’ll be ready for the philosophical exploration of The Art of Travel. Author Alain de Botton, asks the important question, why should we travel and how can it transform us into more fulfilled human beings. He is a master conversationalist who knows how to draw from different sources and use them to build a strong argument for taking off to somewhere novel, meeting new people and learning about different customs.
Not that I really needed any convincing. I am ready to board the Super Sushi Ramen Express any day of the week. I can’t even remember how I came across this book, but I fell in love with Michael Booth’s writing. It is part travel memoir, part culinary adventure through Japanese cuisine and it is a whole lot of fun. You’ll be left with a huge dose of food cravings and wanderlust. You can also travel the world and cross off many culinary exploits off of your bucket list with Anthony Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour. Part cultural exploration, part gastronomic adventure, the retired chef turned author pours his heart out as he searches the world for the perfect meal. Does he ever find it? Find out for yourself.
Humans have been documenting their travels since they discovered writing, but when it is illustrated it becomes a true work of art. Cartoonist Craig Thompson was traveling through France, Barcelona, the Alps and Morocco on a promotional book tour and decided to sketch the entire experience. The result was Carnet de Voyage, a beautifully drawn travelogue that deserves to live on the fanciest of coffee tables.
If you are missing the UK this summer, join Bill Bryson as he takes a final trip around the country that he lived in for 20 years before deciding to go back to the United States. In Notes from a small Island, Bryson takes public transportation and visits the strangest places that might not be on a normal itinerary. It is deeply personal, but it is also an ode to a country he called home for two decades.
There are thousands of great books that will take you for a ride, and they’re the perfect escape. Some destinations are real, some are imaginary, and some do exist but are not reachable yet like the stars. The humble book has always been and probably always will be my vehicle of choice.
Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash. You can find some of these books at Jarir, That Al Salasil or Q8bookstore, and they are available as ebooks from Amazon and Apple Books (better for the environment).
