Have you ever wanted to travel during the holidays but had no idea where to start? We know the feeling. Planning a vacation can be a daunting task, especially if you don’t have any books to help you navigate your dream destination. Maps work wonders, but nothing holds a candle to personal guides by experienced travelers. With the holidays fast-approaching, we have compiled a list of travel books to take with you wherever your heart desires. You may have a destination in mind, but how well do you really know it?
Footsteps by The New York Times
Published by The New York Times, Footsteps is a literary pilgrimage around the world. The New York Times explores locations that inspired the settings of masterpieces, such as the French Riviera, which influenced Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and the urban streets of Saigon, which brought Marguerite Duras’ The Lover to life. This is a great read for any literary fan embarking on their own pilgrimage.
Love With a Chance of Dreaming by Torre DeRoche
While not entirely a travel book, Torre DeRoche’s novel is guaranteed to inspire and delight anyone with a love for romance and traveling. As a city girl with a fear of water, DeRoche is not someone you would normally find stuck in the Pacific aboard a leaky sailboat, but life has a funny way of surprising you. With a crew of two, DeRoche finds herself struggling to maintain her sanity and growing closer to Ivan, a handsome Argentinean man she’s found herself adrift with after the rash decision to join him on his journey rather than risk losing him forever. This book inspires you to take up your own sails and go searching for something greater than your phone’s blue light.
The Anthony Bourdain Reader by Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain was an inspiration to many people. In this collection, Bourdain writes on everything from brioche buns to the devastation of Western foreign policy. After years spent traveling the globe in search of different food and culture, this collection showcases his singular voice with the flair of a writer and lover of the world and all its offerings. When planning your next trip, be sure to keep Anthony Bourdain’s voice and love handy.
On Holiday: A History of Vacationing by Orvar Löfgren
An anthropological guide to a particularly Western notion of vacationing, On Holiday is less about travel and more about the insatiable hunger to go somewhere else in search of a break. Löfgren takes the reader on a mental tour of the Western vacationing world and how two centuries of “learning to be a tourist” have shaped our own vacationing practices. While you may want a trip to include a “brain break,” this work provides an interesting look into the desire to travel.
Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras, and Ella Morton
Celebrating the insatiable desire to travel to every part of the world, Atlas Obscura writes about six hundred of the most curious and unusual destinations around the world. From glowworm caves in New Zealand to a baobab tree in South Africa so large it has a pub inside, this book takes you to some extraordinary, unknown destinations. Whether you are sitting at home and imagining these locations or deciding which hidden wonder to explore next, Atlas Obscura has a lot to offer.
The Catch Me If You Can: One Woman’s Journey to Every Country in the World by Jessica Nabongo
Jessica Nabongo shares stories and experiences from her travels as the first Black woman to visit all 195 UN-recognized countries. Featuring her own photographs, Nabongo offers travel advice, writes about the human connection, and calls readers to explore the world intentionally. This book serves as an inspirational travel guide that helps you love the world around you and feed your insatiable urge to explore every corner of it.
Wanderlust by Elisabeth Eaves
Spanning fifteen years, beginning when she was a college sophomore, Elisabeth Eaves documents her experiences traveling the world and encountering people from various cultures. Crisscrossing continents and chasing both culture and romance, Eaves’s journey will inspire you no matter your travel plans.
The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton
Everyone will tell you that you ought to travel, but only Alain de Botton will tell you how and why. De Botton writes on the pleasures of anticipation, the allure of the exotic, and the value of seeing everything from seascapes in Barbados to takeoffs in Heathrow. Tracing his own trips and those of travelers such as Van Gogh, de Botton crafts a guide that will provide historical truth and wondrous excitement to any and all holiday travel plans.
Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris
An incredible memoir of a bicycle journey across the Silk Road explores history and the idea of exploration itself. As a teenager, Kate Harris realized the traveling career she craved so desperately had gone nearly extinct. With the whole earth mapped, she believed there was nothing left to discover. But that all changed while Kate was studying at Oxford and MIT, where she decided to bike the Silk Road with her friend Mel. This travel book ais bout the importance of breaking your personal boundaries and discovering yourself in one of the most remote places in the world.
World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain
Concluding with a book that any person wanting to travel to any place in the world should have, World Travel: An Irreverent Guide retraces Anthony Bourdain’s experience traveling the world. A man who saw more of the world than nearly anyone else, Bourdain’s guide offers advice on where to go, how to get there, and what to eat. Complete with essays from friends, colleagues, and family, this guide helps you through the holiday season and all your travel plans.
Planning a trip can be tricky, especially during the holidays. While these books may not provide you with niche information like where to score the best hot chocolate, they will help guide you to unbelievable destinations and surreal experiences. Be sure to check them out and add them to your TBR. Happy reading!
Interested in more travel books? Check out this article!
Find these titles and more on our Fascinating Nonfiction Reads bookshelf on Bookshop.
