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Ten best travel books to plan your next trip

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Published on August 18, 2021. EST READ TIME: 3 minutes

Traveling right now is a privilege reserved for a select few. Fortunately, for most individuals, a means of journeying the globe remains a vicarious possibility through a really good book. No time is more opportune than now to mention some of the best reads on travel, to either sojourn from the comfort of one’s home or plan one’s next holiday once borders open. Here are ten of the best books to travel the world with.

1. Jan Morris’s Venice

First published in 1960, this melancholic evocation of Venice is often hailed as one among the best travel books ever written. According to the Sunday Times, Jan Morris’ Venice is ‘a taut and personal report, wholly absorbing, quickened by vivid prose and astringent humor.’ Full of enthralling tales capturing in vivid detail the world of Venice, this book makes the perfect companion when traveling to The Floating City.

2. Jenny Diski’s Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking Around America

First published in 2002, Jenny Diski’s laidback travel memoir is about two long train journeys from Florida to Albuquerque toward the end of the 1990s. The book also details the mental health challenges that the British author dealt with in her adolescence. The bestseller is, therefore, a seemingly effortless combination of an essential American travelogue and memoir-esque reflections.

3. Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist

Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’ (1988) is heralded as a classic in travel literature. The story follows Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy, traveling from his homeland in Spain searching for a treasure buried near the Pyramids. Santiago’s story is deeply human, and the book is considered a testament to the transformative power of our most monumental dreams.

4. Guy de Lisle’s Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City

Utilizing a classic ‘stranger in a strange land’ perspective, Delisle carefully lays the groundwork for a hyper-realistic depiction of contemporary Jerusalem. He recounts the city's quotidian from its holidays to its traffic jams while simultaneously examining the cultural aftermath of ongoing conflict on both sides of the wall.

5. Don George edited A Moveable Feast

‘A Moveable Feast’ is a tribute to the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual nourishment we each derive from food. Trailing couscous in Morocco, barbecue in the American heartland, mutton in Mongolia, and tacos in Tijuana among multiple other cultural palettes, this travelogue will certainly whet your appetite no matter how broad your palette already is.

6. Kate Harris’ Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road

Harris’ travelogue-memoir chronicles the author’s odyssey of the fabled Silk Road while exploring why we should sometimes break the invisible boundaries we set for ourselves. A tale for wanderers, this book follows the author pedaling mile upon mile into some of the most remote corners of the earth, evoking a far-from-home reading experience. Harris’ unique writing serves as a meditation on the deeply rooted human need to explore.

7. Dervla Murphy’s Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a Bicycle

Published as notes from her diary in 1963, this book is Murphy’s journey across frozen Europe, through Persia into Afghanistan, over the Himalayas, and finally into India. What’s unique about this travelogue is that Murphy’s trip was taken amid one of the worst winters to date. Fortunately, Murphy is an excellent planner. One of the less romantic and rather pragmatic reads, this account will surely resonate with the organized traveler.

8. Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel

A meditation on the why and how of a trip, Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel remains the best book on the philosophy of traveling well. Botton writes about the pleasures of anticipation, the value of paying attention to nondescript and unremarkable aspects of travel, and how the exotic will always be alluring. This book can be carried anywhere, for it is de Botton’s reflections of the skill of travel itself.

9. Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin

Perhaps the most iconic character in children’s literature, Tintin remains a classic with a cult following. Those who enjoy the escapism of historical adventures, the zest of graphic novels, and the rapture of a good mystery will love the Tintin comics. Having journeyed far and wide across the globe, Herge offers an array of stories to choose from based on the location you wish to visit with Tintin, Snowy, and Captain Haddock.

10. The Caliph’s House: A Year in Casablanca by Tahir Shah

English travel writer Tahir Shah’s highly entertaining tale of making an exotic dream of building a home in Morocco come true in the sun-bleached city of Casablanca. With its elegant courtyards, lush grounds, and relaxed pace of life, Shah’s new home is certainly an escape but also much further from home than he imagined.

Conclusion

Whether you read these books from the comfort of your bed or while coming up with the itinerary for your next holiday, make sure you experience new cultures, cuisines, and personal insights. But, of course, just as important as a good book accompanying your holiday is a sound international travel insurance policy, with broad medical coverage and a smooth claim settlement provision to give you an additional safety net. So ensure you research adequately into the best international travel insurance options before your next trip.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purposes only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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