Armchair TravelThis is a featured page

There are lots of good reasons to travel—uncharted horizons to explore and new friends to make among them—but there are also lots of good reasons to stay home—a comfortable chair, a good reading light, and a mug of hot tea among them. So why not combine the two alternatives and stay at home to read books about other people’s travels? Here are some great reads that will take you to Asia, Africa, India, and the far edges of North America.

A Short Walk in the Hindu KushThree classics of travel literature with which to begin your journey are Eric Newby’s A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (in fact, everything by Newby is worth reading); Wilfred Thesiger’s Arabian Sands; and News from Tartary: A Journey from Peking to Kashmir by Peter Fleming.

The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia by Paul Theroux is in some ways the granddaddy of contemporary armchair travel books. Although Theroux’s later travelogues display a kind of nasty, cynical view of the people and places he encounters, here his descriptions of his trip via such famed trains as the Orient Express, the Khyber Mail, and the Trans-Siberian Express come across as merely eccentric.

  • Read any of the books on this page? Comment on them here.



Looking for Lovedu: A Woman’s Journey Across Africa
relates the sometimes hilarious adventures of Ann Jones as she traverses the continent in an ancient Land Rover, from Tangier to the southernmost tip of South Africa, in search of the last Queen of Lovedu, and in the company—for the first half of the trip—of the incomparable Muggleton, a young British photographer. (Incidentally, the hard word in the title is pronounced low-bay-due.)

In Colin Thubron’s In Siberia
we accompany the author on his journey across this enormous and enormously mysterious land, from Mongolia to the Arctic Circle, as he travels by car, boat, train, bus, and on foot.

Passage to Juneau by Jonathan Raban details a trip that is both exterior and interior: his voyage up the Inside Passage from Seattle to Juneau, on his 35-foot sailboat Penelope, and his ruminations on a wonderful diversity of topcs.

Red Dust: A Walk Through ChinaIn 1983, Chinese dissident Ma Jian took a three-year walk throughout his native country, as related in Red Dust: A Path Through China.

Another journey on foot—under much more fraught conditions—is Salvomir Rawicz’s The Long Walk, in which he describes his 1941 escape from the Soviet gulag and his arduous hike to India.


In Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic’s Edge, Jill Fredston describes how she and her husband spend their summers making their way around the edges of the Arctic by rowboat and kayak. No four-star hotels and gourmet dining experiences, no splendor on the Orient Express for this couple. They are at sea for weeks at a time, encountering polar bears, mosquitoes, killer storms, and big winds.



TemlynWriting
TemlynWriting
Latest page update: made by TemlynWriting , Jul 27 2006, 7:16 PM EDT (about this update About This Update TemlynWriting Just italicizing titles - TemlynWriting

2 images added
2 images deleted

view changes

- complete history)
Keyword tags: Books travel
More Info: links to this page
Started By Thread Subject Replies Last Post
fieldinski more on afghanistan 0 Mar 2 2009, 1:31 PM EST by fieldinski
Thread started: Mar 2 2009, 1:31 PM EST  Watch
if you like Eric Newby's book about the Hindu Kush i think you'll like my latest book about my own harrowing but rewarding travels in afghanistan in 1970, KABULI DAYS, TRAVELS IN OLD AFGHANISTAN available from worldparadebooks.com
edward field
Do you find this valuable?    
Lullaby Almost French 0 Jun 26 2007, 11:44 PM EDT by Lullaby
Thread started: Jun 26 2007, 11:44 PM EDT  Watch
Almost French by Sarah Turnbull:An irresistible travel memoir set in the world's most enigmatic and seductive city, ALMOST FRENCH is by Australian writer Sarah Turnbull. Put a very French Frenchman together with a strong-willed Australian woman and the result is some spectacular and often hilarious cultural clashes. Sarah's clothes, her laugh, her conversation ? even how much she drinks ? set her apart. a great read, that anyone can sympathise with.

1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
Keyword tags: None
Anonymous Africa 0 Oct 10 2006, 12:42 PM EDT by Anonymous
 
Thread started: Oct 10 2006, 12:42 PM EDT  Watch
Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari: From Cairo to Capetown retraces his steps through Africa and compares the continent to his same travels as a Peace Corp volunteer in the 60's. I love Theroux's humor, but there is little of that here. His concern about the deterioration of the continent over the last 40 years is depressing, but important. A compelling read, as his always are.
Do you find this valuable?    
Keyword tags: None
Showing 3 of 3 threads for this page

Related Content

  (what's this?Related ContentThanks to keyword tags, links to related pages and threads are added to the bottom of your pages. Up to 15 links are shown, determined by matching tags and by how recently the content was updated; keeping the most current at the top. Share your feedback on Wetpaint Central.)