One for the Road: Change Your Life Through Travel

by Kelly Amabile on

Today’s featured book is one I briefly mentioned last month. This one is meant to inspire — Change Your Life Through Travel is a collection of tales and tips that could help to make your life fuller through travel, or at least shape the way you think about your travel experiences in relation to the rest of your life.

Author and award-winning television producer Jillian Robinson encourages readers to embrace travel in their lives, pointing to examples of how great writers did the same. She weaves messages about how to make travel meaningful with passages of classic writing by Isak Dinesen, Ernest Hemingway, D.H. Lawrence, Edward Abbey and Henry Miller. Her message is that travel can be the catalyst for any of us, just like it was for these early adventurers. She follows in their footsteps, traveling to places like Cuba, Africa and Greece.

Jillian’s website contains lots of details about the book and chapter excerpts as well. If you are in the San Francisco area, be sure to stop by Book Passage tomorrow, where Robinson will be appearing at 7 pm.

One for the Road Review: Rough Guides 25

by Kelly Amabile on

The nice folks at Rough Guides sent me a few titles from their about-to-be-released Rough Guides 25 series. The collection of 25 “Ultimate Experiences” travel books will be officially released in the US on Friday, to commemorate the company’s 25th anniversary. I’ve got a sneak peek at the books today, and an interview with founder Mark Ellingham coming up tomorrow — which will feature a chance for one lucky Gadling reader to win a complete set of the 25 anniversary guides! Here’s the scoop on this special limited-edition set:

Just a few moments spent flipping through these bite-size books had me hankering for a sudden journey real bad. These little guys are bursting with colorful photos and graphics of adventures that scream “Try Me!” Each mini-guide suggests 25 ultimate travel experiences for a particular region or theme. There are destination guides for places like India, Spain, Canada and China, and thematic guides like Adventure Travel, World Food and Ethical Travel.
While thumbing through my copy of 25: Europe, I discovered that despite my extended travels around the continent, I’ve only completed three of Rough Guides suggested ultimate experiences for European travels — portrait viewing at the Prado, bargain shopping in Krakow and exploring Sintra’s magical castle. There are several others that I’ve “sort-of” done, and readers will probably notice the same — enhanced or modified versions of trips previously taken. For example, I’ve been to the Louvre before, but never in the evening, as RG editors suggest. So now gazing at art after dark has been added to my ever-growing list of reasons to return to Europe.

I was bummed, however, not to find mention of two of my favorite European cities, Budapest and Ljubljana, in the Europe guide. But later on I found both incorporated nicely into 25: Places to Stay, which highlights unique accommodations around the world. Buda’s Hotel Gellert and Ljubljana’s Celica Hostel are both featured. (These cities might also be mentioned in the 25: Eastern Europe edition. In my interview with Mark Ellingham tomorrow you can learn more about how Rough Guides narrowed down which experiences to include in the books.)

In all, the complete set of 25 books features 625 travel experiences, a collection that is sure to offer ideas that appeal to every type of traveler. These suggestions go beyond the typical “top” travel experiences. Most have a unique twist to them — the point is not just to visit a certain city or landmark, but to experience it through a specific lens, be that time of year, hour of day or some other special element. Often the experiences are linked to seasonal festivals, cuisines, sporting events or outdoor activities. For example, try visiting the Colosseum in winter, instead of during the hot crowded summer. Or visit Sydney specifically to experience Mardi Gras, which takes place every March.

The books themselves are 80 glossy pages, lightweight and soft-bound. The flexible inside front cover folds out with a map that pinpoints each of the 25 experiences featured in the book. And the inside back cover folds out with a “Taking the Next Step” section that lists logistics and links to aid trip planning. Each of the 25 experiences gets its own two-page spread with fantastically fun photos and a “Need to Know” section. There is a bonus “Miscellany” section too, containing a random smattering of additional trip ideas like “The Top Five Bird Sanctuaries in New Zealand” or the “Five Best Dive Sites in Australia.”

Rough Guides has created a clever commemoration to their 25 successful years. And with this special anniversary series they have gathered together enough classic experiences to easily keep folks well stocked with travel ideas for at least another 25!

Check back tomorrow morning for Gadling’s interview with Mark Ellingham, Rough Guides founder; and news on how you can win a complete set of these anniversary guides.

One for the Road: Afganistan to Zimbabwe

by Kelly Amabile on

Here’s another study aid that can be used to increase your geographic IQ — a collection of winning tips from a former Bee champion. Sure, this book is written for kids ages 8-14, but if my score on the GeoBee Challenge is any indication, then I surely could start with some help from a geo whiz kid. Break it down for me, plain and simple — what does it take to be a Bee brainiac?

2004 National Geographic Bee Champion Andrew Wojtanik clues us in a little bit — His book has gathered essential facts about each of the world’s 192 independent countries. For each country from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe there is a map with major cities, mountains, rivers and the names of bordering countries. Other facts that are crucial for Bee participants to know are also included: population stats, physical facts, language, currency, political info, current leader and date of independence.

That’s a lot more detail than the basic facts about physical location of a country, but it all falls under the realm of what may be asked at the Bee. The study of place stretches far beyond just latitude and longitude. So Bee sure to check this one if you want to Bee prepared.

One for the Road: Soaring with Fidel

by Kelly Amabile on

I’m always so fascinated to learn about the reasons why people embark on certain journeys. For me, travel is very often a whim — I simply set out for a particular destination when the spirits move me. But some folks have very specific whims that they follow — clearly defined goals or agendas that mark their course.

Today’s One for the Road pick is a perfect example of this. Soaring with Fidel is the story of David Gessner’s 7,000-mile journey from Cape Cod to Cuba, as he followed the osprey migration. Gessner has studied ospreys for years and in 2004 he decided to set out and follow the birds during their annual migration across two continents.

Now don’t be scared off if birds are not your thing — Gessner begins by telling readers that “this is not a bird book” and goes on to emphasize how embarking on this odyssey led him to discover the “joy in reducing life to one thing.” His book is all about the migration and the characters he encounters along the way, but it also makes some deeper commentary on happiness and the small delights that come with following what you love.
The guy’s got a sense of humor too, so I’m guessing this could be a really enjoyable read. On his website OspreyWorld, Gessner writes: “This site is about the book but it is also about ospreys and how you can find inner peace and be happy (and thin and famous) by following ospreys…..”

Gessner is also editor of the literary journal Ecotone, which emphasizes the deep importance of place in contemporary writing. He will be appearing tomorrow, May 21, in New York City at Chelsea’s Half King at 7 pm as part of their ongoing reading series and has a bunch of other events slated for the summer.

One for the Road Review: The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2007

by Kelly Amabile on

I’ve been thumbing through Travelers Tales The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2007 for the past week or so, diving in to different stories as they speak to me or call my name. That’s what I love so much about anthologies like this — you can read them any which way you please, in any order, at any time, again and again.

When I crack open a new anthology and scan the table of contents, sometimes I search for names of writers I may know. This time, I turned first to Abbie Kozolchyk’s “A.K. Phone Home”, because I recently had the pleasure of meeting her. The humorous and heartwarming story about Abbie’s travels in Bolivia is all about personal connections: with those she encounters on the road, and those back home that she makes special effort to remain in touch with.

Travelers’ Tales (and many other “best of” travel writing collections) usually include country names in the table of contents, so readers can easily find stories about a particular place. I next searched for stories about China (a place I’ll be visiting soon) and found two: Shari Caudron’s insightful piece about a three-week tour through China with her mother, and Nicole Clausing’s amusing holiday tale of two turkeys in Shijiazhuang.

 Other navigational tactics I employ when reading travel anthologies is to scan the author bios at the end of each piece, in search of new writers. In this case, I found several first-time published writers, and particularly enjoyed Carmen Semler’s return to Malta and Laurie Coven’s Chaing Mai cleansing.

Editor Lucy McCauley did an excellent job of gathering a wonderful cross-section of voices and varied experiences, from Laurie Weed’s torrid love affair with a sexy Spaniard to Lonia Winchester’s moving personal piece about her life growing up in Poland during WWII. If a certain story doesn’t grab you at first, flip the page and move on to the next. Or put the book aside and return to it another day. There are countless ways to go about reading these adventures. It doesn’t really matter how you chose to do so, but just be sure you do.

Several of the contributors will be reading at bookstores later this summer. Check out Travelers Tales website to learn more about the book and upcoming events.