BootsnAll Travel Community

There are so many books out there when it comes to travel. Although I'd love to read everything that I can get my hands on I don't want to spend all of my funds and just don't have the time to do so. Therefore I'm asking all of you to put together a short list of what you would consider to be essential books to read prior to travelling.

BACKGROUND INFO: I will be travelling RTW solo for the first time and although I know that I will be going to every continent, other than Africa, I'm still uncertain as to my general route on each continent.

I appreciate the help...

Danika

Hey Danika,

I'm doing a similar trip, starting next January. I'm in the beginning stages of planning, and it's my first RTW also (in fact, it's my first trip longer than 5 weeks or so). So far, I've used the following books:

Vagabonding , by Rolf Potts - you've probably heard of or read this one already, if you've been reading these forums for a while. Great for a philosphical viewpoint on travelling, and all of the resources Rolf lists in the book can be found on his website http://www.vagabonding.net/ .

Career Break Book by Lonely Planet. I don't know if you're a career breaker or not, but it's a fairly well-done guidebook on the ins and outs of taking time off. It includes a great rundown of the classic overland travel routes (and how to get off the beaten path), and has given me a lot of ideas for my RTW.

Other than than, I'm planning on checking out The Practical Nomad and the various Lonely Planet guides for the regions I'm going to visit.

Keep me updated if you find new resources! Good luck with the planning.

ETA: No offense meant to any authors here, but especially since you mentioned budget... use the library. I'm checking all of my travel books out from the library, reading them, and then I'm going to buy any I find particularly useful.

There are a few threads here on BnA with lots of book recommendations. Check them out, there are some awesome ones.

I was at Borders today to check out Eat Pray and Love, and I saw this other book in the travel writing section called Traveling Solo by Eleanor Berman. It had some really great ideas of her personal recommendation. One that I found particular interesting was sports camps. Ive never heard of adults enrolling in tennis camps or goint to ranches for horseriding camps, I always thought it was for the rich or talented. Ive always wanted to do both.

http://www.amazon.com/Traveling-Solo-5th-Advice-Vacations/dp/0762736976 check it out next trip to Borders.

'A book of traveller's tales' edited by Eric Newby.
Anything from the Eland List www.travelbooks.co.uk