5 Books That Will Make You Want To Travel In 2024

17/12/2023

I think it is human nature to want to stay put.

In a time way before we could book a flight to the other side of the world, eat the local cuisine, mingle with the locals, and return home in one piece, staying within the constraints of your home was essential.

Today, some people die where they are born with no regrets, yet for others that prospect is terrifying. To live this life without peering into the other side of the world is a modern-day tragedy - to some... Maybe it’s because some people are born wanderers and others are born to hold down the fort. I don’t know.

Yet, what I do know is that sometimes those who stay put can be pulled out of their comfort zone and into the unknown via the artistic medium of travel literature. I know this because I was one of them.

Before stumbling across a few books that celebrated the benefits of travel, I had a small-town syndrome that had at one stage seemed unshakable. Thankfully, I no longer possess this quality.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not a hardened traveller who has seen it all and done it all, but I have found myself more willing to delve into uncomfortable situations in the name of “fuck it, why not?” thanks to books on travel.

Because why not go somewhere on your own? Why not wander down here? Why not eat this thing? What’s the worst that can happen? Often, the only outcome is “Thank God I didn’t shy away from this experience.” If it’s any worse than that, you probably died.

If you need a kick up the arse, an eradication of your small-town syndrome, or a carefully crafted reminder that around the corner of your small patch of land lies a world waiting to be explored, I would recommend reading any — if not all — of the books I have listed down below.

5. Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum (1900)

A fascinating first-person account of one man’s solo journey sailing from Boston, Massachusetts, and circling 46,000 miles back around the world to Fairhaven, Massachusetts.

Joshua Slocum tells his story as he singlehandedly navigates the treacherous seas and all the dangers that come along with it.

Slocum encounters pirates trying to rob him, fights off natives with his rifle, battles frequent bouts of loneliness, and sailes through heavy storms that threaten to drown him.

The book was published in 1900 and was a best seller. In the book, Slocum details how he constructed his trusty sailboat The Spray, as well as his interactions with wildlife and the people of various countries. The book is surprisingly funny, as Slocum’s sarcasm is often used to provide comedic relief to the more depressing elements of his adventure.

One such moment is when Slocum is gifted a goat by a wealthy American whilst moored at St. Helena Island. What had first begun as a valuable gift soon turned into a menace onboard The Spray. After bringing the goat onboard The Spray and tying it to a pole, Slocum went into the cabin of The Spray and fell asleep. Upon waking up, Slocum was distraught to find that the goat had chewed through the rope used to tie it up and had destroyed Slocum’s hat and — more importantly — his only map of the West Indies.

Despite the destruction of Slocum’s hat and map being a worst-case scenario event, Slocum retrospectively found the humour in this small story by referring to the goat as the worst pirate he met whilst on his voyage.

If you are someone who loves nautical descriptions in your literature, Sailing Alone Around the World is the book for you. The book is funny, introspective, adventurous, and at times melancholic. Additionally, the life of Joshua Slocum is just as interesting as his book, so I would also recommend looking into that if you can.

“I had already found that it was not good to be alone, and so made companionship with what there was around me, sometimes with the universe and sometimes with my own insignificant self; but my books were always my friends, let fail all else.” — Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone Around The World

4. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934)

The seedy underbelly of Paris had never been so honestly portrayed as it had in Henry Miller’s 1934 classic Tropic of Cancer.

Born out of a spontaneous trip to Paris which resulted in years of poverty and hardship, Tropic of Cancer is another first-person account of one man’s plunge into unknown territory and his subsequent navigation of such territory. Yet, in this example, Miller was not navigating the seas, he was instead, navigating the many prostitutes of Paris in the early 1930s.

Tropic of Cancer details Miller’s sexual escapades with no structure or plot. Miller writes in a stream-of-consciousness style that sometimes reads like the thoughts of a man torn between his higher-minded philosophical side and his instinctual degenerate side. The tug and pull between these two sides of Miller frequently appear in the book.

An example of this dichotomy is found in the seventh chapter of the book. In this chapter, Miller makes friends with an Indian man whom he takes to a cheap dive so the man can afford multiple cheap prostitutes.

As Miller sits in the bar watching his client dancing with a naked woman, he notices a table full of beer glasses, the mechanical piano in the corner “wheezing and gasping”, and all the other prostitutes sitting around waiting for clients to walk through the door. As he sits observing his surroundings Miller begins to transcend time and compares this momentary feeling of elation to the feeling an epileptic must feel seconds before having a fit. He then begins to philosophize about the nature of human beings and the world.

Tropic of Cancer is a book that appeals to adolescents. Moving away to a romantic city like Paris and spending all of your time fucking and writing seems appealing to most art-enthusiast teenagers when they get their hands on this book. Yet, I also think this book has a place in the hearts of the older generations who feel like they need a change.

Miller led a secure life in the United States up until his 40s before making the move to Paris for a poverty-stricken existence. According to Miller, his times in Paris — despite having to beg for food, sleep outside, and never have any security — were some of the best of his life.

I am not saying people should do exactly as Miller did, but I do find it comforting to know that you can still live your best years later in life. Moving somewhere else could be the start of them.

“I need to be alone. I need to ponder my shame and my despair in seclusion; I need the sunshine and the paving stones of the streets without companions, without conversation, face to face with myself, with only the music of my heart for company.” — Henry Miller

3. Smile, You’re Traveling by Henry Rollins (1997)

When you think of Henry Rollins you may remember him from such bands as Black Flag or the Rollins Band. This remembrance may give you an image in your mind of a shirtless, tatted-up, muscle-bound man screaming lyrics into a microphone, yet when I think of Henry Rollins, I tend to imagine the soft-spoken, widely travelled, articulate orator he has transformed into over the years.

I still love the music — particularly Black Flag. However, where I think he shines is when he talks about and writes about travel. Smile, You’re Traveling then, is (in my opinion and across all mediums) his best work.

Smile, You’re Traveling is the third edition of Rollins’ Black Coffe Blues trilogy. Rollins documents his travels whilst playing in his band The Rollins Band in the mid-1990s as well as his personal travels to Africa. I personally find the section on Africa to be the most intriguing, as it was Rollins’ first trip there and his excitement at finally going is evident in the writing.

One of the most memorable moments is when he describes the peaceful scene of being on his own whilst sitting on a beach in Madagascar during the night with nothing but the moon, his book, and his thoughts.

I remember reading this on a train when I was 15 years old and wanting nothing more than to experience that kind of isolation for myself. The idea of being completely alone in a foreign land seems like a great way to decompress.

I feel like this book will not be for everyone. I personally love Rollins’ work and am always interested to read about what goes on when he is not on stage. I understand that for most people this will not be as interesting if Rollins doesn’t appeal to you.

However, if you are not familiar with the man, I recommend listening to his music and watching his spoken word shows and any interviews you can find online. If you like what you see, I heavily recommend this book.

“Tonight, I went out to the ocean and sat on the sand for a while. The moon was fairly full and it was bright enough to read under. No one was around and it was like I had the entire planet to myself. Saw it on the map and now I’m here. One of the most satisfying things in my life is the ability to actualize ideas. Hear a song in your head and then make it happen, come up with an idea for a book and then execute it. The work it takes that gets me to the final product is often more meaningful than the thing itself. I usually get depressed when a tour is done. All that velocity with nowhere to go. I like it here though.” — Henry Rollins, Smile, You’re Traveling

2. Ways of Escape by Graham Greene (1980)

If you’re looking for a travel book full of excitement, Ways of Escape is for you.

Graham Greene is a writer and journalist who spent the majority of his life travelling to some of the tensest countries during his time. For Greene, placing himself in life-threatening situations had become an addictive pastime that just so happened to coincide with his professional life, as he often integrated his travel experiences into his novels and wrote articles about the political climates of wherever he was.

Some of the areas he ventured into include Mexico, Vietnam, the Congo, Cuba, Chile, China, Haiti, and many more. He experienced the First Indochina War, the Six Day War, the Mau Mau rebellion, the Blitz, and the rise of Fidel Castro.

As suggested in the title, Ways of Escape is about the escapism of travel for Greene who suffered heavily from manic depression. To Greene, taking himself away from his home (London) and placing himself in harm’s way in a foreign land allowed him to escape the torment of his mind.

Yet despite travel acting as a form of escapism for Greene’s turbulent mind, another form of escapism that he touches on in the book is the art of writing. Greene uses every book he writes as a checkpoint for his life story.

One example of one of these checkpoints is when he touches on his book The Quiet American, a great book based in Vietnam during the First Indochina War. Greene gives some insight into how the book came about and tells of his reasonings for being in the country during the time. If you have read the book, you would know that The Quiet American is written from the perspective of a jaded British foreign correspondent…sounds familiar right?

You do not need to be a fan of Greene to enjoy Ways of Escape. Within the pages of these books lie lessons about the process of writing and travel, and I would have to assume that if you are reading this article right now you fall into the demographic of people who would be interested in this combination.

“I have added essays which I have written occasionally on episodes in my life and on some of the troubled places in the world where I have found myself involved for no good reason, though I can see now that my travels, as much as the act of writing, were ways of escape.” — Graham Greene, Ways of Escape.

1. A Cook’s Tour by Anthony Bourdain (2001)

This one is for the foodies.

The late great Anthony Bourdain was the ultimate traveller. I am likely wrong in saying this, but I am sure there was nobody on earth as travelled as Bourdain by 2016–2018. I could be wrong though.

Regardless, whether you know Bourdain for his breakout memoir Kitchen Confidential, his travel shows, or maybe not at all, I would recommend A Cook’s Tour to anyone with plans to do a little travelling or to anyone against the notion of travelling. Both types of people can be inspired by this book.

After receiving widespread praise for the publication of Kitchen Confidential in the year 2000, Bourdain approached his publisher with ideas for a follow-up book. Bourdain knew the cooking schtick was only going to last so long and that everything he had experienced in his 20+ year career as a cook was now void.

What more could he add that wasn’t already explained in Kitchen Confidential? Nothing — that’s the answer. And so, Bourdain went to his publisher and suggested he travel the world eating exotic cuisines in the hopes of finding what he can confidently claim is “the perfect meal”.

Surprisingly, his publisher green-lit the idea and before he knew it he was zipping around the world eating anything and everything whilst a camera crew followed him shooting for a TV Show of the same name.

In the book, Bourdain visits Portugal, France, Vietnam, Spain, Russia, Morocco, Japan, Cambodia, England, Mexico, America, and Scotland. Every area has a chapter dedicated to it and some areas get two.

Additionally, Bourdain has little sub-chapters scattered throughout the book that are called “Reasons Why You Don’t Want to Be on Television.” As it says on the tin, these sub-chapters feature Bourdain humorously complaining about the pain in the arse process of making a TV Show.

One funny example of these sub-chapters is the one that appears in the chapter “How to Drink Vodka” set in (unsurprisingly) Russia. This sub-chapter is the second in a five-part series. In it, Bourdain, and Russian friend, guide, and translator Zamir are made to film an establishing shot of them entering a restaurant and explaining to the audience where they were, why they were there, and what they were expecting to find.

Due to Bourdain and crew forgetting to do it prior to actually entering the restaurant, Bourdain and Zamir had to complete this shot drunk on Vodka and full to the stomach, which made for multiple retakes resulting in one satisfactory shot that Bourdain said could be fixed in the edit.

A Cook’s Tour is the writing of a man living the perfect life. Going around the world, eating great food, meeting interesting people, and being paid to do so really is what most people would describe as a good deal.

And Bourdain would not disagree.

Bourdain was taking baby steps into a completely new life when he wrote A Cook’s Tour and it shows. You witness him fall in love with Vietnam for the first time, see the joys of excepting random acts of kindness without hostility, and be reminded that the world is (for the most part) full of good people: all realisations Bourdain would champion for the remainder of his life.

I recommend this book to anyone. There are lessons to be learned in this book that far exceed simply moving from one place to the other.

When you finally reach the end of this book, you’ll notice your body instinctively lunge towards the front door, towards the great outdoors, towards somewhere new. And when you get there, you will likely find the embrace of the new and the uncomfortable to be a way of life not championed enough, for you will feel an elation the likeliness of which you may have never felt.

And you will thank Anthony Bourdain for being one of the rare voices that championed this way of life.

“I wanted adventures. I wanted to go up the Nung river to the heart of darkness in Cambodia. I wanted to ride out into a desert on camelback, sand and dunes in every direction, eat whole roasted lamb with my fingers. I wanted to kick snow off my boots in a Mafiya nightclub in Russia. I wanted to play with automatic weapons in Phnom Penh, recapture the past in a small oyster village in France, step into a seedy neon-lit pulqueria in rural Mexico. I wanted to run roadblocks in the middle of the night, blowing past angry militia with a handful of hurled Marlboro packs, experience fear, excitement, wonder. I wanted kicks — the kind of melodramatic thrills and chills I’d yearned for since childhood, the kind of adventure I’d found as a little boy in the pages of my Tintin comic books. I wanted to see the world — and I wanted the world to be just like the movies” — Anthony Bourdain, A Cook’s Tour

The Selador.