Read These Books, Then Plan a Trip

Bill at a bookstore/cafe in Barcelona

Thinking of a traditional travel guidebook makes me a little nostalgic. It’s sad to think that the Lonely Planet, Fodors, and Top10 guides that shaped all of my early European travel in the 90s and early aughts have been replaced with saved IG reels and TikToks. I remember a trip to Barcelona where my now brother-in-law mock-refused to look at any sight that wasn’t included in the Barcelona Top10 guidebook, shielding his eyes and scurrying past.

Granted, the information pipeline now is way more up to date (gone are the days where you’d rock up to a restaurant mentioned in Lonely Planet only to find it gone, closed or replaced with a gym) but there’s something to be said for being force-fed the history of a destination (even if you skimmed the intros like me and went straight to the restaurants and neighborhood sections). Those introductory pages outlining how a place came to be sets a good foundation for understanding a destination and is far too overlooked when it comes to social media driven travel. While you’re chasing the The Shot of a rainbow-hued cotton candy cone set against an iconic backdrop, you’re missing out on a basic understanding of a place and its people.

All that being said, this post isn’t about guidebooks. Rather, it’s about books that have inspired me to travel to specific places. These books so perfectly capture the essence of a place, it’s hard not to feel like you’ve already been there.

Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World by Seth Stevenson

Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World

I’ve read this travel memoir twice and am due for a re-read I love it so much. Seth is a journalist who lives in DC with his wife. They decide to sell all their belongings and travel around the world, but there’s a catch: they want to do it without ever stepping on an airplane. And so begins a year-long global circumnavigation involving a transatlantic cargo ship, a rickety overnight train across Russia and motorbiking through Vietnam. Reading this book made me add ‘riding on a container ship’ and ‘taking the Polynesian mail carrier ship’ onto my bucket list.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Crazy Rich Asians

I’ve read this book (and watched the movie) and read the other two books in the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy at least 10 times if not more. Ugh, I love how Kevin Kwan sets the scene for how the uber-rich live in Singapore, Hong Kong and China, while traveling to Europe, NYC, India and beyond. A Singaporean native, Kevin should be on the payroll for how many trips to Singapore he’s inspired as a result of his books. The way he decribes the neighborhoods, the restaurants, the people… perfection!

Bergdorf Blondes and The Debutante Divorcee, both by Plum Sykes

Bergdorf Blondes [Book]

My best friend makes fund of me for re-reading these books almost annually, but I just can’t quit the way Plum Sykes describes the glamorous hotels, fashion choices and travel habits of the heiress class. Destinations include: NYC, Paris, LA, the English countryside, Moscow, the Alps and Anguilla.

 

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