Travel Writing & Commentary

One of the most important and influential books of the past half-century, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance tells the iconic story of a father and son's motorcycle trip across America in the 1960s....

Hardly anyone ever leaves Des Moines, Iowa. But Bill Bryson did....

A couple of quiet weeks sailing the River Severn was the intention. Somehow things got out of hand—a year later I had reached Romania and was still going....

To live in a pristine land unchanged by man... to roam a wilderness through which few other humans have passed....

For years, Nigel Slater has kept notebooks of curiosities and wonderings, penned while at his kitchen table, soaked in a fisherman’s hut in Reykjavik, sitting calmly in a moss garden in Japan or sheltering from a blizzard in a Vienna Konditorei.

A hilarious travel memoir about a man who moved with his wife, three kids, and two pets onto a forty-six-foot sailboat for a year. He expected it to be a yearlong version of Margaritaville, but what he got was shipwrecks, bad directions, hygiene calamities, and pirate attacks (sort of). Perfect...

Alone in the wilderness Award-winning journalist Naomi Arnold spends nearly nine months walking the length of New Zealand on Te Araroa, fulfilling a 20-year dream. On her own, she traverses mountains, rivers, cities and plains from summer to spring, walking on through days of thick mud, blazing...

Over the course of twenty years of delivering sailboats to far-flung quaysides, John Kretschmer has had innumerable adventures, both humorous and terrifying. In Flirting with Mermaids, he recounts the most memorable of them.

Before climbers Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were able to reach the unclimbed West Face of the remote Siula Grande, disaster struck....

In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land....

No one writes about mountaineering and its attendant victories and hardships more brilliantly than Jon Krakauer. . In this collection of thirteen of his finest essays and reporting – including the essay, “Is Yosemite Going To The Dogs” – Krakauer writes of mountains from the memorable...

Are there any genuinely wild places left in Britain and Ireland? Or have we tarmacked, farmed and built ourselves out of wildness? In his...

With the cyclone season fast approaching, Alone Australia contestant and solo adventurer Mike Atkinson sets sail on an extraordinary 1500-kilometre journey to the northern tip of Australia. His aim is to live entirely off the land and sea....

John Kretschmer is sailing’s practical philosopher - as much a doer as a thinker. And that is the overarching theme of this chronicle of a sailing life...

Aside from love, few actvities seem to promise us as much happiness as going traveling: taking off for somewhere else, somewhere far from home, a place with more interesting weather....

This celebration of the English countryside does not only focus on the rolling green landscapes and magnificent monuments that set England apart from the rest of the world....

After 40+ years of writing about Europe, Rick Steves has gathered 100 of his favorite memories together into one inspiring collection: For the Love of Europe: My Favorite Places, People, and Stories. Join Rick as he's swept away by a fado singer in Lisbon, learns the dangers of falling in love...

This is a story about our love affair with holidays. It's about going away and staying at home. It's about the relaxing times you had as a kid, escapes you have with your children....

Fueled by boundless optimism and unrelenting determination, Pushing Miles is a brutally honest and surprisingly humorous look at what it takes to make an uphill ride into endurance motorcycling history.

Michael Palin journeys to a vast country of unimaginable contrasts - Brazil....

Michael Palin's epic voyages have seen him circumnavigate the globe, but perhaps the greatest single challenge he has faced is his latest, a crossing of the vast and merciless Sahara Desert....

Stow away with Rick Steves for a glimpse into the unforgettable moments, misadventures, and memories of his 1978 journey on the legendary Hippie Trail. In the 1970s, the ultimate trip for any backpacker was the storied “Hippie Trail” from Istanbul to Kathmandu. A 23-year old Rick Steves made...

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Richard and Judy Best Read of the Year, 2008.
A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.
When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher recreated H. M. Stanley's famous African expedition in 2000, he quickly became obsessed....

A Nepalese Sherpa with five others are at the center of a rescue mission for climbers who had become trapped in the Death Zone, unable to escape its clutches....

Cheesemonger Ned Palmer takes us on a delicious journey across Britain and Ireland and through time to uncover the histories of beloved old favourites like Cheddar and Wensleydale and fresh innovations like the Irish Cashel Blue or the rambunctious Renegade Monk....

Comment se tenir à table ? Comment saluer ? Quels sont les sujets qui fâchent, les gestes à éviter, les codes vestimentaires, les rites des mariages et des cérémonies funéraires ? Bien plus qu'un simple guide des bonnes manières, Marc Hillman nous offre un panorama complet des us et coutumes, parfois totalement loufoques, mais qui en disent long sur les traditions et les règles qui régissent tel ou tel pays.

From one of Canada's most beloved and celebrated Newfoundlanders comes a rollicking insider's guide to the province, told as only Alan Doyle can tell it. Few Canadian musicians are as synonymous with their home province as Alan Doyle is to his—and even fewer once worked as tour guides. In The...

Before he built his cabin at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau set out on a quiet journey with his brother—two small boats, two rivers, and seven days of reflection. "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers" is more than a book—it is an invitation to pause, breathe, and find peace in the flow of life.

With the quick wit and dry humour of a true Irishman, David "Irish" Anderson documents his epic eighteen-month motorcycle adventure from Ireland to South Africa in this captivating memoir. What begins as a lofty idea in a pub becomes a reality after six years of planning when Irish and his wife purposefully set out with their two heavily loaded motorcycles. Somewhere along the way, Irish loses his wife, but amidst the heartbreak, turmoil, and challenges on the long and often bumpy road, he gains a whole new perspective on life.

Mykonos is a place of contradictions. Billionaires dancing next to backpackers. Sunset romance followed by sunrise regret. A simple beach day that somehow becomes a three-day adventure. A calm breeze that turns into a wind that takes your wig, your dignity, and sometimes your patience. In this audiobook, you will meet real people of the island. The ones who stay all year. The ones who return every summer without knowing why. The ones who swear they will never come back and then find themselves at the airport again three months later.

In the 1990s, a teenage Steve Higgins was obsessed with UFOs. He spent his weekends cutting out newspaper clippings, watching 'The X-Files', and tramping through Wiltshire fields in search of crop circles. Decades later, he sets out to see if that old spark is still there. 'My UFO Youth' follows Steve's journey across Britain as he revisits the places that defined his teenage fascination — from Rendlesham Forest and Avebury to the hills above Warminster.

Join Nora on a heartfelt journey across Puerto Rico’s beaches, where her passion for sea glass and love of her family en-chanted island come alive. Sharing her favorite sea glass beaches and stories of the island’s culture and history along with blending practical tips and other hidden gems Puerto Rico offers, this book is perfect for adventurers and collectors alike. Sea Glass of Puerto Rico is more than a guide—it’s a celebration of connection, family, and the hidden treasures waiting to be discovered.

Seasons of Suffering/Seasons of Joy is a reflective road-memoir about a young man who pedals alone from Louisiana to Missouri, using the miles as a “meditative cocoon” to wrestle with meaning, mortality, and faith. The journey “begins in New England,” then unfolds across eight vividly told days on the bike and a series of thematic chapters, Worldview, Death, Life, Sexuality/Gender Identity, Suffering, and more, blending travelogue with honest spiritual inquiry.

In her mid-thirties and happily single, Karen Babine hitches up her tiny Scamp camper and sets out with her two unenthusiastic cats on a journey from her home in Minnesota to Nova Scotia to explore the place where her French-Acadian ancestors settled in North America some four centuries ago. As the miles roll by, she wonders: "Why do we carry this need to belong to an established history? What happens when that can't—or shouldn't—happen?"

The Trumpster Fire Escape Almanac blends biting political commentary with practical guidance for Americans considering living overseas. Part escape manual, part statistical almanac, it helps you answer the real questions about leaving America.