Ten travel books to warm up your winter

In the middle of winter, when cold temperatures and snowy days keep us inside, cozily snuggled up on the couch with a cup of tea, transporting ourselves to tropical destinations can bring a little sunshine to our dreary world. Here are 10 travel books to consider putting on your winter reading list!

(Click on titles to take you to Amazon.com.)

Escape from the Ordinary (by Julie Bradley)

Just released in December 2018, Julie Bradley’s memoir may have you thinking about retiring early, selling everything, buying a boat 4,000 miles away and sailing around the world. What could go wrong? Glen and Julie follow their dream and discover that reality can be even bigger than imagined. From Force 10 storms in the North Atlantic to the crystal blue waters and native dancers of French Polynesia, Escape from the Ordinary opens a window to adventures in extraordinary places not found in travel brochures. Told with keen observations and sparkling with wry humor, Julie describes the terrors and pleasures of living a life of total independence on a sailboat where even simple decisions can have big consequences. This exhilarating, true story will thrill those planning to sail off into the sunset as well as armchair adventurers. Escape from the Ordinary reminds you of the unlimited possibilities in life and offers inspiration to go “all in” on your own dreams. Traveling from one epic adventure to the next on board their sturdy Amel sailboat, Glen and Julie immerse themselves deeply into islands and cultures that are so off-the-beaten path you will reach for an atlas to find places like Bequia, Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, San Blas islands, Peru, Galapagos Islands, Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu Islands, Tahiti, Palmerston Island, Niue, Tonga, New Zealand and Fiji. From dodging voodoo curses in the Bahamas to clawing their way out of underwater caverns in the South Pacific, Glen and Julie take the reader along for the adventure of a lifetime.

Destination Earth: A New Philosophy of Travel by a World-Traveler (by Nicos Hadjicostis)

More a guide to travel than a travel guide, Destination Earth transforms how you view travel and its relation to life. It also provides a philosophical framework for embarking on more meaningful and purposeful travels, whether it is an around the world journey, or an exploration of a region or even a city. It is the product of the author’s unique 6.5 year continuous around the world journey, during which he visited 70 countries on six continents and treated the world as if it were a single destination. From Chile and Argentina to Thailand and Japan, Destination Earth explores the delicate and invisible interconnections of nations and countries, peoples and cultures, and delves deep into all aspects of travel and its transformational power including: why long term and world travel is the ultimate university; how to create a wise-line of travel through any region; how to go about capturing the soul of a country; how to deal with the unpleasant realities of the world while on the road; how to balance the relationship between travel planning and spontaneity; how a travel journey is related to our life’s journey, and practical advice on how to plan the exploration of regions and countries. Twenty-five travel stories from the author’s journey augment the main text. The book was a Gold Medal Winner in 2017, receiving the International Book Award in the Travel Category, and the Independent Press Award in the Travel Category. Rick Steves, Travel Writer and TV Presenter: “Making the world his friend, considering it a single country, and then distilling from years of first hand experience a philosophy of travel, Nicos inspires and equips his readers not only to maximize the experience, but to maximize the value of the experience.” 

Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life (by Daniel Klein)

After being advised by his dentist to get tooth implants, Daniel Klein decides to stick with his dentures and instead use the money to make a trip to the Greek island Hydra and discover the secrets of aging happily. Drawing on the inspiring lives of his Greek friends and philosophers ranging from Epicurus to Sartre, Klein uncovers the simple pleasures that are available late in life, as well as the refined pleasures that only a mature mind can fully appreciate. It’s a travel book, a witty and accessible meditation, and an optimistic guide to living well. Travels with Epicurus is a delightful jaunt to the Aegean and through the terrain of old age that only a free spirit like Klein could lead.

Fire Bone! (by Robert W. Bone)

Robert W. Bone has visited every continent and covered at least 75 countries. For four decades, thousands of travelers to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand carried the latest editions of his prizewinning Maverick Guides or read his groundbreaking work on the “last frontier,” Fielding’s Alaska and the Yukon. He wrote travel articles for magazines, and using his personal syndication system, hundreds more for the travel sections of newspapers throughout the U.S. and Canada. Fire Bone! is an unvarnished memoir of thrilling experiences with newspapers, magazines and book publishers, and the childhood and youthful love affairs that led up to them. Bone has been shot at and robbed. He’s battled American and foreign bureaucrats. But as his grandmother predicted, everything he did “would always come out for the best.” He’s climbed to the top of a mast at sea and planted a revolutionary flag at a world’s fair. And he’s never been fired from a job. Fire Bone! explains all that, too.

The Kindness Diaries: One Man’s Quest to Ignite Goodwill and Transform Lives Around the World (by Leon Logothetis)

Leon Logothetis is a TV host, producer, author, traveler and all around good guy. Formerly a London broker, he gave up his comfortable life to travel and find real human connection. He is the host of “The Amazing Adventures of A Nobody” which wand, over the course of three seasons, sees Leon cross America, the United Kingdom and Europe on just 5 dollars, 5 pounds, and 5 euros a day, respectively. He is also the author of a book by the same title. He has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, FOX, BBC among other mainstream media outlets. A review on Amazon.com said in part: “…Leon takes a trip laterally across the globe on a yellow bike going entirely on the kindness of other people. He could accept food, gas, accommodation, or transportation but not money and when he found people he thought were deserving, he gifted them something meaningful in return. He did have a camera crew with him for the filming but would only allow them to enter the scene when he had made contact with the people himself.”

Key West: Tequila, a Pinch of Salt and a Quirky Slice of America…a year in Key West (by Jon Breakfield)

Key West: Tequila, a Pinch of Salt and a Quirky Slice of America is a lyrical portrait of a couple from the UK integrating themselves on a startlingly picturesque, joyously wacky island that is more Caribbean than it is American. More neurotic than it is sane. More corrupt than it is law-abiding. And more prone to hurricanes than it should be. This book is a celebration of life, love and adventure—an enchanting account of a couple who weren’t afraid to jump off the hamster wheel and have a go at a dream.

More Ketchup Than Salsa: Confessions of a Tenerife Barman (by Joe Cawley)

When Joe and his girlfriend Joy decide to trade in their life on a cold Lancashire fish market to run a bar in the Tenerife sunshine, they anticipate a paradise of sea, sand and siestas. Little did they expect their foreign fantasy to turn out to be about as exotic as Grimsby on a wet Monday morning. Amidst a host of eccentric locals, homesickness and the occasional cockroach infestation, pint-pulling novices Joe and Joy struggle with ‘Brits abroad’ culture and learn that, although the skies might be bluer, the grass is definitely not always greener. Dubbed ‘Little Britain with a suntan,’ More Ketchup than Salsa lifts the lid on the morning-afters as well as the night-befores of life in a busy holiday resort. This is a must-read for anybody who has ever dreamed about jetting off to sunnier climes.

1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover’s Life List (by Mimi Sheraton)

You may have already read 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. If food is an important part of your travel experience, you’ll also enjoy 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die, a joyous, informative, dazzling, mouthwatering life list of the world’s best food. Mimi Sheraton is an award-winning cookbook author, grande dame of food journalism, and former restaurant critic for The New York Times. It includes selections from the best cuisines around the world (French, Italian, Chinese, Senegalese, Lebanese, Mongolian, Peruvian, and many more)—including the tastes, ingredients, dishes, and restaurants that every reader should experience and dream about. You’ll want to eat your way through the book (after searching first for what you have already tried, and comparing notes). Then, following the romance, the practical: where to taste the dish or find the ingredient, and where to go for the best recipes, websites included.

Mahina Tiare: Pacific Passages (by Barbara Marrett and John Neal)

Mahina Tiare, Pacific Passages, is a story of adventure, discovery and sailing, written in two voices. John Neal provides the perspective of a veteran sailor; a man attuned to sea, weather, and his sailboat, a 31-foot Hallberg-Rassy sloop. Barbara Marrett, artist and novice sailor, narrates sights, sounds and personalities. Mahini Tiare transports Barbara and John 22,000 miles to the enchanged islands of the Galapagos, mysterious Easter Island, Pitcairn Island (home of Bounty mutineers), the Marquesas, Tahiti, Fii, Vanuatu, New Zealand and finally Australia. A shipwrecked sailor, angry cargo cultists, descendants of Fletcher Christian and yuppies-turned-yachties are among the colorful characters encountered. From Pacific Islanders, Barbara and John learned that gifts maintain their spirit when passed along. This book is written in that spirit of sharing. From John Macdonald, The Seattle Times: “Many sailing books talk of storms and survival, but few put you on deck in a hurricane, to let you feel the anguish and share the action as mountainous waves threaten to crash on the deck five feet from you. This one does. It’s an ocean odyssey for sailors who plan a long-distance Pacific passage, but for those who see themselves in such a saga only in their dreams.”

The Tenth Island: Finding Joy, Beauty, and Unexpected Love in the Azores (by Diana Marcum)

Diana Marcum, a narrative writer for the Los Angeles Times, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015 for feature writing for her newspaper portraits of farmers, field-workers, and others in the drought-stricken towns of California’s Central Valley. In The Tenth Island: Finding Joy, Beauty, and Unexpected Love in the Azores, she has crafted an exuberant memoir of personal loss and longing, and finding connection on the remote Azorean Islands of the Atlantic Ocean. A summary: Reporter Diana Marcum is in crisis. A long-buried personal sadness is enfolding her—and her career is stalled—when she stumbles upon an unusual group of immigrants living in rural California. She follows them on their annual return to the remote Azorean Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, where bulls run down village streets, volcanoes are active, and the people celebrate festas to ease their saudade, a longing so deep that the Portuguese word for it can’t be fully translated. Years later, California is in a terrible drought, the wildfires seem to never end, and Diana finds herself still dreaming of those islands and the chuva—a rain so soft you don’t notice when it begins or ends. With her troublesome Labrador retriever, Murphy, in tow, Diana returns to the islands of her dreams only to discover that there are still things she longs for—and one of them may be a most unexpected love.

Happy reading! Let me know in the comments if you have a travel book recommendation to add to the list…