Shhhh!

Several months ago, my friend Donna Hull who writes about boomer adventure travel, tagged me in a fun little blogger game.  I had to write a post about travel secrets. I did. It was a popular post. See My 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets of Greece. and that was that. But that was not quite ALL of that.  The folks who started this little game, TripBase, had something more serious in mind.

They have put together a set of e-books of the hundreds of travel secrets they gathered from travel writers on the web. You can add them all to your travel library (I DID) or choose family travel, world travel (that’s where my secrets are), travel tips, U.S. travel (that’s where Donna’s secrets are), Italy, beaches or foodie. Take a look, and use the A Traveler’s Library link (I don’t get any money, but I’m competitive and want to have my fans to get more benefits than somebody else’s fans!)

Water is Life

But best of all, these travel secrets turn into water. Every single download gets a contribution from Trip Base to provide the most basic of needs–pure drinking water. Their goal is to drill enough wells to supply a whole school. So help out and help yourself to the greatest travel secrets!
You can help spread the word by clicking on one of the sharing buttons below, by posting about this on Facebook and Twitter, or by getting a badge to put on your own blog or website. Which of these e-books is your favorite? What travel secrets are you looking for? Make comments below by clicking on the word “comments” or click on the title of the post and a new page will open up with a comment form at the bottom.

Photos from Flickr through Creative Commons license. Click on the photos to see more about the photographer.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

NASA's View of the World

I’m a World Travel Blogger.

First you read about the world.
Then you plan a trip.
You have become a world traveler.

At A Traveler’s Library, we define travel books as those that define a place or a culture and make us want to go there. And we define world travel as ANYWHERE in the world–from a few blocks away from home (36 Hours in Tucson), to a  South Pacific Island.

If a road trip around America does not sound like world travel to you, keep in mind that Europeans and Asians and South Americans come to the U.S. for road trips all the time. And a Greek writer set a thriller on America’s roads. That’s world travel too.

All of the above explains why I am so proud that A Traveler’s Library was chosen as one of the Lonely Planet Blog Sherpas, and why I am so pleased to meet so many other bloggers talking about travel. You can find my posts scattered among the pages of the Lonely Planet web site.

Once Lonely Planet put these bloggers all in the same room, so to speak, by creating a list serve, a strange and wonderful thing happened–they became a world-wide family. Little by little, like a baby exploring its fingers and toes, they realized that they could increase their reach by banding together.

Lots of ideas are rolling around on that list serve of LP Sherpas, but one of the best was the creation of this world travel Squidoo page. Any time your travel lust needs a little tickle, take a look at this list of bloggers talking travel.

Note: You will not find all of these bloggers on my favorites page for various technical reason.  Just bookmark that Squidoo page and you will have your own window into world travel, with links to their latest posts.

Please tell me: Where do you go when you need to get information on travel? When you just want to learn about a place you didn’t know about before? What are your best Internet resources for travel? Let’s pool our resources.

And remember, if you subscribe by e-mail you DOUBLE your chances of winning in the May Travel Book Giveaway. Not to mention that you double your reading fun by getting these posts in your mail box when they are fresh out of the oven.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

• Under $25: See Numbers Two,  Four and  Nine
• $25-$50: See Number One
• $50-150: Numbers Three, Five, Six, and Eight
• Over $150: See Numbers Seven and Ten

1. USA Book

USA Book

Lonely Planet lays out the whole country in gorgeous, and sometimes unexpected pictures in The USA Book:
A Journey Through America. State by state, it coves all 50 of them and demonstrates the amazing varietyto be found on a virtual road trip covering the territory from Hawaii to  Maine and Alaska to Florida.

The USA Book joins others in the series, like Cities, Europe, Africa or Asia, and you can bundle them for savings at the Lonely Planet store. (I’ll be reviewing USA book in early December.)

Chances are, your giftee does not have this book yet, as it just debuted in September.

$39.99,(now selling for $35.99 at Lonely Planet. Click on book cover to go to L.P. shop) 256pp, full color,
hardcover, 14” x 10”
Released September 2009

Publisher: Lonely Planet

2. Time’s Great Discoveries: Explorations that Changed History

Great Discoveries

This truly scrumptious book should be inspiring travelers for generations to come.  In one fascinating story after another it tells about archaeological, geographic, geologic and even space exploration discoveries that change our concept of man’s past present and future on this earth.You will be right there with the explorers of the past, and shooting into space with the explorers of the future.

You will be able to read my full review in the new edition of Indie Travel Podcast Magazine when it is published in December. Until then, take my word for it, every traveler on your list will be enthralled. $20.00 at Amazon. with Great Discoveries.

3. Periscope Book Light

Periscope Book Light

This nifty invention, Periscope Book Light, folds your book or Kindle in a soft leather cover and lights your words with a strong light on a flexible arm. The size for hardback also will fit trade paperbacks–two slots to accommodate all standard sized books. The smaller one, for small paperbacks and the Kindle, also holds a pad of paper, and leaves a pocket to store a passport, ticket or other papers. I have been using one that the publisher sent me to review and I am delighted. Look for a full review in early December. Prices range from $34.95 to $59.95.

You will love the contest on their site. Tell them about your favorite book and win a Periscope Book Cover. There will be a Monthly Winner of the contest, so enter any time.

4. Select Wisely Cards

Cards from Select Wisely

What a find for travelers with allergies–particularly food allergies. Go to the web site, tell them what the problem is, they will make a set of cards in any language you specify.

Do you have an allergy to wheat products? Is your problem onions, or seafood, as pictured here? Or do you have a serious medical condition such as asthma or diabetes that may demand emergency care?  Select Wisely has you covered, in any language you need. They add new laminated cards frequently, so be sure to check their web site.

$8.50-$9.50 per pair of cards.

Order at the Select Wisely web site.

5. A Year’s Subscription to Dream of Italy

Dream of Italy Subscription.

What a great gift this publication would be for the reader/traveler who is in love with Italy .  Whether they are planning a trip, or just dreaming, Dream of Italy will fill the bill. Kathy McCabe’s much praised magazine, Dream of Italy, comes in print or online editions, and right now she is offering a special DVD along with each subscription. See the details by following the link below. Subscriptions $79-$109

Special $10  Discount to A Traveler’s Library readers!!

At checkout, be sure to enter your discount code: 10OFF

6. Gadabout Salons Travel Kit

Gadabout Spa and Salon

Gadabout Salons of Tucson Arizona suggests this travel kit– a travel pillow filled herbs to relieve the travel tensions ($40) AND a set of Go Gorgeous  skin care products ($42), gift wrapped and shipped. If you buy both together,  they include a complimentary gift (Keep it for yourself, we’re not telling!). PLUS They have provided a discount code for shoppers from A Traveler’s Library.

Special discount for readers of A Traveler’s Library!!

Orders can be placed online at sales@gadabout.com or via our 800 number at 800.600.3662. Please mention TRAVELBLOG as the discount code.

7. Luggage from Travel Pro

My husband and I have traveled with a Travel Pro© bag, comparing it to the wear or another brand, since 2002. The other bag is ready for retirement, and the TravelPro 22″ expandable, with its excellent design, is a little stained, but rarin’ to go. Zippers in tact, seams not fraying. Its’ design seems absolutely perfect. It is one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” kind of luggage designs. And I’m sure that George Clooney would agree.

This line is featured in the new movie Up in the Air which also partners with American Airlines and Hilton and Sprint. Wow! talk about product placement!

Enter the Travel Pro© Up in the Air Contest here.

The George Clooney Travel Pro© Crew™ 7 suitcase prices vary by store. 22″ Currently $175 at Amazon Store.

8. For the Road-Tripper, a AAA Membership

We have given this gift in the past to give ourselves peace of mind when our sons travel with their families. We know they will have road side assistance if they needed it.  They can get reduced prices on car insurance and discounts from many merchants. They love the discount prices at hotels and restaurants. And don’t forget the FREE maps and travel advice.

I have been taking road trips for longer than I want to talk about–and my AAA card covered me all those years. I also take advantage of getting an emergency spare key made and passport pictures taken, and I always  buy their U.S. road atlases.

Go to AAA.com and put in your zip code for your home state. Prices range between $53 and $119. If you already have a card, associate memberships are cheaper for people who live in the same household.

9. Am I Boring My Dog? And 99 other things every dog wishes you knew

a book for the dog lover in your family.

We’re talking about the TRAVELING dog lover in your family, too, because the entire 8th chapter is devoted to tips for travel with your dog.

If you have not yet stumbled upon the delightfully funny and educational blog, Will My Dog Hate Me?, you might want to drop in there to get a flavor of the kind of well-researched but entertainingly presented information in Am I Boring My Dog?. Edie Jarolim, veteran travel writer, hesitantly adopted a dog from a friend who is a dog rescuer, even though she was wracked with worries. How do I know if I’ll be able to take care of a dog? How do I know what to feed it? How do I know when it needs a veterinarian? Will it hate me?

She did what writers do, she researched the heck out of her questions and then put the whole thing in a book to help other people. Am I Boring My Dog lists for $15.00.

10. Electronic Reader: Kindle or Nook

There I said it. Electronic reader.

Now, before some of us are even through debating “paper or electrons” we  have a choice of delivery systems. Will it be Kindle By Amazon or Nook by Barns and Noble? (Will the next one  come right out with it and be called “Cozy”?) I refuse to enter the shootout and pick one right now, but here are some reviews that may help you decide.

Here are the reviews: PC News , Wired,

Nook E-Book Reaer

You can put in a pre-order for the November 30 release of the Nook at the Barnes and Noble website here. The cost will be $259.
I would not mind if you choose Kindle, if you also choose to order it right here through my link.

Disclaimers: Publishers furnished me with review copies of USA and Great Discoveries. The manufacturers of Periscope and Select Wisely supplied me with sample products for review. The publisher of Dream of Italy has supplied me with a year-long subscription to her magazine.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Book: Weird World: The Strangest Stories and Oddest Images from around the World from Bradt Books and Wanderlust Magazine. Publication October, 2009

FLASH! See my guest post about hiking the trails of Siphnos Greece at My Itchy Travel Feet.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Do you have a ten-year-old boy on your Christmas list? You might consider the travel book, [amazonify]1841623180::text::::Weird World[/amazonify], as a holiday gift. I know he would appreciate the displays of icky foods and disgusting photos of amazing things that people do to their bodies.

Of course, the book is not a children’s book, and if you WERE giving it to a ten-year-old, you might want to monitor some of the more adult pictures–not that there is much that is adult about this book.

I was once the mother of three boys–now men–and you would think I would be inured to yucky stuff mistaken for entertainment. Despite my experience, I spent most of the time when I was leafing through this book, saying “eeeeew!” and screwing my face into the kind of expression that would make my grandmother say “Your face is going to freeze that way!”

According to a cover blurb by Tony Hawks, the author of Round Ireland with a Fridge, “Weird World is sure to inspire the most stubborn of couch potatoes to get out there and discover the world’s wackiest travel adventures.”

I find this statement, and the book in general at puzzling odds with a quote from travel writer Bill Bryson about Wanderlust magazine, “There simply isn’t a better magazine for the serious traveler.”

What were those people at Wanderlust thinking when they co-published  this book with Bradt ( a publisher of esteemed travel guides)?

Serious travelers want to see people lacerate their faces with swords?–or even a chair? Serious travelers like to seek out butcher’s shops that display camel heads or iguana bodies? Sorry, but I thought serious travel was about learning about cultures, not ridiculing them. Circus sideshows have gone out of favor because we no longer think that sideshow freaks are an object of fun. So why is this book supposed to be entertaining? Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, it is made up of photos submitted by readers. So THIS is what happens when you leave professional writers behind, and rely on contributor-content.

Frankly, I think these people have been watching too much You Tube. (And I don’t mean the cute cat videos.)

Book supplied to me by the publicist for Globe Pequot, the U.S. distributor. And he may be wishing he didn’t send it.

Readers: Am I just being too prissy? Do you get a huge laugh out of freaky stuff like this?

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Strange Maps Cover

Destination: The World

Book: Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities by Frank Jacobs (Pub. date 10/29/09)

My name is Vera Marie and I am addicted to maps. What is more, I do not want to be cured.

What traveler does not love to thumb through an Atlas, or twirl a globe? Come on, admit it. Somewhere in your house you have a drawer full of road maps. In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I even love an old book of historic maps that show me what the boundaries of Europe and Asia looked like from the Roman era to World War II.

Frank Jacobs has cleverly played to the weakness of the mapoholic in a blog, and now a book,[amazonify]0142005258::text::::Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities[/amazonify]. Resistance is futile. You WILL either ask for this book for a Christmas present, or buy it for someone near to you so that you can surreptitiously thumb through the pages. Just do not try to use these maps to get from here to there. A travel book, it is not.

Some of the maps at the beginning of the book are of the “Where dragons be” variety. They were created back in the day when fanciful cartographers drew maps that led gullible mapoholics like Columbus and Magellan to venture beyond the known world. But most of the fanciful maps in this book go beyond geography as we know it.

The beautiful creatures of the Aleph maps that created anthropomorphic maps of European nations. Or maps of the world as someone wished it were divided, like  a 15-state USA, or divided the way it might have if the Great War turned out differently.

And what a shock to learn that when I dug in my back yard as a child and found a rubber band, my father’s explanation was wrong. He said I had dug all the way to China and found the rubber band from a Chinese pigtail. The Antipodean map shows that I would have struck salt water–not a Chinese pigtail, because none of the United States lies in a straight line through the globe to China.

But stop me before I thumb through the 229 pages of this book and 100+ images and tell you about every single one! (Disclaimer. The publishers sent me a copy of this book, making them an enabler in therapy talk.)

• Mapping out the future of A Traveler’s Library is easy–
• One and sometimes TWO Newly Published or Sneak Preview Books each week for the next few weeks.
• Thursday the first of two Truly Frightening Halloween posts.
• And  Friday–a new feature–French Fridays, starting with the NEW edition of Hemingway’s Moveable Feast. (Continuing until we run out of books about France)
• Some excellent Guest Posts will show up over the next weeks and Tuesday, November 3–a GREAT treat–No, I am not telling–you will just have to come see. (Clues: Author, debunking)
• Make it easy on yourself and subscribe so you do not miss any of the excitement.

Your turn–do you care to confess to your mapoholicism? And tell us your particular symptoms?

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Bhutan, the officially happy country, photograph by Steve Evans

Destination: Anywhere

Book: The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner

A Guest Post byEllen Barone

I’ve been insufferable since I started this book. Just ask my husband. I can’t shut up about it. I highlight passages like a type-A student prepping for a big exam. I quote from it at the coffeehouse. I twitter my favorite factoids. I’m as smitten as Jared Bibler, the loveable 20-something expat from Boston the author meets in Iceland.

Equal parts travel, humor and self-help,The Geography of Bliss is as funny as it is enlightening. Weaving together analytic statistics with keen observation, Eric Weiner, a longtime foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, presents an intelligent and entertaining look at the cultural habits that contribute to, or detract from, the happiness of its citizens.

As you may imagine, defining happiness is tricky business, but Weiner lets the people he meets across four continents tell what it means to be happy in their particular corner of the globe. Even in Moldova, a decidedly unhappy place, Weiner’s dry wit has us laughing with the Moldovans, not at them.

It’s not an uncommon dream, to spend a year traveling the globe or to write a best-selling book. Weiner not only accomplished both with an admittedly harebrained experiment, but he also manages to turn our initial envy into rock solid admiration. Damn him!

I loved rambling with Weiner to places like India, where happiness and suffering live side-by-side; Bhutan, where the king has made Gross National Happiness a national priority; Switzerland, where residents believe envy is the great enemy of happiness; and Iceland, which despite its cold climate, geographic isolation and propensity for failure, is among the world’s happiest places.

The Geography of Bliss, however, is much more than a travelogue. Lurking behind a global romp, Weiner provides the reader with wise and witty commentary of that alluring, sneaky concept known as happiness.

Better yet, Weiner sprinkles the book with the type of geeky travel trivia I feel compelled to share unsolicited with total strangers.

• Did you know, for instance, that the Swiss didn’t give women the right to vote until 1971 – in one canton, or state, until 1991?
• Or, that the word “utopia” has two meanings? It means both “good place” and “nowhere.”

As I read this book a sense of delight sneaked up on me, a feeling so much like that which I experience when I’m on the road that, at home, I almost don’t recognize the sensation. But then, I got it. Traveling inspires in me a heightened awareness, acceptance and newfound appreciation for differences. And that’s the magic of this book. Without logging thousands of miles, enduring the noon darkness of Iceland and the blazing heat of Qatar, the fastidiousness of Switzerland or the chaos of India, I’m left feeling like I’ve been on a wonderful, epic journey.

Ellen Barone

Travel expert Ellen Barone did what many of us only dream of doing: at the age of 35, she traded a successful academic career for the wild blue yonder and set out to explore the world and herself. In the decade since that intrepid decision, she has turned passion into profession, journeying to more than 60 countries in search of evocative images and life-enriching adventures. For more travel ideas, tips, and deals, sign up for FREE updates at her website www.ellenbarone.com

Wow! Thanks, Ellen for an inspiring post. I love your definition of what travel does for us. And, damn it, now I’m going to have to add another book to my TBR pile!

So, reader, what is the happiest country you have been to?? Let’s make a list! I would have to say, for me, it is the island of St. Lucia, where the national motto seems to be “Every ting’s gonna be awwww-right!”

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Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Destination:

The World

Book: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts

Every generation of wanderers has an author of travel literature that sounds the siren call.  Walt Whitman comes to mind and Lord Byron before him.  Then the famously wild days of Jack Kerouac and On the Road.

Authors today have a harder time breaking out of the morass of travel bloggers (OUCH!) and becoming the ONE voice to follow.  Rolf Potts has come close with [amazonify]0812992180::text::::Vagabonding[/amazonify].  Ask any hardy young adventurer, or even a person just dreaming of adventures, and chances are, they have read Rolf Potts.

I picked up a copy at a used book store. (Sorry, Rolf) One of the things I love about a used book is finding pages marked up, notes in the margin, corners turned down. In other words–a book that is truly used.  This one turned out to be a treasure. In the first chapter, paragraphs defining vagabonding are bracketed and underlined.  A passage about the excuses that people make NOT to travel is bracketed AND starred.

A heavy line emphasizes “Rather, it has always been a private choice within a society that is constantly urging us to do otherwise.  This is a book about living that choice.”

She (the rounded handwriting must be a female, I think) underlines “They are spending plenty of time and money on the road, but they never spent enough of themselves to begin with,” and she writes in the margin “is this us?”

Used copy of Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Potts uses many quotations throughout (enough, I was thinking, to keep twitterers busy for Travel Tuesdays in the foreseeable future). And under a quote from Whitman’s Song of the Open Road, my predecessor in these pages, writes, “Song of open road on our wedding program.“  Ah-ha! The plot thickens.

Potts says that travelers should keep it simple, and one should not wait to accumulate wealth, or win the lottery.  Quadruple underline of “we were all born with winning tickets…”  On the next page, she writes “do the garage sale and put $ in ‘travel fund.’”

But suddenly the underlining and bracketing and margin notes stop. Just like that. Not even half way through. I’ll never know if the engagement fell apart, or if she just got too busy ordering bridesmaid’s dresses to finish the book. Did her fiancee take a look and pooh-pooh the whole idea? Did the book go into the yard sale for travel funds?

Feeling a little lonely,without the bride-to-be for company, I read on through philosophy of travel, short bios of famous travelers, a tip sheet for each idea introduced, Potts’ personal anecdotes from his own vagabonding, quotes from famous and not famous travelers.

Despite the fact that he states that there is no age limit on vagabonding, I am beyond the age that can follow his suggestions. Particularly his repeated mentions of fleeting romances along the road. For everyone that age limit will vary, and is self imposed, or imposed by responsibilities or arthritis. But for anyone who is open to the call of the open road, read carefully. Pay attention. Rolf Potts knows whereof he speaks.

His newest book, released in 2008, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, not only covers travel adventures, but in it, he steps outside the narrative and talks about how he wrote the essays within the book. From how-to-travel to how-to-be-a-travel-writer.

Is Rolf Potts one of the authors who inspire YOU to travel? Share your story here.

And can you end my suspense?  Are you the person who owned the book before me? Did you get married? Did you use Walt Whitman in your ceremony? Did you travel?

At any rate, don’t forget to subscribe to A Traveler’s Library so you don’t miss upcoming posts on Hawaii, China, Africa and a brand new travel magazine. Just follow the instructions here: Subscribe to A Travelers’ Library by Email

You might like another article about Rolf Potts.

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