Updated February 12, 2024
For me, one of the small silver linings of the early days of the pandemic is that I finally got into the habit of reading. I’ve always loved books and reading, but it wasn’t until 2020 that it became part of my daily routine.
Now, I read almost every night before bed, and listen to audiobooks while cooking or cleaning, walking, driving, and riding on buses, planes, or trains. I’m usually in the middle of at least four books and one or two audiobooks at any given time. (Add me on Goodreads if you’re on there!)
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In a surprise to absolutely nobody, travel memoirs are one of my favorite genres – especially female travel memoirs, I think because their perspectives tend to resonate more. Likewise, there are some great fiction travel books out there, but I find it a lot easier to relate to non-fiction. Reading about things that actually happened and hearing a real person’s reflections just leaves a bigger impact on me, at least when it comes to travel stories.
For me, books about traveling are both a huge source of inspiration and a means of reflecting on my own experiences. I love reading about the types of travel experiences I’ve had myself and places where I’ve spent time. But I also love hearing about experiences I’ll probably never have (like sailing around the world, biking across the country, and working as a flight attendant).
My “To Read” list in this genre is literally never-ending, and I still haven’t read some of the obvious picks – like Bill Bryson’s In a Sunburned Country (which I do plan to read) and J. Maarten Troost’s The Sex Lives of Cannibals (which I don’t). And one day I’ll re-read Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love to see how differently it lands now, compared to when I read it as a 20-year-old on study abroad in 2007.
But I wanted to share some of the best travel memoirs I’ve read so far. (Update: And I’m always adding to this list!) Whether you’re looking for serious travel inspiration, a fun vacation read, or gifts for travelers who love to read, one of these will surely be the perfect pick.
Contents
- The Best Travel Memoirs
- 1. Love with a Chance of Drowning – Torre DeRoche
- 2. Kinky Gazpacho – Lori L. Tharps
- 3. The Yellow Envelope – Kim Dinan
- 4. Wild – Cheryl Strayed
- 5. Free Country – George Mahood
- 6. Cruising Attitude – Heather Poole
- 7. A Thousand New Beginnings – Kristin Addis
- 8. How Not to Travel the World – Lauren Juliff
- 9. Turn Right at Machu Picchu – Mark Adams
- 10. It’s Only the Himalayas – Sue Bedford
- 11. Adventures of a Continental Drifter – Elliott Hester
- 12. All Over the Map – Laura Fraser
- More Memoirs About Traveling
The Best Travel Memoirs
1. Love with a Chance of Drowning – Torre DeRoche
This is one of those travel books about an experience I don’t plan to ever have. While living in California, Torre falls in love with an Argentinian man whose dream is to sail around the world in his little boat named Gracie.
She’s prone to seasickness and terrified of deep water, but agrees to go on the journey anyway. They spend weeks at a time on the water with no land in sight, subsist on a diet mostly devoid of fresh fruits and vegetables, and brave storms that nearly capsize the sailboat.
While their time on the water is sometimes challenging, Torre and Ivan reap serious rewards, too. They make their way through the South Pacific, visiting idyllic islands that are pretty much only reachable by sailboat and far removed from globalization and mainstream tourism.
I also really enjoyed Torre’s follow-up, The Worrier’s Guide to the End of the World, which is a memoir about travel of a totally different kind. Instead of sailing, it’s mostly about walking pilgrimages – and instead of romance, there’s grief, heartbreak, and female friendship. I would recommend them both, but start with Love with a Chance of Drowning.
Recommended for anyone who dreams of sailing the world or just visiting a remote tropical paradise – and it’s the perfect choice if you’re searching for gifts for outdoorsy women!
2. Kinky Gazpacho – Lori L. Tharps
There are travel memoirs that relay the story of a trip, and then there are those that weave history, culture, and personal identity with adventure. This book is definitely the latter.
Lori’s story starts with her childhood in Wisconsin, where she’s (no surprise) the only Black student at her school. She’s enamored with Spain from her first Spanish class, but her relationship to the country gets more complicated when she studies abroad there.
The book is a candid account of Lori’s experiences as an African-American in Spain, first as a student, then as part of a blended family over the years, and even as an investigative journalist uncovering the country’s hidden history of slavery. Reading this made me incredibly nostalgic for my year abroad in college, and it helped me think about travel from a perspective that’s totally different from my own.
Recommended for anyone who’s interested in Spain or the Black travel experience – and this would be a great book club pick!
3. The Yellow Envelope – Kim Dinan
When I read this book, I related to it so much. Then I noticed a stark polarization in the reviews: people either related deeply to it like I did, or they absolutely loathed both the story and the author. Interesting.
Like many of the other writers on this list, Kim wanted something different than the career, house, wealth, and other material things we’re told we’re supposed to work for. So, she and her husband left their jobs and their home to explore around the world. (Um, you’re probably starting to see why I related to it so much!)
They travel from Ecuador to India and many countries in between, sometimes staying in places they love for weeks at a time. The book chronicles their adventures and missteps, the people they meet, and Kim’s reflections on everything from travel to body image to her sometimes-difficult relationship with her husband.
Recommended for anyone who’s thinking of traveling long-term with a partner
4. Wild – Cheryl Strayed
I listened to Cheryl Strayed’s Pacific Crest Trail memoir while Ryan and I were walking the Camino de Santiago, which made it feel especially poignant (even though I was reminded every day of how the challenges of the Camino pale in comparison to thru-hiking!).
There are plenty of adventure memoirs out there, so why did Wild become a household name? The writing is beautiful, the stories are entertaining, and the insights are profound.
But I think it’s also because this book is fully a hiking memoir and also fully a memoir of Cheryl’s often-troubled life before the hike – and both threads are incredibly compelling. Interspersed with the PCT journey are her reflections on her unstable childhood, drug abuse, relationships, and most notably, her mother’s death from cancer at age 45.
My only gripe? That Cheryl Strayed didn’t narrate the audiobook herself! I always hate when memoirs are narrated by someone other than the author, especially when the author’s voice is already familiar.
Recommended for anyone who’s grieving, overcoming addiction, or interested in thru-hiking
5. Free Country – George Mahood
If funny travel memoirs are what you’re after, this is the one for you. I laughed out loud more than once while reading it, and really, I don’t see how you couldn’t. The premise? George somehow convinces his pal that it would be a fun adventure to cycle the 1,000 miles across Great Britain – with the completely absurd stipulation that they can’t spend any money.
Instead of letting the actual bike ride be enough of a challenge, they start in southern England with nothing – no bicycles, no food, not even any clothes (except their “pants,” as the British would say). The plan is to acquire those things along the way.
Throughout their journey, George and Ben make new friends, encounter all kinds of characters (or maybe they are the characters), receive help from strangers, and get into more unlikely and hilarious situations than I can count.
George has another book called Not Tonight, Josephine, about road-tripping through the U.S., and it’s equally full of random mishaps, funny stories, and obscure places. It was also a great read, but I’d go with Free Country if I had to recommend just one.
Recommended for anyone who wants both entertainment and a reminder of the goodness in humanity
*The Kindle version of Free Country is currently available for free through Kindle Unlimited!
6. Cruising Attitude – Heather Poole
Heather spent 15 years working as a flight attendant, so she has plenty of fodder for this tell-all book about the job. From the strenuous training and hiring process to the high expectations and demanding schedules, being a flight attendant is not as glamorous as it might seem.
Packed with stories of drama involving passengers, pilots, flight attendants, and airlines (both in the air and on the ground), this book is as funny as it is eye-opening. Plus, it’s a quick and easy read – perfect for your next flight!
Recommended for anyone who’s ever been on a plane
7. A Thousand New Beginnings – Kristin Addis
Kristin is the writer behind a travel blog I used to read while sitting in my office at my old job in Boston (yes, when I was supposed to be working), so I was excited when her book came out. The book follows her initial solo travel journey, a 10-month backpacking trip through Southeast Asia in her mid-20s.
Based largely on Kristin’s old journal entries, the book takes you on a day-by-day journey across Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, and the Philippines, often to places far from the tourist trail. Some of the stories that stood out to me covered a silent meditation retreat in Thailand, a wild motorcycle trip, and all kinds of scuba diving adventures. With short chapters, it’s a quick and easy read, but an inspirational one that makes both solo female travel and long-term travel feel attainable.
Recommended for anyone who’s interested in solo travel or getting off the beaten path
*The Kindle version of A Thousand New Beginnings is currently just $2.99 on Amazon!
8. How Not to Travel the World – Lauren Juliff
Another book by a popular blogger, this one has a decidedly different bent. Lauren calls herself a walking disaster, and after reading her travel stories, it’s easy to see why. While she’s on the road, she gets scammed, attacked by sandflies, bitten by fish, caught up in a tsunami scare, and has a host of other problems.
In fairness, maybe some of Lauren’s disasters were the result of her carelessness or her sometimes shocking level of naiveté. . But anyone who’s felt unlucky or out of their element will relate to many of the stories, and the way Lauren faces her fears and challenges herself to grow and change is enormously inspiring. By the end of the book, you can’t help but admire her.
Recommended for anyone who feels anxious or insecure about traveling
9. Turn Right at Machu Picchu – Mark Adams
This was the slowest read of the books on this list, but that’s only because the travel narrative is accompanied by meticulously researched historical context on Peru. Travel writing that manages to simultaneously inspire a deep sense of adventure and provide a serious education is rare, but this book pulled it off.
Mark sets out to recreate the first recorded expedition to Machu Picchu – which is a massive undertaking for someone who’d never even been camping before (!). As he travels the Sacred Valley, he relies on his guides, treks to areas rarely visited by foreigners, and learns enough history to write a book (literally). It sounds like his books on traveling Alaska and searching for Atlantis are a similar mix of historical research and adventure memoir.
Recommended for anyone who loves history or hopes to visit Machu Picchu
10. It’s Only the Himalayas – Sue Bedford
Sue tells the story of a year-long trip she takes with her friend Sara, partly in an attempt to escape her waitressing job and try to figure out what she wants to do with her life. In one of the more memorable sections, the two are joined by their aging fathers to trek the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, despite all four of them being utterly unprepared. They also tour Southern Africa, study meditation at an ashram in India, and unexpectedly take part in a death ritual on Borneo.
While I have to admit that parts of the second half of the book devolved into a blur of parties, drugs, and hook-ups with little attention to the actual countries Sue and Sara visit, the first half chronicles some seriously inspiring adventures.
Recommended for anyone planning to travel long-term with a friend
11. Adventures of a Continental Drifter – Elliott Hester
Another funny travel memoir, this one is truly a round-the-world story. After Elliott leaves his job as a flight attendant in the wake of 9/11, he spends a year traveling solo and ends up visiting more than 20 countries. He seems to be one of those people who just keeps encountering unexpected things on the road, and he writes about it all with a self-deprecating sense of humor that you can’t help but enjoy.
The book is a series of short stories, with tales from places as diverse as Argentina, Ethiopia, and French Polynesia. It’s a quick and easily-digestible read, and each story will keep you guessing. His first book is a behind-the-scenes peek into air travel and the life of a flight attendant, and it looks like it’s just entertaining.
Recommended for anyone who’s thought of leaving everything behind to travel the world
12. All Over the Map – Laura Fraser
This story of a solo female traveler breaks the mold of the 20-something globetrotter, something I’m coming to appreciate more and more. When Laura turns 40 at the beginning of the book, she’s already found career success and is torn between searching for love and wanting to be independent. So, she travels, sometimes on writing assignments, sometimes for love, and sometimes simply for the adventure.
No stranger to memoirs of travel, Laura’s even better known for her first book, An Italian Affair, which tells the beginning of her story of post-divorce travel and romance.
Recommended for anyone who dreams of travel and romance
More Memoirs About Traveling
Like I said, my “To-Read” list of memoirs about travel is never-ending – and these are some of the next ones on the list! Since I haven’t read any of these yet and can’t personally recommend them, I’m including the Goodreads rating for each one.
Catfish and Mandala – Andrew X. Pham (4/5): After his sister’s suicide, Andrew quits his job to take a year-long bicycle trip, eventually heading to their father’s home country of Vietnam. Cycling from Saigon to Hanoi, the trip becomes his search for cultural identity.
A Cook’s Tour – Anthony Bourdain (4.1/5): I’ve read (actually, listened to) two of Anthony Bourdain’s books and loved them both, especially Kitchen Confidential. This one was his first travel memoir, and I can’t wait to read it; I’m just sad he’ll never be able to record it.
Around the World in 80 Trains – Monisha Rajesh (3.8/5): The title is literal – there really are 80 train journeys, covering 45,000 miles (twice the circumference of the earth). Monisha and her fiancé ride everything from Amtrak to the Trans-Mongolian to the world’s highest-elevation railway in Tibet.
Four Corners – Kira Salak (4/5): Papua New Guinea is one of the least-visited countries in the world, and Kira spent three months traversing it solo. This is a book about places, people, and cultures you’re unlikely to read about anywhere else.
The Cat Who Went to Paris – Peter Gethers (4.1/5): This was published in 1991, and is exactly what it sounds like. I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet. Former cat-hater Peter receives a kitten named Norton as a gift, falls in love with him, and from then on, they go everywhere together, including Paris.
What are the best travel memoirs you’ve read? Share your recommendations in the comments!
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Heya, thanks for sharing your list and introducing me to a genre, which I’m usually not too fond of. I’ve tried Bill Bryson but couldn’t get access to his writing. The story about the waitress who ends up climbing a mountain unprepared sounds very much like me. I often run naively into travel mishaps but afterward they do make for the best stories, so I may give this one a try!
Carolin
In that case, I think you’ll definitely enjoy that one! 😀
Thanks for sharing this list – I love these kinds of books and have already read several of those you’ve listed. (And now am adding the rest of them to my to-be-read list :o)
Also I’d love to suggest my own family travel memoir – it’s about the 3+ years that my family spent living in a camper van driving from California to Argentina. “Monkeys on the Road: One family’s vanlife adventure south in search of a simpler life” by Mary Hollendoner.
I’ll message you directly Jen to see if you might like to read it. If my comment is too self-promotional please delete it!
I love this list! There’s some I’ve read and others I haven’t–the perfect list for right now when we can’t travel! Thanks for sharing (also saw that you’re a fellow Montanan from Practical Wanderlust).
Thanks for commenting, Alex! I’m trying hard to find silver linings of the lockdowns, and reading more has definitely been one of them. 🙂 Where in Montana are you from? We both grew up in Great Falls, but Ryan also lived in Bozeman for quite a while and we love going back to visit!
That’s so funny! I great up in Kalispell–been to both Great Falls and Bozeman many times, though. Love catching up with fellow Montanans!
Ditto! And I’m looking forward to following your blog! 🙂
Thank you for sharing this! So many memoirs on here I have never heard of and they sound amazing. Will be checking my library for these titles now!
You’re welcome! Hope you find one you like 😀
I really need to start reading all the wonderful books I keep hearing about, I get inspired just reading the summaries but I never seem to get around to it. That one about the guys who biked with no money sounds awesome, that’s definitely going to be the first one I check out!
If you like road trip stories, I’d recommend Chuck Klosterman’s “Killing Yourself To Live”.
Ooh, I haven’t heard of Killing Yourself to Live – thanks for the rec!
Thanks for the great recommendations. This is a reminder that I definitely don’t read enough travel memoirs! I’ll be adding some of these to my list to keep me occupied on my 2020 travel!
No better time to read one than on a trip! 🙂
Can;t travel without books. Thanks for the great, great list! And keep it up!
Thanks Elsa! 🙂
Great list! I will have to add some of those to my reading list, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for commenting! 🙂
I feel like I already have wanderlust right now, but I’m definitely looking forward to adding these to my to-read list! The only one I’ve read so far is Wild!
I can’t believe I still haven’t read Wild!
Oh I love a book that gives me wanderlust. It was the book I am David that first inspired me to travel as a young girl.
Oh, I haven’t heard of that one – I’m going to look it up!
Travel Memoirs are an addiction of mine! I’ve read some of these but not all. I’ve just added a bunch to my list 🙂
Mine too! Usually I finish reading one book, and then add about 10 new ones on Goodreads. 😀
I’m always looking for new travel reads so this was great! Thank you for posting!
Thanks for commenting, Mary! Hope you find one you like! 🙂
Beautiful! I love your list, and I’m inspired to pick at least a couple of them and read. Thanks for sharing!
Hope you like them as much as I did! 🙂