They say that planning a trip is almost as exciting as actually going on a trip. In all that planning there comes the books that we always turn to, whose pages are near worn from all the hours that we have spent pouring over their contents trying to find the inspiration and guidance to the next great adventure. Our bookshelves are filled with different kinds of travel books to suit whatever travel whim takes hold. We have books that we use for adventures in a far off destinations to the quick weekend getaway a little closer to home. So allow me to share with you some of our favorite go-to travel books…
National Geographic
National Geographic always has some great books. We have a stack of colorful and picture filled books featuring places from all over the world that sit on our coffee table ready for a quick escape from reality into some beautiful place. While the coffee table books are great, National Geographic has some other books that have been the guide to some great trips across the country.
Our most recent purchase is the 100 Drives 5000 Ideas book. This book has the best road trips through the states that follow a certain theme or focus. Want to learn about the American Revolution or follow the Oregon Trail or the Delta Blues Highway? This book gives the whole itinerary from where to start, how long it will take, and what to see along the way. It gives some extra day trips along the path if you find you have more time. I see a lot of roadtrips in our future with this book.
The other book we always use is the 50 states 5000 Ideas. Because we are pretty centrally located and have a lot of other states within a few hours of us, weekends often involve going to a neighboring state and this book helps us to know what to see while we are there. It lists cities and historical places and little known facts about the area. Many of our weekends away have been inspired by this book.
We love visiting state parks and the Guide to the State Parks of the United States has taken us to some great places. The book list the 5 best or most popular state parks for each state. It gives information on the park, the trails, the services, and beautiful pictures of the state.
DK Eyewitness Travel
I think every traveler has at least one of the DK Eyewitness books in their possession. They offer a good understanding of the place with historical background, points of interest in all the different areas, and practical information such as medical services, transportation, and currency.
The detailed maps in the books really help to keep you on track so you know where you are and to get where you want to go. The suggested walking paths are helpful to see so much of what makes a place unique. And we really like the family guides which give some more child friendly activities and interests, history basics that are made easy to understand, and where to find parks to help get out some energy. The family guides have helped make a family trip have something for everyone.
1000 Places To See Before You Die
The list maker in me especially loves the 1000 Places To See Before You Die books. These books are filled with not only beautiful places but incredible experiences all over the world that everyone should be part of. Knowing that it is unlikely that I will ever go to all 1000 places that are listed here, it is still fun to go through and see how many I have visited.
When we got married we learned that both of us had copies of these books. So while one set is clean and preserved, the other set has been used to mark off where we’ve been and make notes about the places we have visited. Some pages have writing on them, others have colors along the pages. They are becoming almost like travel journals as we fill the pages with colors and thoughts on the places we’ve been and dream about the places we want to see.
Moon Travel
When we moved to Tennessee we set out to see as much of the state that would now be our home. We found a Moon Travel book in that first week of living here and it has been a constant companion ever since. Moon Travel books give a locals view of the state and what to see and do there. If you are looking for a travel guide for the states, this is a great one.
Each area of the state is highlighted with places to go, where to stay, and directions of how to make the most of your time there. We started out with the area of Nashville and worked our way out from there. This has been a great way for us to see all that Tennessee has to offer and a great resource to look for places when we have visitors come.
Falcon Hiking Guide
We are a hiking family and love to hit the trails and we will often pull out one of our many Falcon Hiking Guides to find the best trail for the day. These books list all the different hikes, their length, how difficult or easy they are, and the viewpoints and sites to see from the trail. These have helped us make sure that our hikes fit the needs of whoever is with us.
Passport to the national parks
And last, but certainly not least, is our Passport to the National Parks books. Though admittedly not a typical travel book, whenever we are going somewhere we pull out our national park book to see if there is a national park site close by to add to our visit. And in keeping with the love of crossing off places, we love to mark off the sites we have visited.
There are different kinds of books to mark off the national park sites you visited, but we love our big collector’s edition that lists all the sites and has a place for a stamp from the visitor center and a picture sticker next to it. The sites are broken down into region and each region has a list of the sites to visit.
We got our book a year after we got married and were kind of lamenting the fact that we had been to several parks before that but our book would not get the stamp. But we learned that if you mail a blank stamp sticker or piece of paper to the visitor center along with a self addressed envelope, that they will stamp it and send it back to you.
So I sat down one day and sent off a bunch of stamp requests from the places we had been and it was so fun to get them all back in the mail and put them in our book.
They also have a junior ranger version of the National Park book that is filled with colorful pages to read and stickers to put in the book. Kids can go to the visitor center and request a junior ranger program.
The program will have some activities to do to help teach them about the site and when they have competed the activities they are sworn in as an official junior ranger and given a badge to wear. It has been a great way to get our daughter interested in these national sites and instill a love of history and preservation.
I think there is truth in the idea that planning a trip can be almost as fun as being on the trip. Travel books fill you with images and dreams of places and gives that spark of motivation to plan the trip. After all the planning and reading then you arrive at the place and you realize that no matter how great the book was, being there in person is so much better.
Thanks for joining me on a tour of my bookshelf with some of my favorite travel books.
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