Travel Memoir

By captivating millions during his six-year, 50-country tenure as The New York Times' "Frugal Traveler", Seth Kugel has become one of our most internationally beloved travel writers. While his famously unassuming journeys around the globe have forged a signature philosophy of whimsy and practicality, they have also revealed the seemingly infinite booby traps of on-the-grid tourism. In a book with widespread cultural reverberations, Kugel takes the modern travel industry to task, determined to reignite humanity's age-old sense of adventure.

Calvin Trillin proves that he is one of America's funniest food writers, while recalling his efforts to write a definitive history of the Buffalo chicken wing to his attempts to lure his older daughter back from California by finding an irresistible bagel.

A big trip as a catalyst for personal growth is a familiar story. But what happens when travel becomes a way of life rather than a one-time escape? Tim Mathis, author of the independent hit The Dirtbag’s Guide to Life, has spent decades exploring this question. A seasoned interpreter of adventure, culture, and life’s absurdities, he shares 15 true tales from a lifetime of travel, disruption, and transformation in What Happens If You Keep Going? Among these stories, you’ll find: A teenage clown evangelist in Peru facing a reality check. A pilgrimage in Spain achieving the opposite of ...

Enjoy a fun, laugh-provoking travel book with a swampy Louisiana gal who romps through the Northern Hemisphere, allowing her destiny to become her guide! Marie France, who planned a two month jaunt through Europe, finds herself on the pulsating Hippie Trail in Kathmandu. As a seeker, she has a two-fold quest; discovering the world and discovering herself. She studies Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism and Hedonism, with a bit of yoga. Her rollicking adventures cover 16 countries; including crossing the Sahara Desert, playing a lead role in a Spaghetti Western film and modeling on the catwalks of ...

Our village school was used for a military camp, and we ended up in a restaurant hall that our teachers used for our classroom. Our home was also full of German soldiers and Russian Cossacks who surrendered to the Germans on their way to Russia, running from communism. They cooked in our kitchen and offered us their food, because there was no room for us to cook our meals. So, mom and I decided to leave our home and move in with grandma... The year was 1945, and everybody felt the end was near... Instead of traveling two hours by train, it took us two days of hitchhiking to get to our ...

When Dr. Sanjay Gupta travels the world for CNN to report on natural disasters, conflicts, and catastrophes, he illuminates the stories of the affected and the afflicted. But a few times in his career, while reporting abroad, he’s been asked to don his surgeon’s cap and gloves to intervene in high-stakes medical emergencies. Far from his controlled and highly regulated operating rooms, Gupta found himself trying to save lives in the most makeshift and trying conditions.

A Russian Drama best seller now in its second edition! In February, 1959 nine young hikers on a cross country ski trip mysteriously died under horrific circumstances. It is one of the great mysteries of our times. They would be found with missing eyes, even a missing tongue, crushed bones, and stripped of their clothes (later found radioactive) in minus 50 degree temperatures. Theories range from their being murdered by the CIA to space aliens, to even "Abominable Snowmen". This book explores this famous incident using a technique known as "Higher criticism" to explain their terrifying ...

In Whistler's Walk: The Appalachian Trail in 142 Days, author Bill Monk brings readers his real-life, day-to-day account of hiking the Appalachian Trail in its entirety, from intense, necessary preparation at the start to the emotionally charged conclusion of summiting Mount Katahdin. Based on Monk's journal entries written daily along the way, readers are afforded the up-close and intimate privilege of witnessing his very real trials and triumphs, and each incredible, beautiful moment as he experienced it. Anyone who has hiked, or plans on hiking the Appalachian Trail, lovers of nature, ...

"PAM, I JUST BOUGHT OUR PLANE TICKETS, WE'RE GOING TO EGYPT!” My dream to backpack into three countries with my daughter was coming true. It was no longer a pipe dream. I was excited, and scared.

Two Wheels in the Sun: Adventures and Reflections of a Mexican Motorcycle Odyssey Embark on an exhilarating journey through the heart of Mexico with "Two Wheels in the Sun." This captivating memoir chronicles the adventures, challenges, and cultural discoveries experienced by a passionate motorcyclist navigating the diverse landscapes of Mexico. From the sun-soaked beaches to the rugged mountains, and from bustling cities to tranquil villages, every page is a testament to the thrill of exploration and the joy of the open road. Join the author as they delve into Mexico's rich history, ...

What do howler monkeys, bats, torrential rain and yoga have in common? In this humorous and sometimes soggy account, Jen tells what it’s like to participate in a hot yoga retreat in the Costa Rica rainforest. In between backbends, intense forward stretches and shooing venomous snakes out of her bungalow, life in the rainforest is never dull. It’s just too bad that the yoga retreat must come to an end because Jen has decided she could spend a lifetime chanting and meditating with the howler monkeys. Come find out what it’s like to enter nirvana on Jen’s awesome Namaste Getaway.

The book "Mind Cycles: Motorcycles, Medicine, and Memory" explores the journey of a doctor who decides to learn how to ride a motorcycle, using this experience as a metaphor for personal growth and exploration. The narrative covers a range of topics, including the acquisition of new skills, the relationship between risk-taking and personal insights, and the exploration of various landscapes and human behaviors. The book delves into the author's personal history, importance of camaraderie, and the physics involved in motorcycling. Key experiences include participating in the Sturgis Black ...

Ten Yoga Students. One yoga instructor. Too many venomous snakes to count. In this humorous and spirited account, Jen relates her experience at a yoga retreat in Costa Rica along with nine other students brave enough to enter the wilds of the Costa Rican Osa Peninsula rainforest. Drunk with heady Costa Rican coffee, decadently pure Costa Rican chocolate and somewhere around eight thousand backbends, life is never dull. You’ll find yourself amazed, amused, salivating and begging, “When can visit the rainforest?” You’ll even chime in, “I’ll perform headstands if I have to!”

Annette Joseph's years in Italy revealed this truth: Italy, in all its multifaceted, glorious history and culture has to be experienced in full. Over almost three decades, Italy has fed, entertained, confused, excited, lured, promised, lied, satisfied, occasionally disappointed, and utterly enchanted her. She's left, but can't stay away - she'll always return. Always. Just like a beloved partner....

★ IT WAS THE BET OF A LIFETIME! ★ Overcome with patriotic fervour, New Zealander Justin Brown bets an Australian mate that the All Blacks will thrash the Wallabies in an up-coming rugby match. They don't. Forced to pay his debt, Justin has to busk his way around England until he earns enough money for his airfare home. THE DEAL If Justin's favourite team loses he must door-door-busk his way around the United Kingdom. If Justin's supposed best mate's favourite team loses he must streak at the Wimbledon Grand Final. THE OUTCOME Justin's teams loses. He is forced to go to the other side of...

"I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla," writes Robert Sapolsky in this witty and riveting chronicle of a scientist's coming-of-age in remote Africa. An exhilarating account of Sapolsky's twenty-one-year study of a troop of rambunctious baboons in Kenya, A Primate's Memoir interweaves serious scientific observations with wry commentary about the challenges and pleasures of living in the wilds of the Serengeti-for man and beast alike.

Ten Years a Nomad is for travel junkies, the travel-curious, and anyone interested in what you can learn about the world when you don’t have a cable bill for a decade or spend a month not wearing shoes living on the beach in Thailand.

Li Juan and her mother own a small convenience store in the Altai Mountains in Northwestern China, where she writes about her life among grasslands and snowy peaks. To her neighbors' surprise, Li decides to join a family of Kazakh herders as they take their 30 boisterous camels, 500 sheep, and over 100 cattle and horses to pasture for the winter.

When American writer Stephanie Saldana finds herself in an empty house at the beginning of Nablus Road, the dividing line between East and West Jerusalem, she is a new wife trying to navigate a fragile terrain, both within her marriage and throughout the country in which she has chosen to live. Pregnant with her first child, Stephanie struggles to protect her family, their faith, and herself from the cracks of Middle Eastern conflict that threaten to shatter the world around her.

Shifting into High Gear charts the course of Kyle Bryant's transformation as he journeys on a recumbent tricycle across the United States in the throes of Friedreich's ataxia, a life-shortening and disabling disease. Full of humor and reflection, it's a heroic journey of a man driven to reframe the language of disease through action and service.