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Travel Essays

  • Complete National Geographic, 1997.
    Every page of every National Geographic between 1888 and October 1996, including all articles (9,000+), ads, maps (bound, but not supplements)  and pictures (175,000+) issued on 30 CD-ROMs for both Macintosh or Windows.  There are limitations on viewing the pages (each one is simply scanned, and you are limited to viewing the scanned pages), but the search engine lets you find any article by subject and you do wind up with over 1,200 National Geographics sitting on less than one cubic foot on your bookshelf!  See a sample of the product.
  • I Should Have Stayed Home -- The Worst Trips of Great Writers, Roger Rapoport,  ed. & Marguerita Castanera, 1994.
    Best selection of stories from writers who are really having a bad time of it.   It's enough to make you want to stay home.
  • Baghdad Without a Map -- And Other Misadventures in Arabia, Tony Horwitz, 1992.
    A collection of humorous stories from this Wall Street Journal reporter.
  • Road Fever -- A High-Speed Travelogue, Tim Cahill, 1991.
    Usuaia to Barrow non-stop in a pickup truck.  I guess someone's gotta do it.
  • Shopping for Buddhas, Jeff Greenwald, 1990.
    "I need a buddha, but just any old buddha is not going to do, so I think I'll move to Nepal and try to find the perfect one."

Travel General

  • Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands -- How to Do Business in Sixty Countries, Terri Morrison, Wayne A. Conaway, & George A. Borden, Ph.D., 1994.
    A must-have book, even if you don't travel for business.  Insight into how different cultures think, react and respond; what to give and what to expect.  This is information that guide books just don't give you!
  • National Geographic Atlas of the World, 1995.
    Every traveler needs a find atlas and I don't think there's a finer one than National Geographic's.  This edition has 114 plates in an oversized (12.25x18.5") format.  It has thorough coverage of even the most remote places and quite competent coverage of Pacific islands -- the acid test so far as I'm concerned for thoroughness.
  • Airline Seating Guide, Monty C. Stanford, 1995.
    Keep yourself out of unacceptable airline seats with this book.  Layouts for most aircraft in most airlines, including critical information like exit rows, smoking areas and restricted recline not to mention important information like location of video monitors.

Michael Palin Travel Essays

You may have seen one of Michael Palin's three world travel series on PBS or A&E.   I have seen at least parts of all three series and enjoyed his funny adventures.

  • Around the World in 80 Days, Michael Palin, 1995.
    The first of Palin's adventures, he traces the route of Philias Fogg and races around the world by land and sea to see if it really can be done.  Amazingly, it's harder to complete now than it was 100 years ago and Palin has quite a time of it!   Or just check out the video:  Outward Bound -- Homeward Bound
  • Pole to Pole With Michael Palin : North to South by Camel, River Raft, and Balloon, Michael Palin, 1995.
    Trying to top this original trip, Palin goes from the North Pole to the South Pole staying to land as much as possible (basically only flying from each pole to the nearest land).  The African portion of the adventure is fascinating.  Or just check out the video.
  • Full Circle, Michael Palin & Basio Pao, photographer, 1997.
    In his most recent exploits, Palin takes a year to circle the Pacific Ocean, starting and ending on the Aleutian Islands.  Palin's Vietnamese and South American adventures serve as highlights for me.

Travel Guides

  • Fielding's The World's Most Dangerous Places, Robert Young Pelton Coskun Aral & Wink Dulles 1997.
    The most useful, informative, funny and frightening travel guide in my collection.   This book is full of information on places you want to stay away from and why.   However, it also tells you how to stay safe, even when you aren't so far off the beaten path (or perhaps that formerly friendly and safe country gets overthrown while you're visiting).
  • Lonely Planet Travel Guides
    Lonely Planet Guides have excellent information on how to get into and out of some of the most remote places in the world and they are always my primary resource for planning my trips.  However, once you get there, the guides really don't tell you much about what to do.

 

 

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