Wanderlust
Mom sent me this link to a great article about books that have inspired other writers to travel. So here is my own list of 5 books that make me yearn to travel (in no particular order).
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy -- the ultimate travel adventure, hitchhiking through outer space, taking with you only a towel. Would I have been as brave as Trillian, seizing the chance to see the universe, given only a split second to make up my mind? Unfortunately, no. Oddly, the travel destination this book makes me yearn for is Alaska. A character in the book lovingly describes the award-winning fjords he designed when the supercomputer known as Planet Earth was constructed. I can't see the universe, but the fjords are within my reach.
Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad -- another travel classic. Among the many adventures Twain experiences as part of the first organized American tour of Europe and the middle East, my favorite takes place in Greece. Due to a quarantine, their ship was denied harbor, ruining their chances to see Athens. Undeterred, Twain leads a small expedition under cover of night to shore, stumbling across the countryside in search of the Parthenon. They make it and even manage to bribe a guard into letting them inside. Best of all is their return to the ship, darting through vineyards and stuffing their mouths with grapes as they go.
A Room With A View -- On her first trip to Venice, our young heroine is disappointed to find that she has been assigned a room with no view. Fortunately, a more experienced traveler trades rooms with her, in agreement that a Room With A View is essential to the Venice experience. What sticks in my mind is her red Baedeker clutched in her hands at all times. This I can identify with -- I always keep my travel guide handy to avoid missing something important, and the book left me with a particular fondness for Baedeker guidebooks.
The Vampire Lestat -- Or maybe it was Queen of the Damned. I can't remember. The Vampire Gabrielle wanders through the forests of the Amazon, finding ruins that haven't been seen by human eyes in centuries. If I couldn't be hurt, if I didn't feel pain, there is so much I would do. I'd travel the rainforests. I'd ski extreme mountains. I'd hike to the top of Mt. Everest. I'd travel the world, unafraid of kidnappers and war zones. But it's hard to be brave when you're a Very Small Animal.
The Hobbit – “There and Back Again, A Hobbit’s Holiday” is the title of Bilbo’s memoir. The places may be fictional, but again I envy the bravery that I myself have never had. J.R.R. Tolkien creates a fantasy in which I can believe that, like Bilbo, I could overcome my fears and need for creature comforts to experience an adventure of a lifetime.
But then again, who needs to travel when there are so many adventures waiting to be read?
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy -- the ultimate travel adventure, hitchhiking through outer space, taking with you only a towel. Would I have been as brave as Trillian, seizing the chance to see the universe, given only a split second to make up my mind? Unfortunately, no. Oddly, the travel destination this book makes me yearn for is Alaska. A character in the book lovingly describes the award-winning fjords he designed when the supercomputer known as Planet Earth was constructed. I can't see the universe, but the fjords are within my reach.
Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad -- another travel classic. Among the many adventures Twain experiences as part of the first organized American tour of Europe and the middle East, my favorite takes place in Greece. Due to a quarantine, their ship was denied harbor, ruining their chances to see Athens. Undeterred, Twain leads a small expedition under cover of night to shore, stumbling across the countryside in search of the Parthenon. They make it and even manage to bribe a guard into letting them inside. Best of all is their return to the ship, darting through vineyards and stuffing their mouths with grapes as they go.
A Room With A View -- On her first trip to Venice, our young heroine is disappointed to find that she has been assigned a room with no view. Fortunately, a more experienced traveler trades rooms with her, in agreement that a Room With A View is essential to the Venice experience. What sticks in my mind is her red Baedeker clutched in her hands at all times. This I can identify with -- I always keep my travel guide handy to avoid missing something important, and the book left me with a particular fondness for Baedeker guidebooks.
The Vampire Lestat -- Or maybe it was Queen of the Damned. I can't remember. The Vampire Gabrielle wanders through the forests of the Amazon, finding ruins that haven't been seen by human eyes in centuries. If I couldn't be hurt, if I didn't feel pain, there is so much I would do. I'd travel the rainforests. I'd ski extreme mountains. I'd hike to the top of Mt. Everest. I'd travel the world, unafraid of kidnappers and war zones. But it's hard to be brave when you're a Very Small Animal.
The Hobbit – “There and Back Again, A Hobbit’s Holiday” is the title of Bilbo’s memoir. The places may be fictional, but again I envy the bravery that I myself have never had. J.R.R. Tolkien creates a fantasy in which I can believe that, like Bilbo, I could overcome my fears and need for creature comforts to experience an adventure of a lifetime.
But then again, who needs to travel when there are so many adventures waiting to be read?
posted by Sandy and Cathy at
8:20 AM
1 Comments:
I couldn't agree more DeeDee. It's in its own way just as pleasurable to read the adventures as to have them--with far less tension about being in the right seat of the right car on the train, or whether there is a bathroom somewhere in the next fifty miles (or worse -- mile and a half!), or whether the customs people will throw out your sand filled socks, your beef jerky and your half eaten chocolate rabbit (not to mention the fear of being thrown in jail and fined $50,000)...Mom
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home