The best books for locked down travel lovers

Travel the world by reading. Photo / 123rf

Fancy a stroll through London during your lunch break? How about a trip to Bali just before bed? Such adventures may still be the stuff of dreams but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a good overseas fantasy. So, we've got some top reads, old and new, to help your mind take flight.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Whether you're an avid travel book fan or rarely read at all, you'll likely have heard of Cheryl Strayed's 2012 infamous memoir (or at least seen the film remake starring Reece Witherspoon).

Intimate and gritty, the 2012 memoir begins in 1995 with a 26-year-old Strayed at rock bottom. Divorced, motherless, estranged from her family and addicted to heroin, Strayed seems like the last person to hike 1800 gruelling kilometres across America's Pacific Crest Trail. Yet that's exactly what she does, pushing her body and mind to the brink in a journey to rediscover herself.

Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris

Many travel to seek the unknown but what happens when it seems every place has already been conquered by millions of tourists? Is anywhere really free from Instagram posers and obtrusive tour groups?

These are the contemplations Kate Harris digs into during her year spent cycling the Silk Road. Journeying for 6500km, far from the beaten track, Harris' travelogue is perfect for those hungry to embark on risky adventures (or experience them vicariously from the comfort of a couch).

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

When one wants to reacquaint one's self with an area, it makes sense to take a walk. So, when Bill Bryson (aka the comical darling of the travel world) returns to the States after 20 years in Britain, he decides to do just that, traversing the 3400km from Georgia to Maine known as the Appalachian Trail.

Whether it's a clueless conversation in a camping store, hysterical bear encounter or spat with his terrifically unfit walking buddy Katz, Bryson's tale of Man vs Nature is one many will find all too relatable.

A library book. Photo / 123rf

A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

Dream of moving to an old stone farmhouse in a charming French town? If Peter Mayle's 1989 best-seller is anything to go by, be careful what you wish for. Broken into 12 chapters (one for each month), the British expatriate chronicles his first year in the Edenic village of Menerbes, with its frosty mistral, goat racing competitions and unusual plumbing systems.

Full of wit, warmth and poetic language, A Year in Provence will transport you across oceans and right into the heart of real French culture.

The Best American Travel Writing

For an assortment of stories from across the globe, look no further than the "Best American Travel Writing"; a yearly selection of travel essays, articles and stories published within the last year and selected by a special guest editor.

Dating back to 2000, previous editors include Paul Theroux, France Mayes, Anthony Bourdain, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sloane Crosley and Bill Bryson and span every inch of the globe. From investigations into Kenyan orphanages to travelogues on the best street food in Singapore, every issue is a rich illustration of all the reasons why we love the roam the globe.

The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

Most travel literature covers the "where" and the "how" but what about the "why"? That's the question British philosopher and author de Botton seeks to answer in his fascinating deep drive into the philosophies and histories of travel. In particular, the ways in which overblown expectations can clash with the ordinary reality of travel and instead, how we must embrace the mundane for what it truly is; a necessary part of any adventure.

Lost in the Spanish Quarter by Heddi Goodrich

From American author, Heddi Goodrich comes a moving story of two young students chasing love in Naples' Spanish Quarter. Inspired by the 10 years Goodrich spent in Naples before settling in Auckland, the novel unfolds from the start and end as it jumps between real-time emails and nostalgic flashbacks. Packed with vivid, intimate details that can only come from a true local, the picture of Naples and its temperamental, passionate people is one that will surely get you dreaming of Italy.

Civilisation: Twenty Places on the Edge of the World by Steve Braunias

Drive through small-town New Zealand and many will keep on driving, but not Steve Braunias. For three years the award-winning Kiwi journalist paid a visit to a random selection of towns far from well-worn tourist trails. From Kawakawa to Mosgiel, Samoa to Antarctica, Braundias searches for stories of love, loss and life that are only found when you look beneath the mundane surface. Judging from the 20 emotive, albeit quirky essays and reflections, he found exactly that, and much more.