6 Inspiring Travel books

6 inspiring travel books to take you on amazing journeys from your sofa.

Inspire: Life Lessons from the Wilderness 

by Ben Fogle

The latest adventure from bestselling author Ben Fogle explores what we can learn from nature about living well and living wild.

What can rowing across the Atlantic teach us about boredom and about patience?

Can coming down from Everest take more resilience than climbing up in the first place?

How can the isolation of the South Pole highlight what’s most important? And how can we tap into the same reflective state in our daily lives?

Writing during the unprecedented period of the coronavirus pandemic and drawing on a wealth of personal stories, Ben reflects on the significance of nature to all our lives and shows us how we can benefit from living a little more wild.

Drawing on his greatest adventures, he shares what his time spent in the wilderness has taught him about life. Ranging across seas, icecaps, jungles and deserts, Ben’s stories are filled with wonder and struggle, with animals, adventure, wilderness, friendships, unexpected acts of kindness and heroism, and are bursting with inspiration directly from nature. Ben’s epic stories reveal a new side to his adventures and show how everyone can find meaning in the wilderness, even if it’s just outside their front door.

Full of exciting adventures and practical guidance, this primer on positivity is a story about overcoming obstacles, surpassing your expectations and inspiring your journey of adventure.

Hike, Drive, Stayin' Alive!

10 Stories of Adventure

by The Raven Brothers

Out of shape and unprepared, The Raven Brothers return to the road in a collection of ten quests to travel to their dream destinations against all odds! After two decades pioneering new routes across the globe, you would expect the authors of 'Driving the Trans-Siberian' to be hotshot explorers, with a sixth sense and an ability to survive in almost any situation. Think again! With virtually zero knowledge of the workings of the internal combustion engine and very limited skills of wilderness survival, Simon and Chris struggle into their hiking boots and power across three continents by river, tarmac and trail.

Venture to the top of Norway, cruise the road to Damascus, hike the Camino trail into Spain’s Wild West, row the Ganges, explore Frida Kahlo’s world in Mexico City, hangout with the dead in Sicily’s eerie catacombs, crawl deep inside Bolivia’s notorious silver mine, seek lions in Gujarat, wellness in Berlin and journey into the Naga Hills where tribal kings still rule.

Noted by Lonely Planet for their talent to portray an “accurate view of what to expect”, 'Hike, Drive, Stayin’ Alive!' signals a return to the duo writing “buttock clenching” travel comedy with the first in a series of candid stories of adventure by The Raven Brothers.

Step By Step: 

The perfect gift for the adventurer in your life Paperback – 8 Aug. 2019

by Simon Reeve

In TV adventurer Simon Reeve's bestselling memoir he describes how he has journeyed across epic landscapes, dodged bullets on frontlines, walked through minefields and been detained for spying by the KGB. His travels have taken him across jungles, deserts, mountains and oceans, and to some of the most beautiful, dangerous and remote regions of the world.

In this revelatory account of his life Simon gives the full story behind some of his favourite expeditions, and traces his own inspiring personal journey back to leaving school without qualifications, teetering on a bridge, and then overcoming his challenges by climbing to a 'Lost Valley' and changing his life ... step by step.

Big Mile Cycling: Ten Years. 60000 Miles. One Dream

by Sean Conway

n 2008 Sean Conway set off on a 1000 mile bike ride that would shape the next 10 years of his life as he became obsessed with the idea of becoming a real ultra-cyclist. This is his story, how he tried, and failed many times, to break a cycling world record, and the story about his final world record attempt, cycling 4000 miles across Europe. Sean nearly gave up on his dream after tragically losing two of his ultra-cycling friends, but decided to continue in their honour with his quest to chase big miles on two wheels. Sean looks back at some of his cycling heroes, heroines, and the boom in ultra-cycling over the last decade.

How to live in a van and travel

by Mike Hudson

Imagine being able to live wherever you want, travelling the world whilst having everything you need with you in your own cosy home on wheels. Living a mobile lifestyle is now more possible than ever before. It’s the new option. Forget hostel costs or rent. With a van you have transport and you have your home. You’re free to travel wherever you like and you can do it on a budget.  If you’re interested in living and/or travelling in a converted van or vehicle you probably have a ton of questions. Whether you want to plan a short road trip, or start a whole new life on the road, this book will show you how. And whether you have your van ready to go or you’re thinking of hitting the road at some point in the future, read this book. 

A Chip Shop in Poznań: My Unlikely Year in Poland

by Ben Aitken

Not many Brits move to Poland to work in a fish and chip shop.

Fewer still come back wanting to be a Member of the European Parliament.

In 2016 Ben Aitken moved to Poland while he still could. It wasn’t love that took him but curiosity: he wanted to know what the Poles in the UK had left behind. He flew to a place he’d never heard of and then accepted a job in a chip shop on the minimum wage.

When he wasn’t peeling potatoes he was on the road scratching the country’s surface: he milked cows with a Eurosceptic farmer; missed the bus to Auschwitz; spent Christmas with complete strangers and went to Gdańsk to learn how communism got the chop. By the year’s end he had a better sense of what the Poles had turned their backs on - southern mountains, northern beaches, dumplings! - and an uncanny ability to bone cod.

This is a candid, funny and offbeat tale of a year as an unlikely immigrant.