10 Latest & Best Travel Books By Women
WANDERLUST?
Perhaps you’re not at the planning stage of that next trip but just want to be “transported” (in the comfort of your favourite armchair) and get in the mood for travel?
We’ve collated our favourite reads – memoirs, travelogues, novels and guides written by amazing women writers, explorers and bloggers. Publishers’ descriptions included.
This post is an update of our Essential Solo Female Travel Guide (By Women). We hope it inspires you to unplug, read a good book and dream a little.
RECENT RELEASES
These women will inspire you to explore, wander, get lost and find yourself.
1. Departures: A Guide to Letting Go, One Adventure at a Time by Anna Hart
Have you ever turned up on a post-heartbreak holiday hopelessly unprepared and been forced to sleep on the floor wrapped up in a curtain? How about that eagerly-awaited solo adventure when you had to be airlifted home? Well, Anna Hart has been on all those holidays, and more. Anna is here to show that even the experts get it wrong, and how to get it right . . .
Departures: A Guide to Letting Go, One Adventure at a Time
by Anna Hart
2. Revolutionary Ride: On the Road in Search of the Real Iran by Lois Pryce
In 2011, at the height of tension between the British and Iranian government’s, travel writer Lois Pryce found a note left on her motorcycle outside the Iranian Embassy in London:
… I wish that you will visit Iran so you will see for yourself about my country. WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS!!! Please come to my city, Shiraz. It is very famous as the friendliest city in Iran, it is the city of poetry and gardens and wine!!!
Revolutionary Ride: On the Road in Search of the Real Iran
by Lois Pryce
TRAVEL WRITING NOW A FEATURE FILM
Take it up a notch and be transported by the film version.
3. Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson (film version 2014)
Robyn Davidson’s opens the memoir of her perilous journey across 1,700 miles of hostile Australian desert to the sea with only four camels and a dog for company with the following words: “I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there’s no going back.”
Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback
by Robyn Davidson
4. Carol by Patricia Highsmith (film version 2015)
A forbidden 1950s love affair between shop girl and photographer Therese (Rooney Mara) and soon-to-be divorcee Carol (Cate Blanchett) grows stronger on a winding road trip, that takes the couple from New York City through Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa, before reality catches up. The Oscar and Golden Globe nominee is a great period piece as well as a love letter to road trips. –Conde’ Naste
Carol
by Patricia Highsmith
HAVE A LAUGH (OR CRY)
Girls Take Off! Settle into your favourite armchair and laugh yourself a 6-pack.
5. How Not to Travel the World by Lauren Juliff
It was hitting rock bottom that convinced Lauren to quit her job, sell everything she owned, and travel the world alone. It wasn’t an easy decision: she suffered from debilitating anxiety, was battling an eating disorder, and had just had her heart broken. How Not to Travel The World is about following your dreams, no matter how many curveballs life throws at you. It’s about learning to get out of your comfort zone, finding the humour in messed up situations, and falling in love with life on the road.
How Not to Travel the World
by Lauren Juliff
6. From Excuses to Excursions by Gloria Atanmo
Gloria Atanmo, upbeat travel blogger and writer with a sizeable fan base. Her travel memoir is full of great tips on making travel a reality. If you love her book, follow her travel blog, The Blog Abroad, and Instagram feed. So fun!
From Excuses to Excursions
by Gloria Atanmo
7. What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding by Kirstin Newman
While most of her friends were getting married and having babies, Kristin Newman was focused on a career as a sitcom writer (That 70s Show, How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, and The Neighbors). A big clue to what kind of laughs her misadventures across the globe have in the telling.
What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding
by Kirstin Newman
SOLO FEMALE TRAVEL
The real deal. Women out there doing it solo. Inspired travel tips from a woman’s perspective.
8. Strangers Have the Best Candy by Margaret Meps Schulte
Anxious about solo travel and making friends on the road? Strangers Have The Best Candy is a unique travel memoir and guide on how to talk to strangers. A must read before that first solo trip. Funny as.
Strangers Have the Best Candy
by Margaret Meps Schulte
9. Four Corners: A Journey Into the Heart of Papua New Guinea by Kira Salak
In 1995, At the age of twenty-four, Kira Salak took a three-month solo trip across Papua New Guinea, making her the first woman to have traversed the whole country. Amid the breathtaking landscapes and wildlife, she navigated the island by dugout canoe and on foot. Reading more like a thriller than a travel memoir, Four Corners is compulsive armchair travel at its very best.
Four Corners: A Journey Into the Heart of Papua New Guinea
by Kira Salak
10. Kicking Ass On The Road by Sunni Dawson
Thinking of traveling solo? Keen for super fun adventures? Ready to be more independent? Want to meet other amazing people? Welcome to your ultimate guide for going solo and having the time of your life. This book will give you everything you need to prepare, what to do whilst you’re there, how to travel safe, tips on romantic liaisons, how to travel cheap and much much more! “In all my years working on books, I have never come across a better written book on travel.” Pamela Anderson, Freelance Editor.
Kicking Ass On The Road
by Sunni Dawson
What’s missing from this list? Women travel writers that have inspired our readers in Greece, Spain, Africa, Germany, South America…the rest of the globe? Share them and more in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!
