While many of us dream of travel, for obvious reasons that’s not always an option. Reading about travel is not a substitute, but may satisfy the wanderlust for a time, until we can travel. Below is not a list of travel writers, but rather of writers who have portrayed certain elements of a location so amazingly that they will inspire you to visit them:
- John Steinbeck: Until he was 17, Steinbeck lived in Salinas, California. The area was to have a remarkable effect on his writing and was the location for several of his books. The descriptions of the Californian landscape are enticing and nostalgia seeps through. Previously, I’ve never been particularly interested in visiting California. The popularity of San Francisco and Los Angeles may be justified, but description of the cities doesn’t necessarily inspire you to pick up your backpack and hike over to Sunset Boulevard. However, reading Steinbeck changed all that for me over the years. Every time I re-read his work, all I can think about is the impact that California made on him and I’m amazed how contagious it is. If you’ve never been interested in travelling to the West coast, start reading some Steinbeck and see if you are drawn there: start with Grapes of Wrath and The Wayward Bus.
- Dave Barry: He may not have the same literary prowess as some of the other writers on this list, but he’s in a different genre. As a column writer for the Miami Herald between 1985 and 2005, he wrote, amongst other things, about his travel experiences around the world. While Dave Barry’s writing does not necessarily convey the beauty or mystery of different countries, he inspires you to travel to experience the weird and wonderful sensation of visiting a different culture. And to Barry, weird and wonderful can be anything from Anchorage, Alaska or carp fishing. His writing reminds you of the fun in visiting new places, even if they aren’t exotic and foreign.
- Jack Kerouac: The fact that Kerouac is on this is list is fairly unsurprising. I defy any one who says they weren’t inspired to go on a road trip after reading On the Road. (Countless Americans and Canadians hopped into cars or on motorcyles over the decades and took the trip.) Of course, besides vagabond travelling, Kerouac portrays America and it’s culture that no longer really exists: a Beat Generation in a post-war environment. However, the road-trip element still draws in readers and remains the vagabond bible.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Adichie’s novels, The Purple Hibiscus and Half of A Yellow Sun, both take place in Nigeria. Both occur around the time of the civil war in Biafra and are filled with sadness and horror. But her love of Nigeria and her stories, loosely based around the country’s tragic history, make you want to go and see how the country has rebuilt itself over time. The beauty in her writing comes from the description of Africa. She brings to light what remains after the war: Nigeria is a country full of amazing culture that is often not portrayed in mass media representations.