The World Is Your Oyster, and Travel Books Are the Pearls!

You Breathe, Therefore You Travel

As voracious readers and impassioned travelers ourselves, we get that wanderlust is real. Reading and traveling expand your world and fuel your sense of wonder, and ThriftBooks makes more of both possible by saving you money on the books that inspire you to go places and help you get there. (More $$$ for plane tickets!)

Need Destination Inspiration?

The biggest challenge with the world being your oyster is that it's a BIG oyster. With all of the possible destinations out there, how do you choose? By reading about the ones that pique your curiosity and excite you, of course! If that's still too vague, travel writers, experts, and organizations like NatGeo can be your new best friend. Here are some to get you started:

• Destinations of a Lifetime: 225 of the World's Most Amazing Places by National Geographic
• Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thomas & Ella Morton
• Book Lust to Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers by Nancy Pearl

Why We Travel (and Why We Need to)

There are hundreds of great books on where to travel and guides on how to travel, but comparatively few about why. What is it we're seeking that compels us to endure 14-hour flights crammed in seats next to someone with stinky feet?

• The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
• The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton
• Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck

Uniquely USA Travel

From coast-to-coast and border-to-border (including the outliers), the US would take decades to explore. With these books, you'll have a running head start, plus learn some cool facts about that you probably didn't know.

• USA: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know by Lynnette Evans
• Our Towns: A 100,000 Mile Journey into the Heart of America by James Fallows and Deborah Fallows
• Route 66 Road Trip by Candacy Taylor

Traveling with Kids (and Babies)

Traveling with littles can be challenging, but it's so worth it, and it builds character! Whether it's yours or theirs being built depends entirely on the circumstances, but hey, the trials and tribulations make for funny stories later on (usually).

• How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel and Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids edited by Sarah Franklin
• Traveling with Angelika, a Baby Travel Guide by Agnes Wegner
• Travel with Children: From Short Breaks to Round-the-World Adventures by Brigitte Barta

For the Kids While You're Traveling

ThriftBooks has hundreds of children's stories about traveling, and a giant selection of activity books for kids on the go, including:

• The Everything Kids Travel Activity Book by Erik Hanson and Jeanne Hanson
• Where's Waldo? The Ultimate Travel Collection by Martin Handford
• Summer Travel Time

Books for the Soloists, Budget-Savvy, Minimalists, and Vegans

ThriftBooks also has an impressive array of travel-related books that go well beyond those four categories, but in the interest of keeping this short, whoever you are, whatever you're looking for, a quick search will help you find it (even you, not-so-mainstream readers).

• How to Travel the World on $50 a Day by Matt Kepnes
• Smart Packing for Today's Traveler by Susan Foster
• Will Travel for (Vegan) Food by Kristin Lajeunesse

And Last But Not Least…

A ThriftBooks.com search of the words "travel guide" yields over 4,000 in stock results...too many to list here, but their absence doesn't make them less essential. Ditto with the 1,500+ language books that include Chinese, English, Hindustani, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, and French. Learning to communicate in foreign countries always makes for a smoother and more enriching travel experience, so with that, buon viaggio, Gute Reise, and tenha uma boa viagem!

Read more by Beth Clark