Comments on: Win a Copy of the South Africa Traveler’s Literary Companion

By: pam

pam — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:46:25 +0000

Oh, I’m too late. However, I’ll tell you anyway, I have always wanted to go to Wonderland. Alice went and Things Happened and she was probably never the same. I would also like to take a boat down the Mississippi because Mark Twain made me want to, even though it would not be his Mississippi.

Though typically, my reading happens after the fact. I didn’t read A Passage to India until after I’d been, or A Room With a View or… and right now I’m deep in things that take place in Hawaii because I’ve just been there.

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:32:08 +0000

Although I like to write travel non-fiction, I think I am most inspired by fiction. I love it when I discover real-world places just like they are in books – like Oxfordshire (The Wind in the Willows). I have always wanted to go to Prince Edward Island in Canada and though I have read some travel articles about the place, it’s really the books of L.M. Montgomery that make me want to go.

By: soultravelers3

soultravelers3 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:41:12 +0000

Not sure if this counts, but we have all been inspired to travel to places because of great Children’s Literature! Our open ended world tour is highly motivated by an urge to educate our daughter and books add so much to the travel, so I spend a lot of time hunting down great books for her.

We don’t have that much space, so we often end up reading her books too. Her Odyssey books really made our travels to troy and all through Greece, so much richer as we all got into Homer online as well.Perhaps we never would have visited Troy or Mycenae without that influence.

Recently we went to Karkow, and the award winning Trumpeter of Karkow set us all up nicely for that visit. We all loved Bram Stoker’s Dracula too that was meant to give a kid a bit of excitement for Romania, but I broke my arm in Melk before we got there this year.

Good writing and travel are a great combination…and sometimes it comes in the most surprizing packages!

By: SMD

SMD — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:25:44 +0000

I don’t know if there is any piece of writing that inspired me to visit a place being described, but I do know that all the fantasy fiction I’ve read over the years made me eager to see a real castle. And I have. I’ve seen many of them, actually, all in England. The old, beat up ones are the best to visit. They’re not crowded, it costs nothing to see them, and they have more character. The well kept ones kind of bore, to be honest.

Thanks for the opportunity!

By: Vera Marie Badertscher

Vera Marie Badertscher — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:58:28 +0000

It is tempting for me to reply, but I’ll hold my peace, since I was recently interviewed and that was one of the questions. You’ll see my answer soon at noveldestinations.com

Meanwhile, I have had a lot of guest posts and interviews with people sharing the piece of travel literature that got them going– over at A Traveler’s Library– in case anybody would like to see more books that inspire people to seek places. (Most of them are not guidebooks by travel writers, although one was an atlas!)

Vera Marie Badertscher
A Traveler’s Library
http://atravelerslibrary.com