Some of these travel books pop up on our lists of best backpacker books every year -- and that's because another "best travel book" doesn't pop up to unseat an old favorite in the meantime. This year, we're finding that MTV guidebooks are still ruling the guidebook roost, while we've added a couple new-old classics to our list of best travel books for 2008 (whether published this year or not). Enjoy the research!
Rough Guide's First Time Around the World
Photo courtesy Rough Guide
We keep liking the "Rough Guide First Time Around the World" as a best travelbook each year because it keeps being the best of its kind: a rough (meaning adventurous) guide book to accompany your first trip around the world. Travel advice told in the trademark Rough Guide rock and roll tone.
Best Women's Travel Writing 2008: True Stories from Around the World
Without doubt, an absolutely worthy read for any woman setting out to live her own stories. Fourth book in a annual series of often entertaining anecdotes intended to inspire and even enlighten. Enjoy!Marco Polo Didn't Go There
Cool collection of "Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer" (okay) documenting a decade of travel, much of it out of a backpack; the 30-something scribe, veteran traveler Rolf Potts, is enlightening and entertaining by turn, and the "commentary track" ("...endnotes that reveal the ragged edges behind the experience and creation of each tale", according to the publisher) adds some intriguing interest.The Man in Seat 61
This definitive tome of train travel trivia makes a great gift for backpackers (a rail-riding genre by nature). The Man in Seat Sixty-One would be Mark Smith, possibly the world's premier train-riding expert, who's penned an armchair version of his most excellent website's awesome advice on overland crossings of Europe (including the northern and eastern countries), Russia, Africa and Asia - global train travel tips galore. If you're among those believing air travel's no karmic plus in a carbon footprint, you'll love this book ("Airliners emit their CO2 directly into the upper atmosphere, where it is likely to do over twice the damage (an estimated 2.7 times the damage, in fact) of the same quantity of CO2 emitted at ground level.")Magic Bus - On The Hippie Trail From Istanbul To India
© Penguin Viking
When you've read "Magic Bus," loan it to your parents if they'll get a nostalgic grin out of this look at some of their generation's distant youth -- namely, the now-fabled and fabulous journey along the once well-trod hippie trail blazed by young, wide-eyed Westerners in the '60's. Retrace those awestruck travelers' ecstatic steps through Istanbul and Goa while appreciating the miracle of thousands of young foreigners dancing though the East with no cell phones, nada internet, nor nary a guidebook but with (yes) true travel hearts. Those must have been magic days indeed. This isn't just a trip down magic mushroom memory lane, though: MacLean muses on the changes wrought in the countries traversed for an interesting read.
Volunteer: A Traveler's Guide to Making a Difference Around the World
&cop; Lonely Planet
Though this Lonely Planet guide to global volunteer travel came out in 2007, it's still plenty current enough to make a great gift in 2008. Over 190 organizations are listed and reviewed for real, and plenty o' inspirational stories and tips will get a potential volunteer's motor revving to get out there and get in. Some (sometimes fun) fundraising ideas, too.
Rite of Passage: Backpacking 'Round Europe
© Lonely Planet
Published in 2003, these tales from backpackers doing Europe for the first time are still truly terrific today and will stay fresh for years to come, making this an awesomely inspirational read for potential travelers needing a final gentle shove to tip over into the role of on-the-road backpakcer. Step one: read. Step two: buy that plane ticket.
"Not for Tourists" Guidebooks
© Not for Tourists
The "Nor for Tourists" series from Langenscheidt Publishing (which really are for tourists, but it's that whole be-a-traveler-not-a-tourist thing going on with the concept) continue to be among our favorite, truly useful travel guidebooks. Explore the back alleys and byways of Atlanta, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, LA, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, DC with the NFT guidebooks that are right up any adventure traveler's alley.
MTV Travel Guides
© Wiley
MTV travel guides from guidebook powerhouse Frommer's (and MTV, of course), like "MTV Italy" and "MTV Europe," are getting our love once again as best travel guidebooks of the year (they were the stars of their class in 2007, too). They're great all around travel guides and extremely decent backpackers guidebooks for those with a yen to get a bit beyond the Eiffel Tower and into the more interesting parts of any town. The MTV travel guides cover countries very well (and do include the mainstream sights, too) -- great travel books for anyone under 30, really.
