Imagine: You’re sitting on the beach of a tropical island in the middle of paradise. Your beach chair is painted white, no splinters, and your feet are in the sparkling blue sea. Gulls cry overhead, and hermit crabs make tracks across the white expanse of sand. Behind you, palm trees wave their branches in the slight breeze and tropical birds serenade your perfect evening. You decide it’s the perfect moment to read your new adventure travel novel. Reaching into your bag, you pull out... what?

With so many great travel books out there to choose from, how can anyone possibly decide on just one book to bring? There are books on every travel related topic. Some are fiction, some are real stories of travelers before us. How can anyone choose a single book? My solution: pick more than one. I usually settle on the round number five. But which books to choose?

The answer to the dilemma: talk to the experts. These travel writers have been traveling the world for years, and love reading. What are some of their favorite travel books? They’ve put together some lists to help us find the perfect book for the road!

Travel Writers: Favorite Travel Books

Meet Johnny. This young Irish traveler has been traveling since he was eighteen, and has been to over 50 countries around the world. His goal is to inspire others to recreate their lifestyle to fit their dreams, instead of changing their dreams to fit their lifestyle. His favorite travel books cover stories across the world, ranging from Mumbai, India, to the tops of the worlds tallest mountains.

Michael S. Hodson is an attorney who decided to leave it all and circumnavigate the world. But here’s the trick: he did it all without ever getting on an airplane. In sixteen months he had trekked over 6 continents and 44 countries. He is currently living in Colombia, and in this post shares with us a few of his favorite travel books. Old books, new books, fiction and real life stories, these books cover adventures around the world.

Unable to pick just a few books, Jim O’Donnell gives us a list of 21 of the best travel books he’s enjoyed on his travels. Jim grew up in a small town in Southern Colorado. At some point along the way, he decided to travel, and has been traveling ever since. He’s been to Asia, Africa, North America, Europe, and South America. He has some great suggestions for books that will inspire you, teach you, and keep you turning pages far into the night.

Christine Garvin writes for TripBase, a great travel-related site that looks at travel from many different angles. Her favorite travel books are guaranteed to bring you to tears. All of them are biographies about men, women, children, friends and families around the world. Some concern the Holocaust, others paint detailed portraits of the war in Afghanistan, and still others describe the lives of an impoverished family in Ireland during the 1930’s and 40’s. They will captivate you, and whirl you away to another world.

Meet Adam! A graphics designer based in Boston, he quit his job and took a year and a half to travel around the world. It changed his life, and now he’s living in Berlin and teaching others about travel and how they can do it for themselves. In this post, he brings you some of his favorite travel inspired books. Many of them have to do with India, and all of them tell exciting stories of adventures around the world!

Cezar is a Romanian man who describes himself as “just a regular guy who has a job, but who loves travel and tries to follow his hobby.”  After traveling for twenty years, he’s visited over eighty different countries. His favorite books cover war, politics, love, heartbreak, adventure, and tourism. The underlying theme: travel, of course!

In this article, Anne Supsic, one of Bootsnall’s editors, shares her favorite fiction travel books with us. Mostly thrillers and mysteries, these adventure novels are a refreshing change from other travel related books. Dealing with crimes around the world, the books this talented writer suggests lead readers into intense conflicts revolving around the detectives who resolve them. Great reads for long road trips!

What are some of your favorite travel books?

Hannah Miller is a member of the Youth Travel Blogging Mentorship Program.