Did you know that the remora fish will try to swim up a whale shark's butt when they poop? The crew of Twig didn't. It turns out there was an awful lot the family of five didn’t know when they decided to move aboard and set off for adventure on the high seas.After decades of dreaming, and planning, the explorers finally sailed off into the sunset. Yes, they found the palm trees and coconuts they had longed for, but they also glimpsed the other side of paradise. They ran from waterspouts, dodged hurricanes, got (sort of) robbed by pirates, and played chicken with naval warships. They found themselves making emergency calls to the Coast Guard in the dead of night and learning the exact purpose of a nut jiggler during a late-night beach bonfire.Join as the inevitable is pondered after a meal of coffee and chili on a night watch in “What if I have to go poo?”. Commiserate the anxiety of the hurricane season and practice dodging rogue unmanned boats during a midnight tropical storm. Laugh at the captain’s intimate misfortunes with marine toilets, sense what a pirate smells like, and discover how not to get crabs in this page-turning journey of the East Coast. You are invited to follow along with the frustration and joy of a life newly discovered afloat a 46-foot catamaran.Remember: If everything had gone exactly as planned….it wouldn’t have been much of an adventure.Chapter listingPart 1: Damn you LisaCocktails and DreamsThe hand of GodDown to the Banana RepublicsPanama vs TwigChristmas BlowsGeorgia on my mindLove and a sailboatPart 2: AfloatAll Aboard!There’s Vodka in the Boy’s BathroomAfloatHazmatThings that go bump in the nightDon’t Ignore the Bright Red LightCaulk the WagonPerfect StrangersPart 3: The Bahamas42 FlushesThe Nut JigglerWatch your sixYou smell like a pirateI wet the bedTwist and SpoutWeather or notPart 4: The East CoastWhat if I have to go Poo?Dr Jekyll’s IslandYou say Savannah, I say BananaPepperoni is not a fruitHouse of WarshipFeeling CrabbyTotThere’s Always Room For JelloOh OpheliaPart 5: Due SouthBoat Chill FactorI lack depthWednesdayAnchor(s) AwayCinderella Lost Her SlipperSuck it MurphyAnd Then We Hit a RockWhat the Fog?!EpilogueThere’s no place like homeCome Monday (Tribute to Jimmy Buffett)Glossary of Ridiculous Nautical Jargon Read more

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • #1 Indie Next Pick • Winner of the PEN New England Award “Enchanting…A book filled with so much love…Long before Oregon, Rinker Buck has convinced us that the best way to see America is from the seat of a covered wagon.” —The Wall Street Journal “Amazing…A real nonfiction thriller.” —Ian Frazier, The New York Review of Books “Absorbing…Winning…The many layers in The Oregon Trail are linked by Mr. Buck’s voice, which is alert and unpretentious in a manner that put me in mind of Bill Bryson’s comic tone in A Walk in the Woods.” —Dwight Garner, The New York TimesA major bestseller that has been hailed as a “quintessential American story” (Christian Science Monitor), Rinker Buck’s The Oregon Trail is an epic account of traveling the 2,000-mile length of the Oregon Trail the old-fashioned way—in a covered wagon with a team of mules—that has captivated readers, critics, and booksellers from coast to coast. Simultaneously a majestic journey across the West, a significant work of history, and a moving personal saga, Buck’s chronicle is a “laugh-out-loud masterpiece” (Willamette Week) that “so ensnares the emotions it becomes a tear-jerker at its close” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis) and “will leave you daydreaming and hungry to see this land” (The Boston Globe). Read more

"Polished, poignant... an inspiring story of true love."—Entertainment WeeklyA BEST BOOK OF 2019, NPR's Book ConciergeSHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BOOK AWARDOVER 400,000 COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDEThe true story of a couple who lost everything and embarked on a transformative journey walking the South West Coast Path in England Just days after Raynor Winn learns that Moth, her husband of thirty-two years, is terminally ill, their house and farm are taken away, along with their livelihood. With nothing left and little time, they make the brave and impulsive decision to walk the 630 miles of the sea-swept South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, through Devon and Cornwall. Carrying only the essentials for survival on their backs, they live wild in the ancient, weathered landscape of cliffs, sea, and sky. Yet through every step, every encounter, and every test along the way, their walk becomes a remarkable and life-affirming journey. Powerfully written and unflinchingly honest, The Salt Path is ultimately a portrayal of home—how it can be lost, rebuilt, and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways. Read more

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER“Heartfelt and heartening … a full-throated paean to the fundamental importance of nature in all its glory, fury and impermanence." —Wall Street JournalThe incredible follow-up to the international bestseller The Salt Path, a story of finding your way back home.Nature holds the answers for Raynor and her husband Moth. After walking 630 homeless miles along The Salt Path, living on the windswept and wild English coastline; the cliffs, the sky and the chalky earth now feel like their home. Moth has a terminal diagnosis, but together on the wild coastal path, with their feet firmly rooted outdoors, they discover that anything is possible.Now, life beyond The Salt Path awaits and they come back to four walls, but the sense of home is illusive and returning to normality is proving difficult - until an incredible gesture by someone who reads their story changes everything. A chance to breathe life back into a beautiful farmhouse nestled deep in the Cornish hills; rewilding the land and returning nature to its hedgerows becomes their saving grace and their new path to follow. The Wild Silence is a story of hope triumphing over despair, of lifelong love prevailing over everything. It is a luminous account of the human spirit's connection to nature, and how vital it is for us all. Read more

In the early seventies, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe—in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. He was accompanied by an unforgettable sidekick named Stephen Katz (who will be gloriously familiar to readers of Bryson's A Walk in the Woods). Twenty years later, he decided to retrace his journey. The result is the affectionate and riotously funny Neither Here Nor There. Read more

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The classic chronicle of a “terribly misguided and terribly funny” (The Washington Post) hike of the Appalachian Trail, from the author of A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Body “The best way of escaping into nature.”—The New York Times  Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes—and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings.  For a start there’s the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa along for the walk. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson’s acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America’s last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods is a modern classic of travel literature. NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE Read more

An illustrated journal by the New York Times-bestselling author of Dear Paris. “Every page offers a tempting taste of Paris and its allure. Très charmant.” ―USA TodayPart memoir and part visual journey through the streets of modern-day Paris, France, A Paris Year chronicles, day by day, one woman’s French sojourn in the world’s most beautiful city. Beginning on her first day in Paris, Janice MacLeod, the author of the bestselling book, Paris Letters, began a journal recording in illustrations and words, nearly every sight, smell, taste, and thought she experienced in the City of Light. The end result is more than a diary: it’s a detailed and colorful love letter to one of the most romantic and historically rich cities on earth. Combining personal observations and anecdotes with stories and facts about famous figures in Parisian history, this visual tale of discovery, through the eyes of an artist, is sure to delight, inspire, and charm.“I thought there’d be no way she could outdo herself, but I was so wrong! . . . it’s the type of book you beg and plead and hope will never end.” ―Susan Blumberg-Kason, author of Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon“[A] lovely portrayal of the romantic city . . . [Janice MacLeod] has a great eye for the city’s beauty, capturing those precious moments that locals probably take for granted (and that an outsider never does).” ―Cheryl Yanek, Library Journal“Part Paris guidebook/part memoir/part visual candy store. As much a treat for the eyes as for the soul. A Paris Year is a must for anyone who loves Paris.” ―Lisa Anselmo, author of My (Part-Time) Paris Life Read more

Stow away with Rick Steves for a glimpse into the unforgettable moments, misadventures, and memories of his 1978 journey on the legendary Hippie Trail. In the 1970s, the ultimate trip for any backpacker was the storied “Hippie Trail” from Istanbul to Kathmandu. A 23-year-old Rick Steves made the trek, and like a travel writer in training, he documented everything along the way: jumping off a moving train, making friends in Tehran, getting lost in Lahore, getting high for the first time in Herat, battling leeches in Pokhara, and much more. The experience ignited his love of travel and forever broadened his perspective on the world.   This book contains edited selections from Rick’s journal and travel photos with a 45-years-later preface and postscript reflecting on how the journey changed his life. Stow away with Rick Steves on the adventure of a lifetime through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal.   You know Rick Steves. Now discover the adventure that made him the travel writer he is today. Read more

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An intimate journey across and in search of America, as told by one of its most beloved writers, in a deluxe centennial edition In September 1960, John Steinbeck embarked on a journey across America. He felt that he might have lost touch with the country, with its speech, the smell of its grass and trees, its color and quality of light, the pulse of its people. To reassure himself, he set out on a voyage of rediscovery of the American identity, accompanied by a distinguished French poodle named Charley; and riding in a three-quarter-ton pickup truck named Rocinante.   His course took him through almost forty states: northward from Long Island to Maine; through the Midwest to Chicago; onward by way of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana (with which he fell in love), and Idaho to Seattle, south to San Francisco and his birthplace, Salinas; eastward through the Mojave, New Mexico, Arizona, to the vast hospitality of Texas, to New Orleans and a shocking drama of desegregation; finally, on the last leg, through Alabama, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to New York.   Travels with Charley in Search of America is an intimate look at one of America's most beloved writers in the later years of his life—a self-portrait of a man who never wrote an explicit autobiography. Written during a time of upheaval and racial tension in the South—which Steinbeck witnessed firsthand—Travels with Charley is a stunning evocation of America on the eve of a tumultuous decade. This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition also features French flaps and deckle-edged paper.For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Read more

50th Anniversary Edition • With an introduction by Caity Weaver, acclaimed New York Times journalistThis cult classic of gonzo journalism is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page.  It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.Also a major motion picture directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro. Read more

Turn your wanderlust into reality with expert strategies from Brian Kelly, the founder of The Points Guy—the leading voice in travel and loyalty programs—with this ultimate resource for everything from leveraging airline and credit card points to planning your dream itinerary.In How to Win at Travel, Brian Kelly shares his greatest tips and strategies to experience the world in ways you never thought possible. This compre­hensive guide is a road map with all of the knowledge and tools you need to become an expert traveler. Get practical advice on a range of topics, including how to find the cheapest flights; effectively leverage airline, hotel, and credit card loyalty programs; conquer your fear of flying; beat jet lag; and score free flights and upgrades. Kelly also covers the ins and outs of travel insurance and getting the right credit cards to make your travel more affordable and enjoyable. He discusses the art of dealing with travel mishaps, speaks to the technology you need to manage modern travel, and shares ideas for pinpointing the best destination for you. Whether you’re a young adult traveling solo, a road warrior business traveler, a growing family looking for new experiences, or a retiree ready to explore the world, reach for this guide to plan an unforgettable trip. Easy to read, informative, and inspirational, How to Win at Travel is the definitive travel guide for your next adventure, no matter how big or small. Read more

For fans of Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild and Suleika Jaouad's Between Two Kingdoms, the invigorating true story of a man and his dog who circled the globe on foot.“Gripping . . . A delightful companion for adventurers and dog lovers alike, The World Walk poignantly grapples with strength and vulnerability, love and loss, and unpacks what it really means to summon the will to keep going.” —Suleika Jaouad, New York Times bestselling author of Between Two Kingdoms"Quietly stunning." —Laurie Woolever, New York Times bestselling author of World Travel with Anthony Bourdain and Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography After the death of a close friend at seventeen, Tom Turcich resolved to make the most out of life; to travel and be forced into adventure; to experience and understand the world. On April 2nd, 2015, he set out to see it all—one step at a time.The World Walk is the emotional and exhilarating story of the tenth person and first dog to walk around the world. Together, Turcich and his dog, Savannah, covered twenty-eight thousand miles over the course of seven years. Through deserts, jungles, cities, and mountains, Turcich meditated on what’s important in life and took lessons from cultures around the globe. Rarely has there been a true-life tale of such scope. From sheltered suburbanite to world traveler, Turcich’s epic account runs the full gamut: He is held up at knifepoint in Panama and gunpoint in Turkey; wanders deep within himself in the deserts of Peru; watches a democracy fortify itself in Georgia; and takes it all in with his resolute companion by his side. His growth spans the most basic elements of surviving on the road—finding food, water, and safe places to camp—to humanity’s more noble aspirations, such as the benefits of democracy, the search for love, and the weighing of personal significance. Accompanied by some of the author’s world-class photography, this tour de force of resilience and triumph of the human spirit will reaffirm to readers that the world is beautiful, people are good, and life should be a generous, vibrant adventure. Read more

Abandoned in a bucket…to new adventures in GreeceThe delightfully comic account of a British couple and their imported cats starting over in a new country continues in Bucket to Greece Volume 17. Nikos is at his wits end when a vandal targets him with insulting graffiti, desecrating his fields with mounds of rubbish. Romance is in the air when Vasos asks Sherry, and Victor, on a date, and Christos has a lot of grovelling to do when Violet Burke flounces off the job.Taking a trip down memory lane, Victor revels in the joys of grubby kitchens when Pelham, a former colleague, visits. Doreen tackles the Greek moped test to earn her diploma, Hal buys his great-niece an adorable old donkey, and Sherry rescues an abandoned hoglet. If you’re a fan of Greek travel and culture then the Bucket to Greece series is a must, with a bucketful of laughs along the way. Read more

New York Times Bestseller: A Pulitzer Prize–winning author retraces the voyages of Captain James Cook: “Alternately hilarious, poignant, and insightful.” —Seattle TimesCaptain James Cook’s three epic journeys in the eighteenth century were the last great voyages of discovery. His ships sailed 150,000 miles, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, from Tasmania to Oregon, from Easter Island to Siberia. When Cook set off for the Pacific in 1768, a third of the globe remained blank. By the time he died in Hawaii in 1779, the map of the world was substantially complete.Tony Horwitz, author of Confederates in the Attic, vividly recounts Cook’s voyages and the exotic scenes the captain encountered: tropical orgies, taboo rituals, cannibal feasts, human sacrifice. He also relives Cook’s adventures by following in his wake to places such as Tahiti, Savage Island, and the Great Barrier Reef to discover Cook’s embattled legacy in the present day. Signing on as a working crewman aboard a replica of Cook’s vessel, Horwitz experiences the thrill and terror of sailing a tall ship. He also explores Cook the man: an impoverished farm boy who broke through the barriers of his class and time to become the greatest navigator in British history, whose voyages helped create the “global village” we know today.“With healthy doses of both humor and provocative information, the book will please fans of history, exploration, travelogues and, of course, top-notch storytelling.” —Publishers Weekly“Horwitz retells the sailor’s story and tries to re-create first contact from the point of view of the locals—Tahitians, Maoris, Aleuts, Hawaiians, and others—and judge the legacy of his landing . . . thought-provoking . . . brims with insight.” —Booklist“A rollicking read that is also a sneaky work of scholarship . . . new and unexpected insights into the man who out-discovered Columbus. A terrific book.” —Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award winner and New York Times–bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea“Well-researched, gripping, and peppered with humorous passages.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch“Part Cook biography, part travelogue, and very much a stroke of genius.” —Philadelphia Inquirer Read more

The legendary travel writer's thrilling and dangerous account of his journey across AfricaA rattletrap bus, dugout canoe, cattle truck, armed convoy, ferry, and train. In the course of his epic and enlightening journey, wittily observant and endearingly irascible Paul Theroux endures danger, delay, and dismaying circumstances. Gauging the state of affairs, he talks to Africans, aid workers, missionaries, and tourists. What results is an insightful meditation on the history, politics, and beauty of Africa and its people. Read more

"[A] joyously peculiar book." -- The New York Times‘Bjarnason’s intriguing book might be about a cold place, but it’s tailor-made to be read on the beach.’ –New Statesman The untold story of how one tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic has shaped the world for centuries.The history of Iceland began 1,200 years ago, when a frustrated Viking captain and his useless navigator ran aground in the middle of the North Atlantic. Suddenly, the island was no longer just a layover for the Arctic tern. Instead, it became a nation whose diplomats and musicians, sailors and soldiers, volcanoes and flowers, quietly altered the globe forever. How Iceland Changed the World takes readers on a tour of history, showing them how Iceland played a pivotal role in events as diverse as the French Revolution, the Moon Landing, and the foundation of Israel. Again and again, one humble nation has found itself at the frontline of historic events, shaping the world as we know it, How Iceland Changed the World paints a lively picture of just how it all happened. Read more

WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD“A masterpiece that exceeds the boundaries of the travel genre and envelops you with its incredible prose.” —Wall Street JournalAn unforgettable spiritual journey through the Himalayas by renowned writer Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014) In 1973, Peter Matthiessen and field biologist George Schaller traveled high into the remote mountains of Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and possibly glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard. Matthiessen, a student of Zen Buddhism, was also on a spiritual quest to find the Lama of Shey at the ancient shrine on Crystal Mountain. As the climb proceeds, Matthiessen charts his inner path as well as his outer one, with a deepening Buddhist understanding of reality, suffering, impermanence, and beauty. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by acclaimed travel writer and novelist Pico Iyer.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Read more

A stunning tour of China, its people, and its history. Chosen as one of the best travel books of 1996 by the New York Times Book Review. Rising in the mountains of the Tibetan border, the Yangtze River, the symbolic heart of China, pierces 3,900 miles of rugged country before debouching into the oily swells of the East China Sea. Connecting China's heartland cities with the volatile coastal giant, Shanghai, it has also historically connected China to the outside world through its nearly one thousand miles of navigable waters. To travel those waters is to travel back in history, to sense the soul of China, and Simon Winchester takes us along with him as he encounters the essence of China--its history and politics, its geography and climate as well as engage in its culture, and its people in remote and almost inaccessible places. The River at the Center of the World is travel writing at its best: lively, informative, and thoroughly enchanting. Read more

The international bestselling author records his many insights and adventures traversing the world by train in these 3 classic travel memoirs.  The Great Railway Bazaar In 1973, Paul Theroux embarked on his now-legendary journey from the United Kingdom through Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Asia's fabled trains—the Orient Express, the Khyber Pass Local, the Frontier Mail, the Golden Arrow to Kuala Lumpur, the Mandalay Express, the Trans-Siberian Express—are the stars of a journey that takes Theroux on a loop eastbound from London's Victoria Station to Tokyo Central, then back from Japan on the Trans-Siberian.  The Old Patagonia Express Starting with a rush-hour subway ride to South Station in Boston to catch the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago, Paul Theroux takes a grand railway adventure first across the United States and then south through Mexico, Central America, and across the Andes until he winds up on the meandering Old Patagonian Express steam engine.  Ghost Train to the Eastern Star Thirty years after the epic journey chronicled in The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux retraces his 25,000-mile journey to witness and experience a landscape drastically transformed by the intervening decades. The Soviet Union has collapsed and China has risen; India booms while Burma smothers under dictatorship; Vietnam flourishes in the aftermath of the havoc America was unleashing on it the last time Theroux passed through. Read more