Travel Memoir

For more than 200 years, the wreck of the Whydah (and the riches that went down with it) eluded treasure seekers, until the ship was finally found in 1984 by marine archaeologists. The artifacts brought up from the ocean floor are priceless, both in value and in the picture they reveal of life in that much-mythologized era, changing much of what we know about pirates.

The City of Falling Angels opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving in Venice three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective - inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city - while gradually revealing the truth about the fire.

In 1849 Heinrich Barth joined a small British expedition into unexplored regions of Islamic North and Central Africa. One by one his companions died, but he carried on alone, eventually reaching the fabled city of gold, Timbuktu. His five-and-a-half-year, 10,000-mile adventure ranks among the greatest journeys in the annals of exploration, and his discoveries are considered indispensable by modern scholars of Africa.

Wanjirũ works too hard on her real estate career. But except for many acquittances, and her recent phenomenon of stories bubbling in her head, she doesn’t feel a sense of connection or any personal belonging besides making a living. All this work and no play stress her to the limit.

The stories in The Carry-On Imperative recount Pascoe’s ambitious beginnings as a journalist and broadcaster through her years as a not-so-diplomatic foreign service spouse. Her trail-blazing books about globally mobile families made her an in-demand speaker worldwide and led to the creation of The Expat Expert, one of the first websites for expats. Fans of The Diplomat will relish this rollicking memoir from “the wife”, who trails her husband to far-flung locales but works hard to establish her own identity and career.

In 1773, literary giant Samuel Johnson set off with his friend James Boswell on a tour of Scotland’s remote Highlands and Western Isles. What followed was a vivid travelogue capturing the landscapes, people, and customs of a region on the brink of change. With wit, insight, and curiosity, Johnson reflects on everything from ancient clan traditions to the decline of the Gaelic language—offering a rare glimpse into 18th-century Scotland through the eyes of one of England’s greatest minds.

What does retirement mean to you? Do you feel you’ve seen enough of the world? As you approach this later stage in life, the thought of travel can feel beyond intimidating—especially for those of us handling chronic medical conditions. In What If . . . ?, author Roberta Sawatzky highlights the importance of seizing the day when it comes to seeing the world, even and especially as one approaches retirement age.

Within weeks of arriving as a volunteer in a remote corner of South America, Crawford got a lot more than he bargained for: a narrow escape from a kidnapping plot hatched by the people he was sent there to help. Then things only got stranger.

A typical book about an American founding father doesn’t start at a gay piano bar and end in a sewage ditch. But then, Tom Paine isn’t your typical founding father. A firebrand rebel and a radical on the run, Paine alone claims a key role in the development of three modern democracies. In death, his story turns truly bizarre. Shunned as an infidel by every church, he had to be interred in an open field on a New York farm. Ten years later, a former enemy converting to Paine’s cause dug up the bones and carried them back to Britain.

Hailing from the beautiful island of Barbados, where I was a primary school teacher, I emigrated to the USA as a young boy where I quickly changed careers and joined the banking industry where I worked for Chase Bank for several years. My last job before retirement was as a quality assurance analyst for Mastercard in St. Louis, Missouri.

The true story of the faith and travel of two missionaries through 25 years of marriage. Listen and learn how they navigated through some of the challenges in their lives. Find out some of the sacrifices they had to make to accomplish their goals and aspirations. Laugh along with them as they take you on a journey of learning how to cope with different cultures, adjust to other languages, and experience various types of food.

What’s it like to be a park ranger? What happens when you get bucked off a horse, dangled from a cliff, bitten by bloodthirsty horseflies, or fall smack-flat onto your butt while leading a group of people down a trail? These hilarious and eye-popping adventures will capture your imagination and carry you right into the experience of what it's like to be an outdoor adventurer, camper, and park ranger. With vivid descriptions of our beautiful state and national parks, children and adults alike will laugh out loud listening to these comical short stories.

Adam Fletcher's life hates him.... That's how it feels since he lost his girlfriend of nine years, his confidence, hair, and home. But then he receives an email from a mysterious stranger offering him a free holiday of a lifetime. It's too good to be true. But then what does he have to lose? So he says yes. And then things gets strange....

A wisdom-filled memoir that doubles as a sweeping travelogue reaching from Boston to Sardinia and back again. Gorgeously written and culturally astute. The Boston Globe. When a big-city journalist quits her dream job to move to a remote Italian island for love, she discovers a whole new life beyond the romantic fantasies of Italy spun by books and movies. Struggling to adapt to a different culture, she buys a quirky house in the Sardinian countryside, goes to art school and becomes obsessed with home improvement and renovation.

Between 1950 and 1952, Peggy Iris Thomas and her Airedale dog, Matelot, travelled 14,000 miles through Canada, United States and Mexico on a 125cc BSA Bantam. Perhaps when rounding a corner on some highway between Nova Scotia and Key West you have chanced upon this incredible trio: Oppy the indomitable motorcycle, its 125 pound frame swaying under three times its weight; Matelot, the automotive Airedale, perched on his box, ears flying in the breeze; and our gasoline gypsy herself, Peggy Iris Thomas, who has bumped her way over more than 14,000 miles of the United States, Mexico and Canada.

A dog name Finski leaves from New York by air and becomes Mozart - one of his 24 names - in Salzburg. Humor, heartbreak, Salzburg, and Mozart are abundant in this true account of bond between man and dog - the dog that became a celebrity in Salzburg.

The Tomb of the Mili Mongga tells the story of Samuel Turvey's expeditions to the island of Sumba in eastern Indonesia. While there, he discovers an entire recently extinct mammal fauna from the island’s fossil record, revealing how islands support some of the world’s most remarkable biodiversity, and why many of these unique endemic species are threatened with extinction or have already been lost. But as the story unfolds, an unexpected narrative emerges – Sumba’s Indigenous communities tell of a mysterious wildman called the 'mili mongga', a giant yeti-like beast.

Erik Weihenmayer was born with retinoscheses, a degenerative eye disorder that would leave him blind by the age of 13. But Erik was determined to rise above this devastating disability and lead a fulfilling and exciting life. In this poignant and inspiring memoir, he shares his struggle to push past the limits imposed on him by his visual impairment - and by a seeing world.

Published in Rock and Ice Magazine in 1986, this essay, co-written by John Long and Dwight Brooks, tells the story of a hair-raising caving adventure in Papua New Guinea.

A firsthand account about my experience in Texas.