Budget Travel recently posted its top picks of both classic and contemporary travel books that give a glimpse into life in another place.
Whether on a vacation or stay-cation, there is an opportunity to read and we are always looking for books that take us to another time or place where we can live vicariously through characters and their adventures abroad. Our favorites from the list are below.
The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Everyman’s Library)
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Naguib Mahfouz writes an absorbing, enlightening and very readable account of a traditional Muslim family in Cairo. The trilogy follows the family of Al-Sayyid Ahmad for decades through a tumultuous time in Egypt post-World War II and touches upon everything from politics to love, education to arranged marriages and the role of women in Egyptian society.
In a Sunburned Country
Couldn’t agree more with the description from Budget Travel - “This funny and insightful book eloquently captures a country often obscured by the stereotypes fueled by all those Foster’s beer ads.” I read this during my last visit to Australia and was constantly laughing out loud. The heat, the incredibly large insects and the vast empty spaces of Australia are all there, plus the comments of someone who really appreciates all that Australia has to offer.
, Peter Mayle
A marathon in Burgundy complete with wine en route. Award-winning chickens. Local festivals such as the truffle mass and frog leg pageant. You’ll savor unique food events that are part of the French culinary tradition through the eyes of a visitor with an insatiable appetite for all things French.
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
This incredible account of Shackleton’s voyage through Antarctica is a great read as you’ll find yourself continually reminding yourself that it’s a true story. There is no better place to read this than Antarctica, but even if you don’t have plans to visit the continent in the near future, it’s worth a read.
Check out the full list of the 25 Greatest Travel Books of All-Time from Budget Travel.
Set in a small, private vineyard amidst Argentina’s premier wine-growing region,Finca Adalgisa charmed us with its relaxed rustic atmosphere
A renovated 20th century estate in the heart of Mendoza, this boutique hotel on a family winery combines wine, food and the comforts of home in a beautiful setting just minutes from the famed wineries of Argentina. Guests can freely roam the property of this working winery, relax in the den with a selection of books and comfortable chairs or sit by the small pool enjoying views of the Andes.
A 20 minute drive from Mendoza’s city center, we were warmly welcomed at Finca Adalgisa to our rustic two-story accommodations. We immediately lit the fireplace and enjoyed a complementary bottle of the property’s wine before turning in. We awoke to a basket of fresh baked breads, jams and butter waiting outside of our door and enjoyed our own homemade coffee overlooking the vineyards. Then it was off for a bike tour - thanks to complementary bikes on the property - of the area. Dinner was scheduled on-site and we were met at twilight by one of the winery workers who lead us through the vineyard to the tasting room/dining hall where there is no menu. After being seated in what looks like a large, modern living room with white couches and low tables where every table has its own tiny personal fireplace, we tasted the property’s wines with traditional appetizers of meats and cheeses. Then we were served the famed Argentinean steak with salad and lingered over wine until late that night. Before reluctantly departing the next day (so reluctantly, in fact, that I called the airline to try to change our flight), we purchased lots of local specialties - olive oil, jam and wine - from their pantry.
Finca Adalgisa offers the perfect combination of rustic accommodations with modern amenities, seclusion but access to the Medoza wine region, and privacy with services available as needed. We can’t say enough about the property or proprietors and it’s not just us…we recommended this to friends who went six months after we did and raved as well. We hope you enjoy it too.
Finca Adalgisa, Chacras de Coria, 0054 (0)261 4960713. Before you go, find out about the latest happenings - wine ratings, art tours and cooking classes - on the Finca Adalgisa blog at http://www.fincaadalgisa.com.ar/blog/.
A’vin a laugh.
The world. In a post.
Welcome to Travelux. Mind the gap, we’re just getting ready to launch.
Travelux is a travel planning site run by a couple of avid travelers, like you. We help you organize what you find on the web, find things others have saved and then organize that into an itinerary.
The site is inspired by the piles of torn out pages that we tear out of magazines to remember a good bar, restaurant, hike, hotel or whatever we find cool as we are dreaming about our next trip. The same thing happens on the web – we find lots of cool things, and we bookmark them only to lose them in a mess of bookmarks. So the first thing we are setting out to do is to solve that problem. This is our bookmarking tool.
Then we thought, wait – if I’m saving a restaurant I find cool in a city then why can’t others see what I’ve saved and use that on their trips too? So when you save a page you don’t just save the url, you save what is in the page that you are interested in. In this example, a restaurant. Then not only will you have that restaurant information when you plan your trip, others can use it too. And vice-versa of course.
Of course, now you have all these cool things saved up, organized by city and category. Restaurants to check out in Paris, hotels in Nepal etc. And you have all the articles on those items that others have saved. But now you are going on a trip. So now you can simply take all those items and organize them into an itinerary. Maximize your time on vacation, making sure no meal or moment goes to waste.
We’re just getting started cooking here, lot’s of things to come. More butter and salt. But rest assured, your data is safe. We don’t store it, somebody much bigger than us does in the ‘cloud’.
Now we got to get back to work on the site. We hope you’ll find it useful. And please feel free to comment here and let us know what you’d like to see.
Bon voyage!
