A list of entertaining and informative adventure travel books for armchair adventure travelers. Some of these books offer excellent ideas on where to travel for adventures and how to arrange these trips and vacations. Other are just wonderful escapism, especially the books that tell tales of adventurer's travels.
1. The Lunatic Express - Adventure Travel Book Review
The Lunatic Express is an entertaining and insightful adventure travel book by Carl Hoffman, whose mid-life crisis meant spending six months circumnavigating the globe on the world's worst conveyances. Think a bit about all of those headlines in recent years. Indonesian Ferry Sinks. Peruvian Bus Plunges Off Cliff. African Train Attacked by Mobs. Hoffman traveled on these and others and lived to tell about his experiences.
2. Extreme Survival - Adventure Travel Book Review
Marshall Corwin's Extreme Survival - An Adventurer's Guide to the World's Most Dangerous Places is as potentially useful as it is scary. Corwin's a true adventure traveler and he's been to some of the most dangerous places on earth. But even if you never trek in the Arctic or canoe down the Amazon, certain tips are very valuable whether you're climbing a mountain, hiking in a desert or stuck outside on a frigid day.
3. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time
This tale relates how author Greg Mortenson stumbled into a village and was befriended by villages after getting lost while climbing K2. He spent seven weeks there and vowed to return and help build the poor village's first school. He did return and built the school. Since then, the Central Asia Institute has been formed, which has build some 50 schools in the rural areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The book was written by Mortenson with David Oliver Relin. There's also a Young Readers edition.
Part of the book proceeds help support the nonprofit Central Asia Institute, which promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.
4. Ultimate Adventures, a Rough Guide to Adventure Travel - Review
Ultimate Adventures - a Rough Guide to Adventure Travel - is a "must get" choice for adventurous travelers seeking some of the coolest outdoor experiences on this planet. Ready to climb Mauna Loa in Hawaii or Mt. McKinley in Alaska? Interested in wildlife viewing in Costa Rica or trekking the GR20 in Corsica? How about rafting down the Nile in Egypt or diving the Great Barrier Reef? These are just a few of the dozens of experiences that will let you escape from the manmade world and explore nature.
5. Riding the Hulahula and Other Extraordinary Adventures for Seasoned Travelers
A fun read because you're traveling along with vacationers as they describe their experiences. This guidebook to 50 top-ranked adventure travel trips is chock-full of trips that let you explore off-the-beaten-path destinations, and experiencing familiar locales in new ways. Here's a review.
6. Lonely Planet's "Best in Travel 2011" Lists Adventures Around the Globe
This new travel book has a fascinating choice of adrenalin-raising adventures in the new Lonely Planet book: Best in Travel 2011. The book is split into sections, including "Top 10 Countries", "Top 10 Regions", "Top 10 Cities", and "Top Travel Lists". Throughout, you'll find Lonely Planet's choices for trends, destinations, journeys and experiences for the upcoming year.
7. Wanderlust Wining - The Outdoorsy Oenophile's Wine Country Companion
Wanderlust Wining -The Outdoorsy Oenophile's Wine Country Companion - blends tours of wine countries around the globe with tips on activities to rev up your bodies before and after wine tastings. For example, in addition to the expected list of wineries in Oregon, author Stefani Jackenthal lists where to go rafting, find hiking and mountain biking tours, and book equestrian wine tours. She also shares information about subjects beyond wine, such as restaurants, art galleries, local parks and sports outfitters.
Stefanie Jackenthal is an adventure journalist, author of The Complete Idiots Guide to Rock Climbing. About.com's Guide to Wine, Stacy Slinkard, has a complete review of the Wanderlust Wining on her site.
8. Crossing the Heart of Africa
The author, Julian Smith, retraces the steps of a British Adventurer who set out in 1898 on a quest to become the first man to cross the entire length of Africa just to prove to his love's father that he was worthy of her hand. Smith, in love with his girrlfriend of seven years, decided to retrace the journey to face his fears of committment. The interweaving of the two tales makes compelling reading.
9. Sisters on the Fly
A lighthearted book by Irene Rawlings that tracks a group of women who travel around the country in vintage trailers they've turned into functional works of art. The chapters range from tips on restoring trash trailers to the adventures fly-fishing, riding horses and camping, and the fun of laughing and eating (recipies included) with a group of friends traveling together.
10. The World's Cheapest Destinations
About.com's guide to Budget Travel, Mark Kahler, reviewed this book. He says, "This is not a book for the timid. Leffel proposes visiting places like Laos, Nepal and Venezuela. It's likely many of us barely have enough vacation time for Paris or London. But Leffel's suggestions could be added to a so-called traditional itinerary. For example, add the Czech Republic to Germany/Switzerland; add Laos to a China/Vietnam journey."
