June 10, 2000

This week: Books that Have Inspired You to Travel

There's nothing like the lively spray of enemy gunfire to motivate you to travel, fast. But luckily it doesn't have to take an arsenal of weapons or threat of a guerilla ambush to push us to go someplace new. Sometimes all the motivation we need to travel is a good old fashion book. Words, although safer than a hand grenade, can be very powerful. Descriptions of colorful characters in distant lands can inspire us to travel to all corners of the earth, fueling our desire to experience the same feeling an author may have evoked in his work.

A few weeks back, I asked you to tell us the one book that most inspired you to travel. Although several authors were mentioned, the response was always the same: to go out and see what the author saw. With your own eyes. Listen in.

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Next Week: Slice of America Abroad

One of the reasons we try to get out there in the world is to get away from home. Escape the confines and boredom of everyday life: work, laundry, watering the geraniums. We escape. But sometimes, the further we get from our native land, the more we miss it. And suddenly in the middle of nowhere we come across something that reminds us of home.

Maybe it's a sight, smell or sound that suddenly takes you back to that place you thought you could so easily put behind. It's a good feeling when you come across a slice of America while abroad. It reminds you that sometimes no matter how far you go away to escape, home can just be right around the corner.

Send us an email or call 888-SAV-TRAV (888-728-8728) to tell us what's the oddest, most interesting slice of America that you found while on your travels outside of the States. Maybe it was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in some exotic restaurant or an Elvis Presley tune blasting out over the din of some Third World market. Tell us about the most interesting slice of America you have found abroad. What was it like? How did it make you feel?

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