Pick Up a Fictional Travel Guide Today
Planning a trip and already packed? My guess is you are toting a travel guide along. Even with the Internet and all it offers, these books still sell. And, it makes sense; there are things Lonely Planet can tell you that you probably won’t find anywhere else. Still, today I’ll be campaigning for the fictional travel guide.
Firstly, when I say fictional I do not suggest you make up an imaginary traveling friend. That would be a little sad. I am talking about bringing a novel or short story collection, perhaps even a poetry collection, taking place at, or on the subject of, your travel. You can still bring your Lonely Planted Guide, but in addition, provide yourself with inside tips from your favourite character.
Good literature leaves marks in its reader. One such book is Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart. Which is a book everyone who travels to Greece should read. Not only does the book provide serious wanderlust, the unspecified island visited can be reimagined to be precisely the island you’re visiting. Myths and folklore are a part of human tradition that has shaped societies and cultures. And it is perfectly possible to add your own myth to travelling. Allow yourself to be immersed in your book, and the place it holds. Thanks to Murakami I’m personally always looking for that mountaintop that I might never return from.
Great literature has the ability to transfer the reader to another place. Reading about Simone de Beauvoir’s Paris, or Charles Dicken’s London are not only motivating, but they provide great support wandering the streets. One thing is the ability exceptional authors have to transport you from an airplane seat to a corner café. Another is walking the streets, drinking at the café, and imagining Simone on the other side of the table. Or Charles running ahead up a small alleyway in London. One sees things differently when one knows a place through a story. While some might object to the realism and accuracy, I’m here to contend that these don’t always matter too much. Going somewhere new is all about catching the essence, the feeling of the place. And a brilliant novel can do just that.
Through this technique, I’ve been fishing with Ernest Hemingway in Cuba. When I saw the bay in Baracoa I also saw the poor, old man and his scrawny boat. I have been in Isabel Allende’s unspecified Latin American country. I have walked through the jungle of Panama with her characters, seen the forest with their eyes. Magical realism always does an especially exceptional job with portraying new cities in a fascinating light. Who doesn’t secretly hope for a bit of magic waiting around the next corner?
In addition to the spirit, there is a lot of history to find in fiction. Roaming the streets of St. Petersburg I have imagined Raskolnikov’s hunger, I’ve been Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s ultimate and sulking anti-hero. Of course, Russia has a tremendous amount to offer when it comes to inspiring literature. Not only has Lev Tolstoy already accompanied me to the Bolshoi ballet, he will take me to a terrific time with champagne and ice-skating in a couple of months. Perhaps I will get a love story worthy of War and Peace out of it. If I do, I’ll be sending a silent thanks to the long dead man for his inspiration.
So my advise to you; Next time you travel somewhere new, pick up a local friend in the form of a book. Not only will you have great company, but the opportunity to see the city, the people, and to experience the history, in a unique manner. And of course, you get the pleasure of enjoying new and exciting literature, in a new and exciting place. It does not get much better than that.
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