These 7 books by female authors will inspire you to break free from expectations and travel fearlessly
To read is to be briefly transported into someone else’s story. Losing yourself in the pages of a book is to fully engage with a writer’s experience, imagination, perspective, and voice. For me, there are few better ways to inspire my wanderlust or reignite my love for travel than to flip through the pages of my favourite travel magazines or become fully absorbed in the latest memoirs by writers who I admire. When there’s no trip on the horizon, no plane tickets booked, and no adventure on the calendar, this is how I travel vicariously. And stay in touch with that very important part of me.
Travel writing can fill a need for its readers—intellectual, cultural, emotional, spiritual, escapist, or imaginative. Whether it’s a tale about the quest for the perfect bowl of soup in Asia, a leg-punishing adventure in the Himalayas, or a cozy afternoon drinking tea in Sweden, stories of real human experiences in foreign and far-flung spaces can be just the thing to give an ordinary day a little sparkle. Travel writers have a valuable ability to share slices of life from around the world so that even those who have never set foot there can gain a sense and understanding.
Below are seven incredible travel books (essays and memoirs) written by adventurous female writers.
Call You When I Land by Nikki Vargas, 2023
The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World by Jennifer Bagget, Holly C. Corbett, and Amanda Pressner, 2011
So many of us imagine completely quitting our lives, walking out of the office, going off to a totally different world and essentially scrapping daily life as we know it. Work? Gone. Responsibilities? Don’t know her. Traffic? Nope. Now imagine making that dream a reality… and doing it with two of your closest friends. In countries all over the world. That’s exactly what The Lost Girls is about. In these pages, three women in their late twenties completely revamp their lives and leave their New York City editorial careers in the magazine and book industry behind for a year-long adventure. Whoever said that “gap years” are just for teens and early-twenty-somethings? Readers who pick up this book can expect to live vicariously through these three women who take turns telling their experiences chapter by chapter. Expect to be transported to the jungles of South America, the plains of Kenya, the bustling streets of Australia, magical Peru, and tracking gorillas in Uganda. The Lost Girls highlights many themes which travellers in their late twenties (and beyond) might be grappling with: career choices, relationships and commitment, life direction, female friendship, and choosing to select an unconventional lifestyle. You’ll get increased wanderlust and relatability. What you won’t get is boring.
Instead: Navigating the Adventures of a Childfree Life by Maria Coffey, 2023
At some point, we all have to face the reality that as life moves on, we must pick a path—conventional or not. Instead: Navigating the Adventures of a Childfree Life is about Canadian author Maria Coffey’s life of travel and exploration which includes trauma in the face of adventure and a personal decision not to have children. Committing to a life that’s travel and adventure-focused is a valid one and this narrative will have women in the same boat feeling seen and understood. That might be especially valuable for the child-free by-choice travellers who roam through spaces and cultures where this path may be questioned, judged, and misunderstood. Of course, as most big life decisions go, this one wasn’t neatly packaged for Coffey and she gives an honest telling of the friction of deciding against having a family.
Bad Tourist: Misadventures in Love and Travel by Suzanne Roberts, 2020
What’s so great about Suzanne Roberts’ Bad Tourist (among other things) is that it teases out anecdotes of travels gone awry throughout the course of her entire life. Young travellers—female and male—will likely recognize themselves in these pages. Older ones will read Roberts’ story and feel nostalgic (while literally laughing out loud) for their own past misadventures. Bad Tourist is as funny as it is validating. It’s a reminder that neither life nor travel will always go according to plan. These essays detail the travel life and all of its messiness: nights out gone terribly wrong, lightning storms, landslides in Peru, booking the bad age-inappropriate accommodation, encountering sexism in foreign places, affairs, dates with the wrong men, arguments while on the road, dreaming of another life altogether… and the odd really weird pedicure. These essays span decades and 15 different countries. In acknowledging the less ideal side of travel and the low moments of exploring abroad, somehow this book makes you want to travel anyway while embracing the ugly and uncontrollable.
She Explores: Stories of Life-Changing Adventures on the Road and in the Wild by Gale Straub, 2019
What travellers will really love about She Explores: Stories of Life-Changing Adventures on the Road and in the Wild is that it’s a compilation of many different voices and experiences. If you’re the kind of person who wants to read several diverse takes on travel and outdoor adventure rather than one long narrative, this book is for you. Flipping through these pages is to take a journey to remote spaces, camp out on a starry night, sweat your way up a mountain, live out of a van, cycle alone on empty roads, appreciate open spaces, or just navigate the world of outdoorsy active travel on your own terms. The writers that fill these pages are absolute badasses. Readers will love the diverse range of perspectives and identities seen here, the inspiration they provide, and the beautiful photography that fills the pages. She Explores makes for a great coffee table book or in-flight read. Your call!
What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding: A Memoir by Kristin Newman, 2014
This travel memoir by Kristin Newman is hilarious, playful, and fun. What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding will be relatable for many travellers who are single, female, child-free, and/or career-oriented. Newman’s account of her travels will have you wanting to indulge in your traveller alter ego. (I.e. the one forgets the rules, lives boldly, and gives no f**cks while on the road.) There are the social norms we follow or the unwritten rules we may observe while we’re at home in our regular day-to-day lives. Travel, on the other hand, invites you to scrap all that and live outrageously and embrace the art of saying yes. This memoir really covers it all from partying at raves until the morning to attending lavish parties in Europe, to flings on Brazilian beaches to hooking up in Patagonia.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, 2007
The holy grail of travel memoirs, Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love is a transformative journey that serves as a beacon of inspiration for travellers seeking solace and self-discovery. Written at the age of 34, Gilbert's story is about healing from heartbreak, venturing beyond comfort zones, and nourishing oneself spiritually and emotionally. We’ve got cheesy culinary delights in Rome, meditation in an ashram in India, and falling in love in Bali. Eat, Pray, Love is a soul-stirring global sojourn with each destination unfolding to reveal a different type of personal transformation. If you haven’t read it yet, plan to feel whisked away as you imagine savouring pasta in the cobblestone streets, peacefully meditating, or embracing island freedom along Bali’s beaches. More than 15 years later, this book holds up. It’s no wonder it has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.
