The Travel & Tourism category has 695 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 853 ratings. The most-rated is Vagabonding.
Chronicles of a Motorcycle Gypsy
Summary
A journey of 38,000 miles begins with a single twist of the throttle. After six years of laying rubber on racetracks and immersing herself in the high octane, adrenaline pumping sport of motorcycle racing, Tiffani was yearning for something new from her life on two wheels. Fortunately (or unfortunately), losing her comfortable office job was the perfect opportunity to do exactly that. Twenty-eight years old, single, unattached, and now unemployed, she took her 2015 Yamaha FZ-07 and built the nimble sport bike into a make-shift adventure motorcycle. She packed it full of camping gear and set off on an adventure that she had always dreamed about. The problem? Tiffani had scarcely traveled outside her long-time home in Los Angeles, let alone with nothing but a tent and hope to keep her safe. Chronicles of a Motorcycle Gypsy is an inspiring tale of confronting fears, insecurities, and self- doubts for the sake of following your heart, all while discovering the many wonders of the 49 continental United States. Tiffani encounters some of the best and worst of humanity, meets a friend who eventually makes her journey a little less lonely, and puts all of her riding skills to the test, struggling with everything from her first time riding a sport bike in deep sand to getting caught in a blizzard in the Colorado mountains. It's a big world outside the racetrack! Originally published as a travelogue in Motorcyclist Magazine as Girl Meets World, this full-length memoir contains the untold stories and the details that were a little too racy for the blog. If you loved Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman's Long Way Round and Ted Simon's Jupiter's Travels, you'll love Chronicles of a Motorcycle Gypsy!
©2018, 2019 Tiffani Burkett (P)2020 Tiffani Burkett
The Devil's Teeth
Summary
Travel 30 miles north, south, or east of San Francisco city hall and you'll be engulfed in a landscape of thick traffic, fast enterprise, and $6 cappuccinos. Venture 30 miles due west, however, and you will find yourself on what is virtually another planet: a spooky cluster of rocky islands called the Farallones. Journalist Susan Casey was in her living room when she first glimpsed this strange place and its resident sharks, their dark fins swirling around a tiny boat in a documentary. These great whites were the alphas among alphas, the narrator said, some of them topping 18 feet in length, and each fall they congregated here off the northern California coast. That so many of these magnificent and elusive animals lived in the 415 area code, crisscrossing each other under the surface like jets stacked in a holding pattern, seemed stunningly improbable and irresistible. Casey knew she had to see them for herself. Within a matter of months she was in a 17-foot Boston Whaler, being hoisted up a cliff to face onto the barren surface of Southeast Farallon Island, part of the group known to 19th-century sailors as the "Devil's Teeth". There she joined the two biologists who study the sharks, bunking down in the island's one habitable building, a haunted, 120-year-old house spackled with lichen and gull guano. Less than 48 hours later she had her first encounter with the famous, terrifying jaws and was instantly hooked. Curiosity yielded to obsession, and when the opportunity arose to return for a longer stay she jumped at it. But as Casey readied herself for shark season, she had no way of preparing for what she would find among the dangerous, forgotten islands. The Devil's Teeth offers a rare glimpse into the lives of nature's most mysterious predators, and of those who follow them. Here is a vivid dispatch from an otherworldly outpost, a story of crossing the boundary between society and an untamed place where humans are neither wanted nor needed.
©2005 Susan Casey (P)2005 Books on Tape, Inc.
Cruise Confidential: A Hit Below the Waterline
Summary
National Best Seller ForeWord Humor Book of the Year Benjamin Franklin Awards Humor Book of the Year In Cruise Confidential, Brian David Bruns spills the dirt - or, in this case, the dirty water - on those romantic, fun-filled vacations at sea. His hilarious chronicle of the year he spent working for Carnival Cruise Lines takes listeners down into the areas where the crew works and lives, leaving listeners gasping with laughter as they're assaulted nonstop with events that range from the absurd to the utterly bizarre. Stewards fighting over food. Cutlery allowances and other nonsensical rules. What the crew calls those onboard (no, it's not passengers). And, of course, the sex. An abundance of ready, willing, and able bodies eager for action on a vessel replete with nooks and crannies leads to love in some mighty strange and seemingly impossible places. Breezy, entertaining, and informative, Cruise Confidential is essential listening for those planning a cruise or for anyone who just needs a good laugh. Don't miss the entire Cruise Confidential series: Cruise Confidential Ship for Brains Unsinkable Mister Brown High Seas Drifter
©2008 Brian David Bruns (P)2016 Brian David Bruns
Finding Your Way Without Map or Compass
Summary
During his remarkable lifetime, Harold Gatty became one of the world's great navigators (in 1931, he and Wiley Post flew around the world in a record-breaking eight days) and, to the benefit of posterity, recorded in this book much of his accumulated knowledge about pathfinding both on land and at sea. Applying methods used by primitive peoples and early explorers, the author reveals how to determine location, study wind directions and reflections in the sky, even how to use the senses of smell and hearing to find your way in the wilderness, in a desert, in snow-covered areas, and on the ocean. By observing birds and other animals, weather patterns, vegetation, shifting sands, patterns of snow fields, and the positions of the sun, moon, and stars, would-be explorers can learn to estimate distances and find their way without having to rely on a map or a compass. The wealth of valuable data and advice in this volume - much of it unavailable elsewhere - makes it indispensable for hikers, bikers, scouts, sailors, and outdoorsmen - all those who might find themselves stranded or lost in an unfamiliar area. Through careful study of this book and its lessons, pathfinders can learn to interpret signs in the natural world to find their way in almost any kind of terrain. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©1958 the Executors of the Estate of Harold Gatty and A. Fenna Gatty; Copyright 1983 by Alan J. Gatty (P)2018 Tantor
Incontinent on the Continent
Summary
In this travelogue of self-discovery, Jane Christmas brings her wickedly irreverent style to a new mother-daughter experience. Since the beginning of time, mothers and daughters have had notoriously fraught relationships. "Show me a mother who says she has a good or great relationship with her daughter," Jane Christmas writes, "and I'll show you a daughter who is in therapy trying to understand how it all went so horribly wrong."
To smooth over five decades of constant clashing, Christmas takes her arthritic, incontinent, and domineering mother, Valeria - a cross between Queen Victoria and Hyacinth Bucket of the British comedy Keeping Up Appearances - on a tour of Italy. Neither has been to Italy before, but both are fans of ancient art, architecture, and history. Will gazing at the fruits of the Italian Renaissance be enough to spark a renaissance in their relationship?
As they wander along the winding Amalfi Coast, traverse St. Peter's Square in Rome, and sample the wines of Tuscany - walkers, biscuits, shawls, and medications in tow - they revisit the bickering and bitterness of years past and reassess who they are and how they might reconcile their differences.
Unflinching and frequently hilarious, Incontinent on the Continent will speak to all women who have tried to make friends with their mothers.
©2011 Jane Christmas (P)2013 Post Hypnotic Press Inc.
The Jaguar Smile
Summary
"I did not go to Nicaragua intending to write a book, or, indeed, to write at all: but my encounter with the place affected me so deeply that in the end I had no choice." So notes Salman Rushdie in his first work of nonfiction, a book as imaginative and meaningful as his acclaimed novels. In The Jaguar Smile, Rushdie paints a brilliantly sharp and haunting portrait of the people, the politics, the terrain, and the poetry of "a country in which the ancient, opposing forces of creation and destruction were in violent collision". Recounting his travels there in 1986, in the midst of America's behind-the-scenes war against the Sandinistas, Rushdie reveals a nation resounding to the clashes between government and individuals, history and morality.
©1997 Salman Rushdie (P)2016 Recorded Books
Eldorado to the Klondike: Riding Inappropriate Motorcycles to Out-of-the-Way Places
Summary
Old or unsuitable motorbikes, distant places, poor weather, and gravel roads, these are the common threads in Nick’s motorcycle travels. He’d been hoping to ride out west a couple of years ago until a little heart trouble intervened. Two years later, a short "shake-down" trip morphed into a 9000 mile journey across the continent. Trouble free? Not exactly. Riding a 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado, a Suzuki Burgman Scooter, and a 1976 Moto Guzzi Convert (automatic), and ever optimistic, Nick heads for the Canada’s distant horizons, encountering friendly, generous people, wildlife, bike troubles, and inclement weather along the way.
©2019 Nicholas R. Adams (P)2020 Nicholas R. Adams
Skyfaring
Summary
In Skyfaring, airline pilot and flight romantic Mark Vanhoenacker shares his irrepressible love of flying on a journey from day to night, from new ways of mapmaking and the poetry of physics to the names of winds and the nature of clouds. Here, anew, is the simple wonder and transcendent joy of motion and the remarkable new perspectives that height and distance bestow on everything we love.
©2015 Mark Vanhoenacker (P)2015 W F Howes Ltd
The History of Rome in 12 Buildings
Summary
Any travel guide to Rome will urge visitors to go the Colosseum, but none answers a simple question: Why is it called the Colosseum? The History of Rome in 12 Buildings: A Travel Companion to the Hidden Secrets of the Eternal City is compelling, concise, and fun, and takes you behind the iconic buildings to reveal the hidden stories of the people that forged the Roman Empire. Typical travel guides provide torrents of information but deny their listeners depth and perspective. In this gap is the really good stuff - the stories that make the buildings come alive and vividly enhance any trip to Rome. The History of Rome in 12 Buildings will immerse you in the world of the Romans, one full of drama, intrigue, and scandal. With its help, you will be able to trace the rise and fall of the ancient world's greatest superpower: Find the last resting spot of Julius Caesar. Join Augustus as he offers sacrifices to the gods. Discover the lie on the façade of the Pantheon. Walk in the footsteps of Jesus. And so much more.
©2018 Phillip Barlag (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
Summary
A classic of travel writing, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is Eric Newby's iconic account of his journey through one of the most remote and beautiful wildernesses on earth. It was 1956, and Eric Newby was earning an improbable living in the chaotic family business of London haute couture. Pining for adventure, Newby sent his friend Hugh Carless the now-famous cable - "Can you travel Nuristan June?" - setting in motion a legendary journey from Mayfair to Afghanistan and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, northeast of Kabul. Inexperienced and ill prepared (their preparations involved nothing more than some tips from a Welsh waitress), the amateurish rogues embark on a month of adventure and hardship in one of the most beautiful wildernesses on earth - a journey that adventurers with more experience and sense may never have undertaken. With good humour, sharp wit and keen observation, the charming narrative style of A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush would soon crystallise Newby's reputation as one of the greatest travel writers of all time. One of the greatest travel classics from one of Britain's best-loved travel writers, this edition includes an epilogue from Newby's travelling companion, Hugh Carless, and a prologue from one of Newby's greatest proponents, Evelyn Waugh.
©1958 Eric Newby (P)1995 HarperCollins Publishers
Thailand: Why You Shouldn't Retire to Thailand
Summary
I didn't write this for me, I wrote it for you. Why did I write it? It was to give people who are thinking about moving to Thailand reasons not to do it. What's the point of warning you of that, you may wonder. Well there are plenty of books that tell you to get over here. They'll tell you that life is easy, and the women are easier. They'll tell you that you can make money in Thailand, and that you can get a visa without hassle. In fact, many books paint Thailand as being a paradise on this Earth. For some, it is. For many, it's a torture that they can't wait to escape. Some can't escape, though, as they've blown every penny they had in the Kingdom and have nowhere else to go. This audiobook exposes the worst lie about Thailand, and goes on to detail many of the complications that retirees have in the Kingdom. At times it's not a pleasant listen, but there's plenty of expatriates who will tell you they wish they knew what they were getting themselves in for before they arrived in Thailand. You owe it to yourself to research as much as possible, and to weigh up the possibilities. In this audiobook, I'll throw some issues at you that you most likely haven't thought of. Even if you decide to go ahead and retire in the country, you'll be more switched on to the hurdles you may face.
©2014 David Bradley (P)2014 David Bradley
Coming into the Country
Summary
Those who have traveled into America’s only remaining frontier rarely come back out the same. Only in Alaska can we come close to understanding what our forefathers must have felt upon their arrival in the New World. McPhee brings to this narrative the qualities that have distinguished him in the field of travel literature—tolerance, brisk, and entertaining prose, and a fascination with things most of us never bother to notice.
©1977 John McPhee (P)1990 Recorded Books, LLC
Lean Travel
Summary
Less is More. Give more and take less...from how you act, to how you pack. About 10 years ago, I decided that I wanted to become a world-class giver. You might be thinking, "Why are you telling me this at the beginning of a book called Lean Travel?" The reason is quite simple. In order to have a great travel experience, you must approach it from the standpoint that you are going to treat all the people you encounter with dignity and respect, understanding that they are working hard to help you have a great trip. If you regularly give them your respect, your smile, your encouragement, and your gratitude, your travel will be a blessing! In addition to being grateful, another way to make your travel experience more fulfilling is to live by the adage that "less is more". In a Lean Travel context, this means travel light. For example, I bought a pair of high-quality Keen sandals, thinking they would be the ultimate travel sandal. After a few trips around the world, however, I realized they were really quite bulky and heavy. They were also a bit overkill for what I needed, which was mostly when walking to the hotel pool or restaurant. So, in adherence to my philosophy of traveling light, I found a very inexpensive pair of sandals for five bucks and I turned in my $70 pair of Keens. This is a perfect example of lean travel, because it demonstrates how a simple two-second improvement can make travel more effective and enjoyable. My suitcase weighed about four pounds less, everything packed up easier, and the new sandals were absolutely perfect for my needs. As you start this book, I want you to understand the two main parts of my philosophy. First, what you give in the travel experience will have a profound impact on how much you enjoy it. Second, the less you bring and the lighter you travel, the more you will be able to feel and adapt to the fantastic trade winds of the travel experience. So travel with a full heart and a light suitcase!
©2016 Paul A. Akers (P)2017 Paul A. Akers
Walk Quietly: 58 Tips to Help You Prepare to Walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain
Summary
Planning to walk a Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain? This is the book for you. This audiobook is a collection of tips to help you plan, prepare, train, shop for, and walk the famous Camino de Santiago, written by someone who spent seven weeks walking the Via de La Plata route of the Camino de Santiago. You’ll learn what gear you’ll need, how to choose the right boots, and how to break them in properly. You’ll discover the best ways to condition yourself to walk the Camino de Santiago. You’ll discover what to wear on the plane and what to have in your pockets when you arrive in Spain. You’ll be ready for a “typical” day on the Camino and you’ll also be prepared for some of the changes that are coming your way, too.
©2018 Gregory A. Kompes (P)2018 Gregory A. Kompes
For the Love of Europe
Summary
After 40-plus years of writing about Europe, Rick Steves has gathered 100 of his favorite memories together into one inspiring collection: For the Love of Europe: My Favorite Places, People, and Stories. Join Rick as he's swept away by a fado singer in Lisbon, learns the dangers of falling in love with a gondolier in Venice, and savors a cheese course in the Loire Valley. Contemplate the mysteries of centuries-old stone circles in England, dangle from a cliff in the Swiss Alps, and hear a French farmer's defense of foie gras. With a brand-new, original introduction from Rick reflecting on his decades of travel, For the Love of Europe features 100 of the best stories published throughout his career. Covering his adventures through England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and more, these are stories only Rick Steves could tell. Wry, personal, and full of Rick's signature humor, For the Love of Europe is a fond and inspirational look at a lifetime of travel. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2020 Rick Steves (P)2020 Rick Steves
Notes from a Small Island
Summary
Bill Bryson is an unabashed Anglophile who, through a mistake of history, happened to be born and bred in Iowa. Righting that error, he spent 20 years in England before deciding to repatriate. This was partly to let his wife and children experience life in Bryson's homeland - and partly because he had read that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another. It was thus clear to him that his people needed him. But before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire, Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain. His aim was to take stock of modern-day Britain, and to analyze what he loved so much about a country that produced Marmite, zebra crossings, and place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey, and Shellow Bowells.
©1998 Bill Bryson (P)1998 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell, A Division of Random House Inc.
The Cruelest Miles
Summary
Alaska, 1925: the diphtheria serum is 674 miles away. Without it, the people of Nome will not survive. Nome, Alaska, sits on the edge of the Bering Sea two degrees below the Arctic Circle, and there are few more forbidding places on earth, especially in winter. Dr. Curtis Welch knew the signs of diphtheria, knew that his patients - many of them children - would die without a shipment of fresh serum. The port was icebound and the nearest railhead was almost 700 miles away across mountains, rivers, and the treacherous ice of Norton Sound. A blizzard was brewing, and airplanes, in 1925, could not fly in such conditions. Only the dogs could do it. A relay was set up, and the drivers, many of them Native Alaskans, set off into the night at 60 below zero, often trusting their lead dogs to find the trail under feet of driven snow. The legendary heroism and endurance of the men and dogs in the Serum Run need no enhancement. Here, for the first time, their story is told in full.
©2003 Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury (P)2003 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Randhom House Inc.
My Holiday in North Korea
Summary
Most people want out of North Korea. Wendy Simmons wanted in. In My Holiday in North Korea: The Funniest/Worst Place on Earth, Wendy shares a glimpse of North Korea as it's never been seen before. Even though it's the scariest place on Earth, somehow Wendy forgot to check her sense of humor at the border. But Wendy's initial amusement and bewilderment soon turned to frustration and growing paranoia. Before long she learned the essential conundrum of "tourism" in North Korea: Travel is truly a love affair. But, just like love, it's a two-way street. And North Korea deprives you of all this. They want you to fall in love with the singular vision of the country they're willing to show you and nothing more. Through poignant, laugh-out-loud essays, Wendy chronicles one of the strangest vacations ever. Along the way she bares all while undergoing an inner journey as convoluted as the country itself. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2015 Wendy E. Simmons, Vendeloo, Inc. (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Chasing After Bigfoot
Summary
When fly-fishing guide Rusty Wilson decides he's tired of listening to others talk about their Bigfoot stories and instead wants his own encounter, a strange series of events leads him into the wilds of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, with an eventual rendezvous in the rugged mountains of Montana. In the preface of his book, Rusty writes, "I always wondered what it would be like to go searching in places where there have been actual Bigfoot encounters - places I call 'Bigfoot hotspots'. I wanted to see a Bigfoot, but I just couldn't justify intruding into their terrain. I know I wouldn't like someone coming into my territory, purposely searching for me and my family. While thinking about all this (usually while fishing), a thought finally began to take shape: what if I were to go to Bigfoot hotspots and just hang around camp, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible and not tramping into the woods looking for them? Would they maybe come to me from curiosity? Another thought was in the back of my mind - would I be able to find definitive proof of the existence of Bigfoot, something many scoff at or question? And if I did, what would I do with it? I wanted to see one - in a nutshell, meet the elusive creature I'd heard so much about over campfires. So, I decided I would go camping. I would take off for a month and follow my heart, go chasing after the Big Guy - though I can tell you, when I realized my dream could become reality, I was kind of scared. Did I have what it would take to camp in a tent in these Bigfoot hotspots all alone? I wouldn't actually be chasing after Bigfoot - if anything, he'd be chasing after me." Join Rusty on a wild adventure that will leave you scared to go out in the woods, as well as wishing you were out there - and with the hope that just maybe, Bigfoot will choose you for an encounter.
©2014 Marjorie Miller/Yellow Cat Publishing (P)2014 Marjorie Miller/Yellow Cat Publishing
36 Views of Mount Fuji
Summary
In 1980 Cathy N. Davidson traveled to Japan to teach English at a leading all-women’s university. It was the first of many journeys and the beginning of a deep and abiding fascination. In this extraordinary book, Davidson depicts a series of intimate moments and small epiphanies that together make up a panoramic view of Japan. With wit, candor, and a lover’s keen eye, she tells captivating stories - from that of a Buddhist funeral laden with ritual to an exhilarating evening spent touring the “Floating World,” the sensual demimonde in which salaryman meets geisha and the normal rules are suspended. On a remote island inhabited by one of the last matriarchal societies in the world, a disconcertingly down-to-earth priestess leads her to the heart of a sacred grove. And she spends a few unforgettable weeks in a quasi-Victorian residence called the Practice House, where, until recently, Japanese women were taught American customs so that they would make proper wives for husbands who might be stationed abroad. In an afterword new to this edition, Davidson tells of a poignant trip back to Japan in 2005 to visit friends who had remade their lives after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995, which had devastated the city of Kobe, as well as the small town where Davidson had lived and the university where she taught. 36 Views of Mount Fuji not only transforms our image of Japan, it offers a stirring look at the very nature of culture and identity. Often funny, sometimes liltingly sad, it is as intimate and irresistible as a long-awaited letter from a good friend.
©2006 Cathy Davidson (P)2013 Audible, Inc.