The Joy of Travel Books

I love a good book. Proper books. I've never got on with e-books - there's just nothing like the feel of a new book, that amazing smell of paper.

OK, so weird book obsession aside, travel books are brilliant. What better way to start your trip planning than picking up a guidebook and picking a random page? All those little hints and tips, places you maybe hadn't thought of visiting. All in one easily consumed book.

It's how my planning for most bits of my fast-approaching round-the-world trip has started. Quick trip to the bookshop and then home with a shiny new book to rifle through. I'm building up quite the collection.

Just a shame I won't be able to take them with me - much too heavy.

Travel guides are just the start though. Inspiration comes in many forms. Take, for example, all those books which list X number of places/experiences/something else you should do before you die. Things like my Lonely Planet 1000 Ultimate Adventures and You Only Live Once, both full of amazing ideas for travel. In the end, they're just lists of interesting things, but they can be a great way to spark the imagination.

Travel books aren't just about inspiration for your own travels, though. A good travel book can transport you around the world without you even leaving your chair. It doesn't even have to involve the real world. I'm a huge fan of Tolkien because his world is so detailed you can imagine being there. And of course, there's the added bonus that New Zealand really does fit a lot of Middle-earth quite well.

What are your favourite travel books? Got any recommendations? Why not share in the comments below...

The Joy of Maps

I love maps. They're so inspiring. Looking at a world map just reminds me how much of the world is still out there to explore. It's not just world maps though. There's so many maps out there, the inspiration is endless. Here's a few of the ones I have in my house.

Ordnance Survey Maps

My dad's big on walking, so we've got a good stack of these. I like them as much for the history behind place names and such as for their actual help for finding walking routes. Sometimes I'll spot something on one of these maps and just have to look it up because, really why are there so many places marked "cold harbour" down the Lincolnshire coast?

Atlases

Both the traditional atlas - i.e. here are maps of the entire face of the globe - and a more fun version with lots of extra little details about the population and culture of each country. Hours can easily be wasted tracing paths across these, imagining journeys you could make.

And atlases for fictional realms

I'm a bit of a Tolkien fan. Just a bit... Combining Tolkien with a love of maps resulted in the purchase of this little gem. It's been well-loved. Mostly in my attempts to work out just how far the Fellowship travelled across Middle-earth. Not sad. Not at all...

Books about maps

Because the history of cartography is every bit as interesting as the actual maps themselves. Which is why I have these.

The oldest world map (possibly)

Not one of mine, but I found this in the British Museum. It's mentioned in one of the books above. It's Babylonian and possibly the oldest world map in existence. Isn't it wonderful?

Museum maps

OK, so if the things above weren't a little bit sad and obsessive, these certainly are. But I promise you, if you're in a rush trying to see things in any of London's big museums, these maps are lifesavers. Why wander round hoping you'll be able to find that exhibit you really wanted to see when you can pick it out on a map and go straight there?

... I have no idea why I keep them...

Wall maps

My sister gifted me this for Christmas. I'm in love with it because I'm a small child at heart and it has marker pens and magnets. And why not? Who wouldn't love to mark their adventures on a map?

Digital maps

Of course, I can't take that wall map with me, so I created this one using a basic outline from the interwebz. It's colour-coded according to places I've been, places I'm going or would like to go in future. What better incentive to explore more of the planet than all those grey/purple/yellow patches that need colouring in?

I'll admit my love of maps borders on the obsessive, but what maps do you enjoy? Do they give you inspiration for future travels? Why not share in the comments?

The Joy of Postcards

In an age of Facebook, Twitter and, well, any other social network, where you can get instant updates from friends and family, there's still a certain joy about getting post. Actual, proper, hold-it-in-your-hand post.

In fact, maybe it's even more special now what with all that instant gratification from social networks and the internet in general.

It's part of the reason I love postcards so much. So posting photos all over the web is great with the "look where I am right now!", but a postcard seems somewhat more personal. It was picked out specially for some reason - beautiful view, humour, an odd reminder of home...

I still send postcards. OK, so writing them can be difficult, but it's lovely just to wander round the tourist shops in search of something a friend or relative might appreciate. I'll admit, I pick postcards mostly because I like the views on them and think I should be sending an image of what I'm seeing. But that's just me.

While I was living in Australia, my mum used to send me postcards from the UK. I will never forget the brief moment of shock when I opened the envelope and a picture of eyeballs fell out. She'd been to the Science Museum and thought the glass eyes were funny.

I still have that postcard. It reminds me both of Australia and of home. In fact, I've got loads of them - they're all stuck on my wardrobe doors. One for postcards and mementos from Australia:

Another of postcards I've picked up - mostly from London and the Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition, with a few of Wales and Lincoln thrown in:

And another entirely of postcards I got in Ireland:

That latter two are all postcards I've bought myself. My photography skills are improving but these cards have views on them I could never capture. Besides, they remind me of the joy of travelling and of trips I've taken and some I've yet to make.

See, here lies another great joy of postcards: they let you into a world that you might never have seen or maybe never will. Take the ones I picked up at the Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition - there's one in there of the Great Mosque at Djenne. I've known of the mosque for years and I'd love to see it in person, but I'm just not brave enough to travel alone to Mali to see it. But that postcard... well, maybe it says that someday I'll pluck up the courage and go.

You know how people end postcards with "wish you were here"? That's why they're brilliant. Because you wish you were there. I wish I was seeing the Great Mosque at Djenne. I wish I was staring up at the Northern Lights or watching a polar bear hunt in the Arctic. But for now, I'm not.

I can still dream, though.

Makes it sound like I only buy postcards for myself. I don't. Well, not quite. I like sending them too. As I mentioned above, it's sometimes hard to know what to write - I sent one to a friend's little boy from Ireland. Trying to work out what to write on a postcard to a baby was not easy. I think I mentioned leprechauns and fairies... The one I wrote to my sister was better - her's simply said "Smile like Harry Potter's here!". It was from the Cliffs of Moher. She got it.

What do you think? Are postcards outdated? When you can update instantly on the web, is there really any need for a little piece of card with a nice picture and some scribbled words? Or is there still that simple joy of getting a message from a loved one in the post?