Don’t you just love a good travel book?

Travel books are my main escape to find inspiration where to travel in my next adventures. I just love learning unexpected gems of information that I simply think I need to experience for myself. 

How about you? 

During lockdown this year, my travel dreaming didn’t end there thanks to the travel books I read. They kept my inspiration alive while I cancelled my 2020 travel plans; and afterwards I started to make tentative plans for 2021. 

So, let’s have a look at which travel books I read and I hope it may in turn inspire you to read a couple more too. 

Travel Book #1: The Cyclist who went out in the cold

This is an adventure travel book to read through solidly from cover to cover. Following the treads of Tim Moore’s bike, you are taken along on a 9,000km route of the boundary of the old Iron Curtain from the icy depths of the Arctic Circle at the north of Norway into Finland and cutting across Europe through Germany into old Yugoslavia and finishing up at the Black Sea in Bulgaria. All on a two geared East German shopping bike.

Told you, you would be intrigued!

With a wealth of history, people who have experienced the Cold War and the trials and tribulations of Tim Moore, this hilarious yet profoundly engaging book has you wondering and imagining the experiences gone through.

Absolutely recommend this book for sure and I would give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Read more: The Cyclist who went out in the cold on Amazon

Travel Book #2: Shadowplay: Behind the Lines and Under Fire

I’ve always been fascinated by why Yugoslavia in Eastern Europe broke up. So, what better than to read Tim Marshall’s first hand account of the Balkan Wars especially the bloody conclusion in Kosovo in 1999.

Tim was a diplomatic editor at Sky News covering the conflict, showing us his account of how the events unfolded using personal experiences, eyewitness reports and interviews with intelligence officials from five countries. It’s a great novel of geopolitics on paper to read through and gives me an illuminating background for my near-future travels to the region in the next couple of years including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro.

It was one of those books I couldn’t wait to return to after a long day at work.

Read more: ShadowPlay on Amazon

Travel Book #3: The Hidden Europe

I’ve always had a fascination of Eastern Europe. It always seems so mysterious to me. When people talk about visiting Europe, they usually mean France, Spain, UK, Italy or perhaps Germany. But what is Eastern Europe with the Baltics, Balkans, the old USSR satellite states and more? I just want to know more.

Luckily, this in-depth book by Francis Tapon, who travelled over 75 countries, called ‘The Hidden Europe’ challenges your perception of Eastern Europe that includes Finland, Romania, Slovakia, Macedonia, Belarus and more. Francis claims you don’t know Europe until you visit its mysterious Eastern side.

Exploring every country from the Gulf of Finland to the Black Sea, Francis shares his entertaining travelogues that also shares practical lessons that will impact on your day-to-day life along with an understanding of the complex history of this region.

Read more: The Hidden Europe on Amazon

So, these were my three travel books I read in the three months of lockdown. (I did read other books, well, re-read all of the books of the Game of Thrones – WHEN WILL THE NEXT BOOK COME OUT?!) 

Now I’m looking to read more travel books. Can you give a recommendation? Let me know in the comments below!

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