My top 10 travel reading tips
Being big lovers of both travel and reading, going travelling for a year was the perfect opportunity for us to get lots of reading done! For any other book lovers planning on setting off on their own adventures, here are my top 10 tips for reading whilst travelling.
1. Try to only carry two books with you at any time
When you’re having to carry your entire life on your back, you don’t want to be lugging around any unnecessary baggage. For this reason, it’s a good idea to only ever carry two books with you at any time. One isn’t enough as you’ll always want to have a backup ready to go. (No book lover wants to get caught off guard in the middle of the Australian outback with no reading material!) So, two is the perfect amount.
2. Leave a trail of books
Once you’ve finished a book, you’ll want to get rid of it before moving on to your next destination in order to free up some valuable space in your bag. The way that I did this was by leaving a trail of books. Whenever I finished a book, I’d leave it in a public place for somebody to find and enjoy, leaving a trail of books behind me as I went.
3. Check out charity shops
If you’re travelling the world, chances are that you’re on a budget and can’t afford to be shelling out $20 on a new release book from Target on a regular basis. Charity shops are a great place to pick up books for cheap whilst on the move; contributing to good causes whilst doing so!
4. Make use of hostel or campsite book exchanges
A great place to pick up free books are hostel or campsite book exchanges. They are also a great place to leave any books that you have recently finished reading for other travellers to enjoy.
5. Track down free libraries
Another place to find free books, as well as to leave your own behind, are free libraries. We found loads of these scattered across Australia, and if you can locate one, they are a treasure trove for all your budget-reading/book-offloading needs.
6. Join a real library
If you’re setting down in one place for a little longer, it’s worth joining the library there. (I am currently a member of both Melbourne and Brisbane Library!) All the books you could ever want to read, on demand? For free? Yes, please! Libraries are amazing, but I love building up my book collection too much to use them at home. Whilst living in Australia, they were my holy grail!
7. Read books set where you’re travelling
Something I really enjoy doing is reading books that are set in the place where I’m travelling. For example, I read The Beach by Alex Garland when we were on holiday in Thailand; Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert when we were in Bali, and I waited until we got out to Australia before reading The Dry by Jane Harper. I think that this adds a whole other enjoyable dimension to the reading experience. If you want to do this but can’t think of any books that are set where you’re travelling, this is a great website to use: Trip Fiction
8. Read books by local authors
In the same vain, I also really enjoy reading books by local authors whilst I’m in their country. Whilst in Australia, I read a lot of Jane Harper and Liane Moriarty!
9. Get a Kindle (if that’s your thing)
Obviously, the best, most convenient and space effective way to get lots of reading done whilst travelling is to get a Kindle. I can’t bring myself to buy a Kindle because I love the feel of a real book too much, but if that doesn’t bother you, I would definitely recommend a Kindle as a very solid investment!
10. Save reading any books you want to keep for when you get home
Finally, if there are any books that you’re really looking forward to reading but know that you won’t be able to bear parting with afterwards, save reading it until you get home. For example, I love the Robert Galbraith books and have the whole collection on my bookcase. Lethal White came out a week after we started travelling, and it was the first book I bought in Tokyo (almost a year later) when we were planning on flying home. It now sits proudly on my bookcase alongside the rest of the series and was definitely worth the wait.
I hope these tips are helpful to some of you! If you have any other helpful tips for reading whilst travelling, please leave them in the comments below!
 |
| The card that Nick gave to me before we left |
1. Try to only carry two books with you at any time
When you’re having to carry your entire life on your back, you don’t want to be lugging around any unnecessary baggage. For this reason, it’s a good idea to only ever carry two books with you at any time. One isn’t enough as you’ll always want to have a backup ready to go. (No book lover wants to get caught off guard in the middle of the Australian outback with no reading material!) So, two is the perfect amount.
2. Leave a trail of books
Once you’ve finished a book, you’ll want to get rid of it before moving on to your next destination in order to free up some valuable space in your bag. The way that I did this was by leaving a trail of books. Whenever I finished a book, I’d leave it in a public place for somebody to find and enjoy, leaving a trail of books behind me as I went.
3. Check out charity shops
If you’re travelling the world, chances are that you’re on a budget and can’t afford to be shelling out $20 on a new release book from Target on a regular basis. Charity shops are a great place to pick up books for cheap whilst on the move; contributing to good causes whilst doing so!
4. Make use of hostel or campsite book exchanges
A great place to pick up free books are hostel or campsite book exchanges. They are also a great place to leave any books that you have recently finished reading for other travellers to enjoy.
5. Track down free libraries
Another place to find free books, as well as to leave your own behind, are free libraries. We found loads of these scattered across Australia, and if you can locate one, they are a treasure trove for all your budget-reading/book-offloading needs.
6. Join a real library
If you’re setting down in one place for a little longer, it’s worth joining the library there. (I am currently a member of both Melbourne and Brisbane Library!) All the books you could ever want to read, on demand? For free? Yes, please! Libraries are amazing, but I love building up my book collection too much to use them at home. Whilst living in Australia, they were my holy grail!
7. Read books set where you’re travelling
Something I really enjoy doing is reading books that are set in the place where I’m travelling. For example, I read The Beach by Alex Garland when we were on holiday in Thailand; Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert when we were in Bali, and I waited until we got out to Australia before reading The Dry by Jane Harper. I think that this adds a whole other enjoyable dimension to the reading experience. If you want to do this but can’t think of any books that are set where you’re travelling, this is a great website to use: Trip Fiction
8. Read books by local authors
In the same vain, I also really enjoy reading books by local authors whilst I’m in their country. Whilst in Australia, I read a lot of Jane Harper and Liane Moriarty!
9. Get a Kindle (if that’s your thing)
Obviously, the best, most convenient and space effective way to get lots of reading done whilst travelling is to get a Kindle. I can’t bring myself to buy a Kindle because I love the feel of a real book too much, but if that doesn’t bother you, I would definitely recommend a Kindle as a very solid investment!
10. Save reading any books you want to keep for when you get home
Finally, if there are any books that you’re really looking forward to reading but know that you won’t be able to bear parting with afterwards, save reading it until you get home. For example, I love the Robert Galbraith books and have the whole collection on my bookcase. Lethal White came out a week after we started travelling, and it was the first book I bought in Tokyo (almost a year later) when we were planning on flying home. It now sits proudly on my bookcase alongside the rest of the series and was definitely worth the wait.
I hope these tips are helpful to some of you! If you have any other helpful tips for reading whilst travelling, please leave them in the comments below!
Comments
Post a Comment