Travel through Books: Read Around the World 2024!

Yes, I know it's 2025, but it just occurred to me that maybe -- in these cold days of January -- the best way to travel is to park myself safely on the couch under a fleece blanket!

Maybe you feel the same way??

Seems like the perfect time to bring out a reading list I compiled for our Adaptive Travel Summit last September. 

Fiction.  Nonfiction.  Memoir.  Travel guides.  Photography.  

They're just a sprinkling of all the great books out there, but they represent some of my favorite "places to go" through the years!

So grab a blanket.  

Pour some tea.  

Prepare for take-off...

REBECCA'S RECS:  
READ AROUND THE WORLD 2024!

Travel and disability: Easy Beauty by Chloé Cooper Jones

Train travel: Around the World in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh  (Loved the audiobook!)

Travel meditations & wanderlust: The Vagabond’s Way by Rolf Potts

Outdoor adventure & photography: Stories Behind the Images by Corey Rich

Go local: A Guide to the Great Gardens of the Philadelphia Region by Adam Levine

France and food: Chocolat by Joanne Harris  (It’s also a movie!)

Denmark, winter, and happiness: The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking

Spain (by an 80’s star turned travel writer!): Walking with Sam by Andrew McCarthy 

Nigeria and humor: My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Japan and time travel: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi  (It's the first in a series!)  

India, Australia, and search for family: A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley  (It’s also a movie called Lion!) 

Where possible, I've linked to Bookshop.org which supports independent booksellers, but most of these are available everywhere, including the public library.  Several make fantastic audiobooks too!

My favorite reading mug from
Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, VT:
"Go Away. I'm Reading."

Do you travel through books?  

What are you reading -- or listening to -- these days?

Got recommendations?  Leave a comment!

I'm working on 2025's list -- and always looking for the next book to carry me away!

Read on,
Rebecca

Mile Marker 13,270

Where Would You Walk?

Mile Marker 12,072:

I'm grounded at home this weekend.

I was supposed to be visiting my favorite Vermonters. I'd bought an airline ticket and everything!

Then, out of nowhere, my right foot starts aching.  

(Yes... the real one.)

Technically, it isn't out of nowhere.  

I often get right foot pain, especially at the end of the day.  Sometimes my knee swells, or my ankle, or both.  Like most unilateral amputees, I depend on my "sound side" for balance and performance.  A solid step with my right leg makes my prosthetic knee bend more fluently -- and my gait more natural.  Plus, you can't wear a prosthesis 24/7.  When I take my leg off, my sound side does 100% of the work. 

It's called "overuse."

At first, it's just a pang when I step down on the ball of my foot.  I ignore it and keep walking. 

But a few days later, I can barely bear weight.

Cue the alarms.  

I NEED TO PROTECT MY RIGHT FOOT.  

IT'S THE ONLY ONE I HAVE.

(This has happened before, but I don't want to think about it.  If you want, you can read about it here.) 

And so... 

Twenty-four hours before departure, I make the best -- and only -- decision for my body.  

I cancel the whole trip.  

At that very moment, an article lands in my inbox: 

The Most Walkable City on Each Continent.

Cruel joke?  Maybe.

I click on it anyway.

While I'm on hold with the airline, I open up Kayak and plug in the recommended cities.

• Boston
• Madrid
• Marrakech
• Buenos Aires
• Wellington
• Hoi An

Just for kicks, I set my travel dates for September.  (It's my fantasy, so why not celebrate my birthday in Spain?)

I imagine an epic, multi-city, around-the-world trip for the sole purpose (pun intended) of doing the one thing I cannot do at this very moment.

WALK.

Hey, it's cheaper than you'd think!

Dreaming of travel has always been a coping mechanism for me. 

Years ago, I'd spend lunchtimes at work scrolling through "E-saver" flights and "Travelzoo" discounts.  (Remember those?)

In the months after the accident, when I sat teary-eyed in my therapist's office -- certain I'd "never go anywhere ever again" -- she encouraged me to hop on over to Amazon and find books that would take me places.

I ordered this one first --
And it was too heavy to lift on my crutches!

Later, 400 miles into this journey -- recovering from yet another surgery -- I wrote my own Walking Wish List.  

All the places I'd walk IF or WHEN I could...

Click here to see it.

Now, I'm amazed at how many
of those boxes I've checked off!!

Eventually the American Airlines rep takes me off hold.  

She adjusts my flight plans without a penalty.  My Airbnb host is equally understanding.  It reminds me of the kindness I encounter whenever I travel.

Today, there will be no morning miles.  I'll conserve my limited "foot time" for basic activities at home.

I hobble around the kitchen like a robot crossed with a baby deer.  

I brew a pot of coffee my friend Priti brought back from India.

I open up biscuits and jam from our neighborhood in Paris.

I spoon out granola from my favorite local coffee shop.

Then I gather up everything and limp out to the balcony,

where I gingerly remove my right shoe.

Less than 70 miles ago, I was exploring Paris on foot -- not quite easily, but filled with joie de vivre!  

And now... I'm HERE.

It's hard to reconcile these two truths.  

I have a disability that's both permanent and variable.  It's who I am as a traveler.  

Slow or fast.

Near or far.

Walking, like health, is the most fragile of privileges.

Of all the places to be grounded at Mile 12,072,

I am extra grateful for this
corner of the sky.

Fingers (and 5 toes) crossed, there'll be many miles ahead. 

I'm open to ideas.

Where would you walk?
Rebecca

Taste is Travel

Café Tolia is the newest spot in our Philly neighborhood.  

It's spacious and warm with exposed brick and white-washed walls.  The owners are friendly and welcoming.  Elbe bakes the pastries.  (I'm not sure how.  She must get up at 2 AM!)  

The walls are covered with black and white photos, also by Elbe, of their family's travels and transitions through Europe.

I'm with my friend and walking buddy Mark.  We arrive just minutes after they open.

When we walk together, Mark always gets a cappuccino and I always get a coffee.  We always take them to go, and we always keep walking.   I always eat fruit and yogurt when I get home.

But today, Mark suggests trying a pastry.  We haven't planned for this, but I have to admit I'm curious.  

As if to convince me, Elbe emerges from the kitchen with a wooden platter of buns fresh from the oven.  

Turkish pastries, but with French and Mediterranean flavors.

(Come on, you'd be tempted too!)

"They're savory, with lavender and herbs de Provence inside," she tells us, "and also some cheese and olives."

She had me at lavender.

But the thing is, I have certain routines, especially to start the day.  It's one way I manage my digestive issues.

Eating outside that comfort zone can feel, well... uncomfortable.

On the other hand, I've been working on my "flexibility muscles" for both mind and body.  

Why?  Being flexible is necessary for travel.

I want to travel.  
I love to travel.  
I want to love traveling!

(It's just uncomfortable sometimes.)

So I'm practicing...

I give into the buns.

As we unexpectedly take a seat -- instead of taking our coffees to go -- I relax into the pastry.  

Feel the butter on my fingertips. 

Taste the tangy olives, the subtle herbs. 
Watch crumbles of feta fall onto my plate.

Mark and I talk about how taste creates experience.  How it can define a place as much as, or more than, our other senses.

How taste and travel go together.

I tell him about a trip I took to Bordeaux in 2010, the summer before my accident.  

I was braver back then.  Fearlessly independent.  More flexible.  Less clingy to routines.

I biked everywhere.  Hiked everywhere.

Ate everything!

Each morning I set out to discover what the locals were eating for petit-dejeuner, and that's what I'd order too.

But even back then, I was just one person -- and a petite 90-pounder at that.  Although I wanted to taste everything, I just didn't have room to put it!  

One morning I sat in the window of a local café watching some teenagers seated outside.

As I savored my own chausson aux pommes, I observed their fantastic spread:

du jus d'orange
du chocolat chaud
du thé
du café
du gateau
des pains
du jambon
des fromages
des oeufs!

"It was all so spectacular," I tell Mark, "I recorded their entire meal in my journal!" 

When I get home, I search out that very page...

...it turns out to be 2 pages!!

Thirteen years later, I can still taste that morning.  I still remember that meal like it was yesterday.

Maybe it's because of my own challenges that eating something new feels so special.

It's like freedom.  Like setting worry aside, just for the moment.  Like making room for uncertainty and welcoming it in.  

Mark and I finish our pastries.  And before I know it, I'm back home again.  

But taste is travel.  

And this morning's adventure made an old route feel new again.  

Like we left our neighborhood -- and ventured much, much further.

Bordeaux 2010 :)

A Garden and A Library

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

-- Marcus Tullius Cicero

This week, I had both!

The Philadelphia Flower Show and the Free Library of Philadelphia -- a perfect combination to kick-off the season.

Here in Philly, the Flower Show curtails the end of winter.  

(Even if disco lives on!)

Stepping from the blustery March sidewalk into the warmth of the Convention Center is a sure sign of greener days to come.

It's a rainbow of scent,

and color,

and inspiration!

But a library -- isn't that for all-seasons?

Technically yes.  But our local branch is only open limited hours these days.  So when I step out of a doctor's appointment which happens to be across the street... 

...I hit the "open-hours' jackpot!

I wander through the library stacks the same way I wandered through the Flower Show just days earlier -- awed by the creativity, the variety, and the pure potential in so many volumes (and so many stems!) all in one place.  

I check out a French documentary called Louvre City.  Anything about France, like reading in general, transports me to a place of hope and renewal!

Winter into spring is always a tough transition. 

I recently began working with a specialized PT to help with digestive issues.  And just today, I started the long process of breaking in a new prosthetic liner.  

I'm trying to walk more.  
Improve my stamina.  
Get back into shape.

It's like pushing up through the frozen soil or -- if you're more of a reader than a gardener -- it's like trying to write a novel, one keystroke at a time.

I finish off the week with a quiche of spring flavors.  Fresh herbs?  A trip to France?

It's like a garden + library in one!

Happy Spring -- and Happy "St. Patti's" Day (as we say in our family)!

May your garden be healthy.
May your library be open and full.

May you have everything you need.

And may you walk safely -- even on the windiest of days!

What place gives you that "back-to-normal" feeling?

At Mile Marker 9,525...

I shop.  

At a bookstore.

In person.

A trip to Inkwood Books is always a treat.  But after 14 months of browsing online, this feels like a luxury vacation!  

Just imagine...

Plant an Idea

Greetings from Mile 9400 --

Where ideas take root in Washington Square!

Mônica and I always walk the same route.  

Fewer decisions about streets and sidewalks leaves space for other things - like talking about her children's books or my November novel, or even this next step on the blog...

Rigged

Mile Marker 8943:

In early September, my friend Amy sends me this birthday card.

Yes, I think.  I am going to live life as if everything is rigged in my favor. 

It seems like a perfect plan. 

Book Club, the Universe, and Everything...

Mile Marker 7584:

What do space travel and book club have in common?

Well today, snacks.  

10 Books That Made A Difference

Mile Marker 6660:

Do you love books?

Yeah, me too. 

How to Climb Anything

Mile Marker 5373:

I stand on the floor, fingers curled around the start holds.  Carabiners locked.  Leg locked.  

"Climbing!" I call.

And whoever's belaying me -- Sarah, or Sara, or Marian, or Jacki, or Peet, or Julia, or Carly, or Alyson, or Jake  -- calls back.

"Climb on!"

Those two small words launch me up the rock wall.

My goal this summer had nothing to do with climbing...

5 Ways to Escape (when you can't go to France)

Mile Marker 5042:

I live inside a construction zone.


My windows are coated with dust, and the air smells of exhaust.  The view from my balcony looks like feeding time at Jurassic Park.

And there's no escape...

Why I March

Mile 4760:

I almost didn't march today.

Here's why:  It was a busy work week.  On top of that, I rock climbed on Wednesday night, celebrated Deb's birthday on Thursday night, and went to a housewarming party on Friday night.  I expected this weekend to be jam-packed as well.

It was just too much leg time.  I was exhausted.  Just thinking about the Women's March pushed me over the edge.

A Book?!

Mile Marker 4240:

I took my first step toward a thousand miles on July 9, 2011.

Today marks 5 years and 1 month of taking tiny steps toward a very large goal -- and telling my story along the way.  It's turned into something pretty cool:  224 blog posts (including this one), readers from 10 countries (according to Blogger stats), and over 140,000 page views!

I always figured friends and family would follow my journey, but I never imagined the story might appeal to others, or take on a life of its own.

That's where Donna comes in.