Really good travel themed audiobooks you would recommend?

[Hellokittymania]

Hi everyone, I live in Greece, where we are having a big heatwave, as I’m sure a lot of you are aware. I don’t have air-conditioning at home, it is very hot during the day so I have my mattress in my kitchen next to the fan, and I’m trying to stay quiet and not do a lot of moving around if possible. I am visually impaired, and I have found a few cheap audiobook deals on iBooks, but would be willing to spend some money on a good audiobook on travel, if anyone can recommend some thing. I have read the books by Bill Bryson, which I love and they’re very funny, I have read some by an Italian author who was a journalist I believe and he wrote a fortuneteller told me, etc. Have you read anything recently that you would recommend?

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Alchemist by Paul Coelho

Eat Pray Love and the Alchemist are two of my least favourite books ever! I did like Strayed though.

I recommend Paul Theroux's books if you like to travel in your mind (Louis Theroux's dad). He's a bit of a grumpy old so and so, but his books are great, I prefer the older ones like the Old Patagonia Express and The Great Railway Bazaar. Michael Palin is great too. I don't know what any of the audiobooks are like though I'm sure you can look up reviews, I just read the paper books.

Paul Theroux also writes fiction, so if you are looking for travel writing only be aware of that.

I don't know if these are audio books but I imagine most books are

four corners by Kira Salak - one of my favourite books ever. True account of Kira kayaking through Papua New Guinea. It's such a well written interesting book. The cultural differences in PNG are fascinating and the people she meets are intriguing too (missionaries in the jungle, people
living off grid) loved it!

Wavewalker breaking free - about a woman whose dad took the family away on a sailing trip that was meant to last 2 years but lasted 10. It's an amazing story of how the author managed to get her education in the belly of a sailboat with almost every hinderance possible thrown at her by her parents. Also the places they visit are amazing.

I've enjoyed the following recently:

Waypoints by Sam Heughan (memoir/travel in the form of walking the West Highland Way, narrated by the author)

East of Croydon by Sue Perkins(memoir/humour/travel in the form of making a documentary series along the Mekong River by a steadfast non-traveller, narrated by the author)

Thank you so much for all of these recommendations. I really wish I could have found east of Croyden, as I love super Perkins documentaries. I was able to find some books by Paul through, and I found the one called FourCorners, but more as an iBook, not an audiobook form. I can listen to it with voiceover though, and it sounds very interesting.

I have to admit, I also read April eat pray love when I just came out, and I enjoyed it, I read the second one by Elizabeth Gilbert as well. And I recently watched a very stupid movie called mafia mama, and it mentioned the book and it changed it to eat pray f……k The film was a bit ridiculous…

The alchemist, I think I tried to read it in my late teens and I didn’t understand it, I might have to give it a second go. But thank you anyway

I enjoyed Clear Waters Rising by Nicholas Crane.

The salt path and it's two sequels are lovely books too.

It's a podcast rather than an audiobook but I recommend Alan Carr's Life's a Beach - very funny and lots of episodes

Do you want fiction or nonfiction?
Fiction a lovely gentle read / listen 'The Enchanted April' (set in Italy) came out years ago, and I can't remember the author as I read it getting on for 30 yrs ago😬.
The Island by Victoria Hislop also a gentle story set in Crete.

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts is quite a fast paced book it's meant to be autobiographical although I did wonder if there was a bit of poetic license thrown in for good measure good book though.

Then hard hitting books: Midnight Express by Billy Hayes; it brutal, but the book is so,so much better than the film.

Forget you had a daughter by Sandra Gregory

'Into thin air' is about the 1996 Everest disaster, it's beautifully and sensitively written and so much better than the film, it transports you to Everest, the harsh environment, and the challenges faced by mountaineers; it raises some interesting issues with the tourism on Everest, but you'll need a box of tissues beside you when listening.

I've read all the above books and enjoyed them all, I've not listened to them though, and because the nonfiction ones are hard going in places, you'll need a very good narrator.

Horse Boy - true life story about American dad taking a trip across Russia to meet the horse tribes, as he realised his autistic son had an affinity with horses.

Broken, I read forget you had a daughter many years ago when I was living in Vietnam, and spent quite a lot of time in Thailand. Yes, it really was a very sad story. I have also read into thin air, I will look for the island, since I live in Greece, and I like books about Greece… And to the other poster, I just found horse boy, I like books about special-needs, since I’m visually impaired.

I will check out the podcast, it sounds interesting. I like anything, non-fiction, fiction, I just need a way to take my mind off of the heat wave.

Bill Bryson, especially Neither Here Nor There.

The salt path is a lovely book also worth a read/ listen.

What about My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell? It's not strictly a travel book, but it's set on Corfu and it's funny.

Was just about to say the same. It's by Raynor Wynn.