On the road again!

I scanned my overflowing bookshelf and blew dust from five unread titles before stowing them in my suitcase. The luggage scale said my bag was two pounds over the limit. I jettisoned extra jeans and shoes. My books stayed.

Reading on the road is guilt free while passing time on planes, trains, boats, and automobiles. What I read is often dictated by my mode of transportation or final destination.

Short flights are great for leafing through old magazines.

On long segments, audio books give my eyes a break. I listened to Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly on my last thirteen-hour flight. Talk about killing time!

Murder on the Orient Express comes alive while riding a train chugging through Europe. Swedish mysteries are enhanced as the Scandinavian countryside rushes by.

Ferries, boats, and cruise ships are suited to stories like The Voyage of the Narwhal, The Old Man and the Sea, and The Life of Pi.

While in Hong Kong, I walked the same streets in Richard Mason’s The World of Suzie Wong. On the way to Mainland China I read Children of the Pearl  and many titles by my favorite author, Pearl S. Buck.

On a road trip to Wisconsin, my daughter and I listened to A Year in Provence on cassette. (Remember cassettes?) This got us in the mood for our European backpacking adventure that began in Paris.

A close-to-home journey to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings home spurred another tearful read of The Yearling. The restaurant by the same name serves unforgettable sour orange pie.

At home I’m an armchair traveler, reading books like Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley. I imagine going to Istanbul in Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene. I’m breathless as I trek up Everest with Jon Krakauer  before hopping a stagecoach west with Mark Twain in Roughing It.

Should I run out of reading material in Bangkok, the hotel nightstand has two books on Buddhism. And as long as I’m in Thailand, I’ll reacquaint myself with the classic Anna and the King of Siam.

Whether lazing in a hammock, or soaring through the sky, where have you traveled between the pages of a good book?