Where In The World Is Natalia Chang?
Nat Travelz
Books That Will Spark Your Wonderlust
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
“Paulo Coelho’s masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. His quest will lead him to riches far different—and far more satisfying—than he ever imagined.” (HarperCollins)
This book made me feel as if my destiny was somewhere out there in the world- and so it has become my Personal Legend to travel and find it!
As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning
Laurie Lee
“For the first time I was learning how much easier it was to leave than to stay behind and love.”
“It was 1934 and a young man walked to London from the security of the Cotswolds to make his fortune. He was to live by playing the violin and by labouring on a London building site. Then, knowing one Spanish phrase, he decided to see Spain. For a year he tramped through a country in which the signs of impending civil war were clearly visible. Thirty years later Laurie Lee captured the atmosphere of the Spain he saw with all the freshness and beauty of a young man’s vision.” (Goodreads)
reading this book encouraged me to push away my usual Capricorn characteristics of planning and organizing everything under my control. I’ve learned that sometimes it's better to pack and go and to figure out your next steps once you’ve taken the first ones.
Love With a Chance of Drowning
Torre DeRoche
“I kept my plan simple: leave my comfort zone, work in a foreign city, enjoy some uninhibited fun, and return home in one year.”
“A city girl with a morbid fear of deep water, Torre DeRoche is not someone you would ordinarily find adrift in the middle of the stormy Pacific aboard a leaky sailboat – total crew of two – struggling to keep an old boat, a new relationship and her floundering sanity afloat. But when she meets Ivan, a handsome Argentinean man with a humble sailboat and a dream to set off exploring the world, Torre has to face a hard decision: watch the man she’s in love with sail away forever, or head off on the watery journey with him.” (Penguin)
this book is so real in all of its entirety. There’s no sugar coating going on and it really opens your eyes up to the not so luxurious things that happen while traveling for a long period of time.
What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding
Kristin Newman
“To me, marriage was an ending, not a beginning. A stone on my chest. A giving-up, a decision to walk away from an interesting life for one just like everyone else’s. Much more “ever after” than “happily.”
"Kristin Newman spent much of her twenties and thirties buying dresses for friends' weddings and baby showers. To escape her fast-paced job as a sitcom writer, Kristin traveled the world, often alone, several weeks yearly. She fell in love with the planet and attractive locals - connection without commitment. Israeli bartenders, Finnish poker players, sexy Bedouins, and Argentinean priests help transform her into "Kristin-Adjacent" on the road – a slower, softer, and, yes, sluttier version of herself at home." (Goodreads)
reading this book only intensified my favorite theme, ‘do the thing you’re supposed to do, in the place you’re supposed to do it.’ It brought out the true adventurer inside me and now there really isn’t anything that I won’t say ‘YES’ to!
On the Road
Jack Kerouac
"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow Roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."
"On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across America. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use." (Wikireads)
I read this book in high school and it made me want to hitchhike, sleep outside under the stars and basically become a gypsy. It’s thrilling, exciting and definitely has a youthfulness to it that should be appreciated. Most adults would find it naïve, but even to this day - it still inspires me.
The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost
Rachel Friedman
“I imagine the people whose lives are most intertwined with mine, and I realize life has gone on without me. The planet has not imploded because I, the girl who has always done what is expected of her, decided not to, just this once.”
"Rachel Friedman has always been the consummate good girl who does well in school and plays it safe, so the college grad surprises no one more than herself when, on a whim (and in an effort to escape impending life decisions), she buys a ticket to Ireland, a place she has never visited. There she forms an unlikely bond with a free-spirited Australian girl, a born adventurer who spurs Rachel on to a yearlong odyssey that takes her to three continents, fills her life with newfound friends, and gives birth to a previously unrealized passion for adventure.
As her journey takes her to Australia and South America, Rachel discovers and embraces her love of travel and unlocks more truths about herself than she ever realized she was seeking. Along the way, the erstwhile good girl finally learns to do something she’s never done before: simply live for the moment." (Goodreads)
I found this book to be hilarious and very easy to read. I loved how relatable it was to my own life and adventures and would definitely recommend it to anyone who has any doubts of following their dreams to travel.