A Hard Place to Leave Winner of the 2023 Lowell Thomas Award!



Vogue's Best Books of 2022



“Intrepid and empathetic, gifted with the dispassionate gaze of a born observer…a harmonious collage of worldview and character, a wunderkammer of experiences in a life fully lived.” —Melissa Febos, The New York Times



Restless to leave, eager to return: this memoir...
A Hard Place to Leave
The Temporary European “Vivid, funny, perceptive, intimate, and charged with a love of travel and a deep sense of humanity.” —Rick Steves, from the Foreword

20+ Years as Rick Steves’ Right-Hand Man

A candid account of how the sausage gets made in the travel business—told with affection, warts-and-all honesty, and a sense of humor.

What is...
The Temporary European
The End of the World Notwithstanding “Every word the right word, this book is a genuine keeper.” —Kirkus Reviews***Starred Review***



Rife with misadventure, brushes with death, and moments of existential insight, The End of the World Notwithstanding is a hilarious and reflective look at the emotional experiences that make everyday life exciting—and the physical ones that remind...
The End of the World Notwithstanding
The Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 12 As Andrew McCarthy wrote in The New York Times Book Review, “For more than 20 years, Travelers’ Tales has been publishing books that might best be described as the literary equivalent of a group of travelers sitting around a dim café, sipping pints or prosecco and trading their best stories.”

Now...
The Best Women's Travel Writing, Volume 12
100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go – 10th Anniversary “Makes me want to pack my bag and follow Van Allen’s alluring suggestions...she reveals an intimacy with Italy and a honed sense of adventure. Andiamo!” —Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun

This fully updated 10th Anniversary Edition of 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go is packed with...
100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go – 10th Anniversary
One Hundred Years of Exile “A gripping family account, historically rigorous and ultimately moving...that couples cinematic drama with both tragedy and triumph.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A vividly intense and personal saga.... It stirred such powerful emotions..." —Marina Romanov, grandniece of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

One Hundred Years of Exile: A Romanov's Search for Her Father’s Russia is...
One Hundred Years of Exile
How To Shit Around the World — 2nd Edition “Straightforward advice...a great bathroom read.” —The Washington Post

“A cheery and common-sensical guide.” —The Independent

“Worth digesting.” —Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel

“Likely to remain the definitive guide.” —The Bookseller

With an Introduction by Kathleen Meyer, author of How To Shit in the Woods

International travel is rewarding and fun, but sometimes it exacts a price....
How To Shit Around the World — 2nd Edition
French Like Moi “I laughed until my sides hurt at Carpenter’s lighthearted and self-deprecating take on living in l’Hexagone.” —Kimberley Lovato, author of Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves

When Scott Carpenter moves from Minnesota to Paris, little does he suspect the dramas that await: scheming neighbors, police denunciations, surly demonstrators, cooking disasters, medical mishaps—not...
French Like Moi
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NEWS

Winners of the Seventeenth Annual Solas Awards

The Travelers’ Tales editors and this year’s guest judge Scott Dominic Carpenter are proud to announce the winners of the Seventeenth Annual Solas Awards for Best Travel Story of the Year. Grand Prize winner Cherene Sherrard collected $1000 and the gold award for “The Weight of Paradise,” her moving tale about surfing while Black off the beaches of Oahu, Hawaii. Brian Reisinger won the silver award and $750 for “Ambush on the Cumberland Plateau,” his multigenerational story about hunting wild hogs in Appalachia. Pier Nirandara took the bronze award and $500 for “To the Young Mom on Flight 1122,” her tale about a trip to South Africa that is marked by grief. Here’s the complete list of winners.

NEW BOOKS

French Like Moi

“I laughed until my sides hurt at Carpenter’s lighthearted and self-deprecating take on living in l’Hexagone.” —Kimberley Lovato, author of Walnut Wine & Truffle Groves

When Scott Carpenter moves from Minnesota to Paris, little does he suspect the dramas that await: scheming neighbors, police denunciations, surly demonstrators, cooking disasters, medical mishaps—not to mention all those lectures about cheese! It turns out that nothing in the City of Light can be taken for granted, where even trips to the grocery store lead to adventure.

Everything is grist for Carpenter’s mill. In eighteen tales, he lifts the curtain on what passes for normal in Europe’s most glorious capital: neighbors who plot to murder one another, hiccups in transportation, bizarre store exchange policies, operatic dramas in the condo association, healthcare à la française, underground labyrinths, and even terrorism. In the company of a cast of recurring characters, he leads us through the merry labyrinth of the everyday, one hilarious faux pas after another. Through it all, Carpenter, winner of Mark Twain House Royal Nonesuch Prize for humor, keeps his eye on the central mystery of what makes the French French (and Midwesterners Midwestern).

One Hundred Years of Exile

“A gripping family account, historically rigorous and ultimately moving...that couples cinematic drama with both tragedy and triumph.” —Kirkus Reviews

“A vividly intense and personal saga.... It stirred such powerful emotions..." —Marina Romanov, grandniece of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

One Hundred Years of Exile: A Romanov's Search for Her Father’s Russia is the story of one woman’s journey through 100 years of history to find peace with her father. Tania Romanov Amochaev and her father were both exiled from their homelands as infants; both knew life in refugee camps. Their shared fate does not lead to mutual understanding.

The family’s immigration to San Francisco heralded a promising new future—but while Tania just wanted to be an American, her father could not trust that this was his final asylum. His fears and his resistance to assimilation leave Tania with deep resentment toward him and her Russian heritage. Decades later, his unexpected death exposes Tania’s open wounds and a host of unanswered questions about her father and his story.

A serendipitous meeting with a last surviving member of the Russian royal family, followed by a baffling error that miraculously connects her with unknown relatives, catapults Tania on a quest for answers in her father’s homeland.

100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go – 10th Anniversary

“Makes me want to pack my bag and follow Van Allen’s alluring suggestions...she reveals an intimacy with Italy and a honed sense of adventure. Andiamo!” —Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun

This fully updated 10th Anniversary Edition of 100 Places in Italy Every Woman Should Go is packed with new information. Susan Van Allen provides the best insider’s femme-friendly advice for sights, shopping, restaurants, and many new destinations and Golden Day itineraries to enhance your travel experiences in the Bel Paese.

Susan is your fun-loving, savvy-traveler girlfriend whispering in your ear, inspiring you to make your Italian dream vacation come true. Go along with her as she leads you up and down the boot to discover this extraordinary country where Venus (Vixen Goddess of Love and Beauty) and The Madonna (Nurturing Mother of Compassion) reign side-by-side. These pages, curated with passion, humor, and expert female tips, are guaranteed to lift you out of the flood of online information and make your travel planning easy and pleasurable.

How To Shit Around the World — 2nd Edition

“Straightforward advice...a great bathroom read.” —The Washington Post

“A cheery and common-sensical guide.” —The Independent

“Worth digesting.” —Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel

“Likely to remain the definitive guide.” —The Bookseller

With an Introduction by Kathleen Meyer, author of How To Shit in the Woods

International travel is rewarding and fun, but sometimes it exacts a price. Activities we take for granted—eating, bathing, and going to the toilet—can range from challenging to risky in unfamiliar territory. In this second edition of How to Shit Around the World, Dr. Jane Wilson-Howarth takes a sympathetic and funny approach to the most basic human activity, interweaving hilarious anecdotes from fellow travelers with sensible tips and techniques. More than just a how-to, this book inspires the traveler to be adventurous in dealing with foreign toilets, and to heed the fascinating cultural lessons to be learned from the simple act of using the bathroom.

The Creative Spark

“Michael Shapiro’s finely tuned, informed and intimate interviews strike to the heart of the matter.” —Tim Cahill, author of Hold the Enlightenment

The Creative Spark is a collection of interviews with some of the most creative people of our time: musicians, writers, visual artists, explorers, and chefs. These makers speak about what drives them, what helps them to see the world in fresh ways, and what inspires them turn their visions into art. During the past decade, Michael Shapiro has interviewed some of our brightest creative luminaries. Among the authors are Amy Tan, David Sedaris, Barbara Kingsolver, Pico Iyer, and Frances Mayes. His work as a music journalist has led to interviews with legends including Smokey Robinson, Lucinda Williams, Graham Nash, Lyle Lovett, Melissa Etheridge, Merle Haggard, and Jethro Tull bandleader Ian Anderson. And he’s spoken with creative masters in other fields, such as director Francis Ford Coppola and comedian Joan Rivers.

EDITORS’ CHOICE — This Week’s Story

Negotiating with Nomads

travelers-tales

By Mike Bernhardt

Seventeenth Annual Solas Award Gold Winner in the Travel & Shopping category

A parade of tables lined the sunny, cobblestoned promenade, displaying hand-inlaid wooden boxes, ceramic vases, fossils, and silver teapots. A beige stone wall, festooned with colorful tapestries and inset with arched, wooden doorways, bordered on one side. A hint of brine wafted on the light breeze. As I strolled in Essaouira, my favorite town in Morocco, a man called out to me from the entrance of his emporium. "Come into my shop and have a look around!" His ample frame was clothed in a brown robe and a black turban; his round face wore a smile radiant as the morning sun. "I'm not buying, I did all of my shopping last year," I called back. On that first visit to Morocco, my copious purchases nearly exceeded the airline’s weight limit. Somehow, his smile brightened even more. "No problem, just have a look anyway!"