Travel chat and reflections
 

I love this forum and find the advice very helpful. However it does seem to be mostly practical tips - where to stay, what's included in tourist passes, itinerary guidance etc.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a forum or website that focuses more on travel chat, reflection, inspiration etc.

I probably only go abroad once or twice a year so don't need the practicalities that often. But I LOVE spending rainy days (like this) reading and chatting about wonderful places to go. I start or contribute to occasional threads like that here but I respect that this is more for travel tips and practicalities.

I do love the trip reports but again they are focused more on the details than the narrative. Any ideas would be welcome as id much rather spend my time online on travel websites rather than eBay and facebook!

I suggest you stimulate that sort of discussion here, put up a few examples of what you would like to read and we can chime in.

Thanks bilboburgler. I do that sometimes but those threads never generate that much interest and I don't want to feel like I'm spamming everyone and getting in the way. But yes, I will do that more, thanks :-)

I’ve always wanted to ask “where would you go if you wanted to sit on a balcony and read thirty books in a month?”

Xcountry - ha, well i'd struggle to stay up on the balcony reading the books, I get frustrated when I'm away and want to be doing a bit of everything at once - chilling,reading, writing, exploring, swimming - and end up in a muddle and doing nothing constructive for the first day or so!

If the balcony overlooked the sea, i'd not get much reading done either as I love staring at water and letting my mind wander. I think I'd need somewhere with less visual stimulus - no big vista's - but a calming ambience with peaceful background noise that would let me get lost in the books. On the balcony of a cabin deep in the woods in Romania or Canada, wrapped in a blanket reading away with the pines swaying around me. Or else a rainforest lodge with chirping tropical birds.

“I love staring at water and letting my mind wander. I think I'd need somewhere with less visual stimulus.”

Lamorna - On our honeymoon my wife said “look at the ocean - it’s so beautiful”. And I said “does it look any different than it did five minutes ago?” I think that’s when she knew she had made a mistake.

Now mountains ... I can look at them all day long. Even if they don’t change either.

I'll join in as I'm always looking for holiday ideas.

country - I have to say though that if I were to need a spot for reading that many books, my own garden would be pretty good place to be - a very comfy swing seat where I can sit in the sun but shade my eyes, birds twittering in the trees, food and drink at the ready and no worries about what I'm missing.

as for wonderful places to go, Sri Lanka is at the top of my list. Exotic, lovely hotels, friendly people, interesting things to see and do, and wonderful food. Fabulous.

There are travel blogs. Some are more text others are more visual. If the point is inspiration both can do that. Obviously in different ways. The problem would be finding people who travel/see things like you do. Not everybody has the same interests.

Lamorna, have you read any of Candace's trip reports? I think she is an excellent travel writer, and she has such a flair for words and beautiful descriptions. She is currently posting a report about Sicily and the Amalfi Coast. Last year I also read her report on Portugal, the Pyrenees, and Paris. It should be easy to find because I think someone recently revived it so it should be near the top.

I'm one for sitting on balconies and reading 30 books a month but I do like to read books set in or about the place I am visiting. Literature/poetry. Really gets you into the atmosphere and also gives you an idea of what other visitors have thought. And the history of course. Plus looking at the sea/mountains gives ample scope for reflection and the gentle art of doing nothing. Although travel and seeing the sights is one thing, I always need 'down time' and balconies and books are good for that.

Mrs Bilbo knows that if we end up in a port she can just leave me in a bar watching it for hours, nothing better than little boats moving around.

Have you looked into the category of Travel Literature at your bookstore, whether in life or on line? I have read quite a few good books from that section. Some are by authors who have moved to a country and others are by writers native to the country.

My idea of heaven would be that balcony and the 31 books, but a balcony would have to be in a jungle or a forest, rather than on a beach. I once stayed in a room on the Big Island of Hawaii that was my ideal. There were large windows on two sides of the room that looked out on a (tame) jungle.

good point, Dayle. I'm sure that we could all think of travel writers that we like, as opposed to travel guides. They are completely different beasts of course.

I'm not picturing a balcony, but I do love to read on the beach.

If I wanted a balcony and reading 30 books in a month, I'd stay at home. Thinking of schlepping along all those 30 books - no thanks;-)

Back to the original question: Lamorna, you may want to check out travel sites that include members' travel blogs as well as a forum, in particular TravBuddy (http://www.travbuddy.com) or Travellerspoint (https://www.travellerspoint.com).

Much as I grew up reading Eric Newby I have to admit to seeking out the places that Patrick Leigh Fermor went to before WW2 when I visit central Europe (or eastern europe as my Russian friends would say) :-)

I'm not picturing a balcony, but I do love to read on the beach>>

oh, not for me, tuscan. I can never get comfortable, I'm either too hot or too cold, and the sand gets everywhere.

Bilbo - another Newby fan here, plus HV Morton [a bit more of a guide of course but none the worse for all that, in his case].

I've read almost everything Eric Newby has written. I've just bought <i> On the shores of the Mediterranean" </i>, which is one I hadn't read yet.

I also like Patrick Leigh Fermor. I've only read <i> A Time of Gifts </i> and <i> Between the Woods and the Water </i>. I recently read an essay about him, and learned of <i> the Broken Road </i>, published posthumously, which wraps up that travel tale. I want to read that. I've never understood how you can set out to walk across Europe with only a knapsack, a stick, and a change of undies, and end up staying on grand estates and in castles. I assume the wardrobe had to be replenished along the way, and that the knapsack no longer sufficed.

I read a lot and I travel a lot, but the twain never meet.