Top Memoirs from People Who Traveled the World……You ever pick up a book and five pages in, you’re like, oh great, now I wanna quit my job, sell everything I own, and go live out of a backpack with holes in my socks? That’s me with travel memoirs. Seriously—top memoirs from people who traveled the world are dangerous like that. They sneak into your brain, plant this little seed of “what if,” and suddenly you’re on Skyscanner at 3 a.m. trying to figure out if you can afford a one-way ticket to Bali. (Spoiler: you probably can’t. But you’ll check again tomorrow anyway.)
And I don’t even mean the polished, Instagram-perfect kind of travel stories. I mean the messy, real ones. The ones where the author gets food poisoning in Thailand, misses their train in India, or accidentally offends someone’s grandma in Italy by butchering the word for “bread.” Those are the stories that make me wanna pack my own chaos into a carry-on and just… go.
So yeah. Let me ramble about some of my favorite travel memoirs—the ones that hit me like an espresso shot straight to the wanderlust center of my brain.
1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Okay, yes, I know. It’s basically a cliché at this point. But listen—I was in college when I first read Eat, Pray, Love, and it messed me up (in a good way). I remember sitting on my crappy futon in my off-campus apartment thinking, oh my god, people actually just… leave? Like, Gilbert just left. Divorce, depression, existential crisis, the whole thing—and then poof, she’s in Italy eating carbs like it’s her job.
Do I relate to every part of her journey? No. Did I immediately want to go eat pizza in Naples? Absolutely yes.
This book is part therapy session, part travel porn, and part “wait, am I living my life wrong?” It’s cheesy, it’s a little self-indulgent, but it’s also kind of iconic.
2. Tracks by Robyn Davidson
Robyn Davidson walked across the freaking Australian desert. Alone. With camels. Like… who even does that?
I read this on a rainy Saturday when I was supposed to be doing laundry, and instead I sat there wrapped in a blanket, jaw on the floor, thinking, wow, my biggest accomplishment this week was not microwaving my leftovers in the plastic container.
Her writing is raw, sometimes a little grumpy, but that’s what makes it so real. It’s not about chasing sunsets for the ‘gram—it’s about grit, loneliness, blistered feet, and the weird beauty of being so far away from civilization you forget how loud the world usually is.
If Eat, Pray, Love is a fancy Aperol spritz, Tracks is a lukewarm can of beer cracked open on a long, dusty road. And honestly? Sometimes that’s the vibe I need.
3. The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto “Che” Guevara
Yeah, Che Guevara before he was, you know, CHE GUEVARA. This is his coming-of-age road trip through South America, back when he was just a young med student on a motorcycle with his buddy.
It’s wild to read because you can feel this shift happening—he’s seeing poverty, injustice, inequality, and it’s like the seeds of revolution are being planted in real time. But also, he’s just a young guy having this scrappy, reckless adventure.
I read this while sitting in an airport once (delayed flight, naturally), and by the time I boarded, I was like, okay, I need a motorcycle and maybe a revolution of my own. Did I buy either? No. But the feeling stuck.
4. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
This one’s kind of a cult classic in the backpacker world. Not so much a memoir as it is a philosophy manual, but it still belongs on this list because it feels like a conversation with that one friend who always manages to disappear for six months and then shows back up with a tan and a bracelet from some obscure island you’ve never heard of.
The big idea is basically: you don’t have to be rich to travel long-term. You just have to want it badly enough and be okay with living a little scrappy.
When I read this, I immediately opened a Google doc titled “Quit Job Travel Plan.” It’s still in my Drive somewhere, untouched for years. But still. The fact that I even made it says something.
5. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Backpacking the Pacific Crest Trail after your life falls apart—classic. I read Wild after a brutal breakup, thinking it would inspire me to like, walk through my own pain or whatever. Instead, it just convinced me that my ankles would never survive a hike like that.
But Cheryl’s voice—man, it’s so good. She’s messy and vulnerable and stubborn, and I found myself cheering her on like she was my best friend doing karaoke after three tequila shots.
It’s not really about hiking. It’s about surviving yourself. Which, let’s be honest, is harder than the trail.
6. Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach
This one doesn’t get as much hype, but I adore it. Alice was a journalist who just… left her regular life behind to travel through Europe, solo, in her 50s.
There’s something so refreshing about that. Like, you don’t have to be 22 with a Eurail pass and zero responsibilities to take off and see the world. Alice writes about independence, aging, romance, and that delicious feeling of being anonymous in a new city.
I read it on a train once, and I swear it made my bad Amtrak sandwich taste a little bit like Paris.
Why Travel Memoirs Hit Different: Top Memoirs from People Who Traveled the World
Here’s the thing: travel memoirs aren’t just about the places. They’re about people. And not just the author, but everyone they bump into along the way—the taxi drivers, the hostel roommates, the strangers who save their butt when they get lost.
Reading them is like borrowing someone else’s chaos for a while. You don’t have to actually get dengue fever in Southeast Asia—you just get to live it vicariously, from the safety of your couch, Doritos in hand.
But sometimes, if you’re like me, you’ll close the book and suddenly feel this buzzing under your skin. Like maybe, just maybe, you should pack a bag and go find your own story.
Books I Still Wanna Read: Top Memoirs from People Who Traveled the World
- A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle (because I wanna eat cheese in France and complain about plumbing)
- Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer (sounds intense, but also kinda magical)
- Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams (the title alone makes me laugh)
Would I actually quit my job tomorrow and take off? Probably not. I like my health insurance too much. But these memoirs are like little portals—they make you believe you could.
And honestly, sometimes that’s enough.
Suggested Outbound Links:
- A fun piece on travel-inspired movies to pair with these books
- A quirky personal blog about [accidentally booking the wrong flight](https://www.the Everywhereist.com/)
