The Top 10 Books to Prepare You for a Year of Travel

I’ll never forget the night I ordered four books off Amazon related to long-term travel. It was about 6 months before I actually decided to take a year off work. I had had a rough day. Things weren’t going my way, and I was fed up with anything and everything. I was feeling the itch to get out of the day-to-day rat race and explore the world.

Long-term travel and a career break had crept into my consciousness a few months before. I had read about other people taking career breaks to travel and always found it interesting. But I had never acted on that curiosity.

Until the night I ordered those four books…..

I read those books quickly, and I read some blogs about long-term travel. I took a closer look at my financial health and realized I had the money to do it. Before I knew it, I was in my car driving west towards California, the start of a year-long journey that would take me all over the United States, Europe, and east Africa.

If I had to put my finger on one small event that really pushed me towards the decision to travel for a year, it was the simple act of ordering those four books. Three of them are on the list below. Check out just one of these books today from your library or order it off Amazon. Maybe that will set the ball rolling towards a career break that you never thought possible!

1. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

In his New York Times bestseller, Ferriss introduces the concept of “mini-retirements”. Or taking extended time off from work at various times through-out your career to travel and to step back and re-evaluate your life. He argues that it’s better to more evenly distribute your retirement years throughout your career as opposed to waiting until normal retirement age to officially retire.

He makes compelling points that it’s much cheaper to live abroad for an extended time, rather than cramming travel into a mere two weeks per year. And long-term travel, he argues, is a great way to free yourself from the hold of material possessions and the supposed need to consume as much as possible to attain happiness.

2. Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts

In this inspiring book, Potts defines vagabonding as “taking an extended time-out from your normal life – six weeks, four months, two years – to travel the world on your own terms”. He describes it as just a different way of examining your life and states that “…vagabonding is about time – our only real commodity – and how we choose to use it.”

In the book, Potts provides tips for creating the time away from work, long-term traveling and packing tips, and ways to use vagabonding to improve your life and to live a more fulfilling life. He also profiles various historical vagabonds, from Henry David Thoreau to John Muir. Of all the books I read in preparation for my Year Off, I found this one to be the most inspiring.

3. How to Travel the World on $50 a Day: Travel Cheaper, Longer, Smarter by Matt Kepnes

Kepnes’ book is the ultimate long-term traveler’s how-to guide. He argues that by using differences in exchange rates and other travel hacks, you can travel around the world for an extended amount of time by only spending about $50 a day. If you do the math, that works out to $18,250 for 365 days of travel.

Part 1 of the book is about planning your round the world trip, from travel insurance and packing tips to airline tickets and what to do with your stuff at home. In Part 2, Kepnes goes in-depth about on-the-road travel expenses and how to lower them. Part 3 is about where to travel and estimated costs associated with travel in different areas of the world.

4. The Rough Guide to First-Time Around the World by Rough Guides

Rough Guides is well-known for their travel guide books, but in this book, they step outside the realm of normal one to two-week vacations and into the world of long-term travel. They beg you to slow down during your travels to better experience the incredible places and cultures of our world.

The first part of the book is all about “the big adventure”. They give practical and useful advice on required documents, dealing with culture shock, security while traveling, and health. The second part is all about “where to go”. It includes a region by region breakdown of the best places to visit, how to get around, and other special considerations for each region.

5. Reboot Your Life: Energize Your Career & Life by Taking a Break by Catherine Allen, Nancy Bearg, Rita Foley, and Jaye Smith

Taking a career break is not as uncommon as you would think, and in Reboot Your Life, the authors prove that. They interviewed over 200 people who temporarily stepped away from their careers to re-evaluate their lives and take a big deep breath. Sabbatical takers did everything from traveling around the world to spending more time at home with friends and family. The authors offer a how-to guide for a career break, with practical tips on creating the time away from work and re-entering the work force.

I read this book after I took my sabbatical, but I wish I would’ve come across it before-hand. It’s helpful to hear other people’s stories about career breaks and reasons for doing it. It makes it not such a big scary undertaking when you know others have gone through it before.

6. Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe and A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Author Bill Bryson is well-known for his dry humor and often cynical view of the world and its inhabitants. These two books are classic Bill Bryson writing. They do a great job of getting your creative juices flowing and thinking about where you would want to travel and how you would go about doing it.

In Neither Here Nor There, Bryson sets out on a several month-long journey around Europe, from the hippie clogged streets of Amsterdam to the Roman ruins of Rome. In A Walk in the Woods, he embarks on a several hundred mile backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail. Both books are highly entertaining and make you want to jump into a months-long adventure.

7. Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Don’t feel like reading the book? Start out by watching the movie, starring Reese Witherspoon, instead. Wild is the true story of a young woman who sets out on a solo trek of the Pacific Crest Trail, a long distance hiking trail stretching from the Mexican border in California to the Canadian border in Washington.

On her trip, Strayed confronts her past demons and goes “from lost to found” on the PCT. She makes plans for her future during her time away from normal life as well. This story is a powerful example of how stepping out of the rat race of your normal day-to-day life to look at your life’s direction and meaning can result in major positive changes.

8. My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir

This book is John Muir’s account of his first summer spent in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California in 1869. Muir had spent the first few years of his adult life working in several factories in the Midwest. After an accident left him temporarily blind, he decided to pursue other interests of his, mainly nature.

After he recovered, Muir set out on a 1000 mile walk from Indiana to Florida. Then he made his way to California “in search of anything wild”. He began living, working, and studying nature in the Sierra Nevada mountains and would go on to start the modern conservation movement and found the Sierra Club.

My First Summer in the Sierra is classic Muir writing about nature and the beautiful mountains he called “the range of light”. It will inspire you to forge your own path through the wilderness and to pursue your greatest passions. It will most likely put the Sierra Nevada mountains at the top of your places to visit as well!

9. The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own by Joshua Becker

Minimalism is an important aspect of preparing for a Year Off. You need to lower your spending and reduce your possessions both before and during an extended time away from work. Minimalism also helps keep your mind clear so you can focus your time and energy on what’s most important to you.

In this book, Becker highlights the benefits of living a minimalist life and warns about the “fog of consumerism”. He provides practical advice for adopting a more minimalist lifestyle, and urges you to live “an intentional life”. This book is a simple, easy read. And it will really help you focus your attention on what’s most important to you.

10. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is the first “self-help” book I ever read. I read it a couple of years before I decided to travel for a year. This book really inspired me to work on taking control of every aspect of my life, including my happiness. I would go on to read many similar books, all of which I think mentally prepared me to make the big decision to take a Year Off.

Habit 1 is “Be Proactive”, which means taking responsibility for and choosing how you react to different situations. It’s all about taking control of your life. Habit 7 is “Sharpen the Saw”, or seeking to improve your life through constant physical, spiritual, and emotional renewal. I can’t think of a better way to take control of your life and situation and to “sharpen your saw” than by taking a Year Off to pursue your greater passions.