Five New Travel Books To Take On Your Next Vacation

Salt & Silver: Travel, Surf, Cook

In January of 2014, two German Surfers quit their jobs and headed out into the world with nothing but two surfboards, a sharp knife, board shorts, and a backpack full of photo equipment with the goal of finding the best waves and local cuisine in Latin America. They spent a year on the road, starting in Cuba and moving down the Pacific coast of Mexico to Patagonia.

The result is Salt & Silver: Travel, Surf, Cook — part travelogue, part cookbook — which traces the journey of Johannes “Jo” Riffelmacher and Thomas “Cozy” Kosikowski as they travel through Central and South America in search of the best surfing locations and food the continent has to offer. The books spans the local culture of eight countries, exploring the surfing communities, urban graffiti scenes, fishing villages, beaches, waves and kitchens of Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador (including the Galapagos Islands), Peru and Chile.

Inside, you will find over 90 recipes including: Tiradito de Atun con Aji Amarillo (Fresh Tuna With Pepper Sauce), Lobster Tails with Lemon-Garlic Butter, Lamb Tacos, Alino Criollo (Cuban Hot-and-Sour Sauce), Grilled Vegetable Teriyaki Salad, Panama Burgers with Homemade Buns, Tropical Pancakes, Breakfast Granola and Homemade Surf Wax (this one’s for your surfboard).

Jungle of Stone

Jungle of Stone: The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya by William Carlsen, details the 1839 journey of two explorers, John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, who uncovered and documented what would come to be known as the ruins of the Maya civilization.

Though not widely known, the explorers were the first to full understand the importance of the Maya remains, and their findings completely changed the prevailing assumptions about the development of civilization.

In preparation of the book, Carlsen actually traced Stephens and Catherwood’s entire route himself, from ruin to ruin, in a 1985 Toyota Corolla — a 2,500 mile trek through the jungles of Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico

Finding Fontainebleau

Finding Fontainebleau: An American Boy in France, by Thad Carhart (New York Times bestselling author of The Piano Shop on the Left Bank), recounts the author’s upbringing in 1950’s France along with the history of the imposing Château of Fontainebleau over the centuries.

Carhar’s father, a NATO officer at the time, moved his family, including his mother and four siblings to the provincial town of Fontainebleau, France, home of the beautiful Château of Fontainebleau. The book intertwines stories of France’s post-war recovery with profiles of the monarchs who resided at Fontainebleau throughout the centuries and left their architectural stamp on the palace and its sizeable grounds.

Meet Me in Atlantis

Meet Me in Atlantis: Across Three Continents in Search of the Legendary Sunken City finds author Mark Adams in search of the fabled lost city. In his exploration of the Atlantis myth, Adams launches an epic trip across three continents: idyllic Santorini islands, Morocco, Malta and Southern Spain’s ancient city of Cádiz.

For most of the population (including academia, journalists and Mark Adams himself), the lost city of Atlantis has always been about as real as UFOs and Big Foot. However, there are a lot of people that take Atlantis very seriously, and these amateur explorers became Mark’s travel companions.

In the end, Mark comes to his own surprising conclusions about whether Atlantis existed and if so, where its ruins lie. Told through the framework of his compelling and highly entertaining reporting and adventures, Meet Me in Atlantis is an engaging narrative with a truly memorable cast of characters.

It’s Only the Himalayas

It’s Only the Himalayas: And Other Tales of Miscalculation from an Overconfident Backpacker by one-time The Expeditioner contributor S. Bedford, is a laugh-out-loud memoir from a well-travelled nomad who hails from Toronto but lives by the notion that home is where her backpack is.

From South Africa (where she swam with sharks and ran from lions), to Nepal (where she met with her father to trek the Annapurnas in Chucks), to India (where she stumbled her way into an underwear commercial), and Thailand (where she was unintentionally involved in drugging an Englishman), Bedford’s chaotic year of backpacking was not exactly the Eat Pray Love journey she’d been expecting.

She didn’t find herself while traveling. She didn’t fall in love, or undergo a life-altering transformation, she isn’t enlightened, and she sure didn’t return home with the knowledge of what to do with her life. This is the realistic story of backpackers the world over, who are perfectly happy just to travel and to keep traveling.

By Matt Stabile /

Matt Stabile is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheExpeditioner.com. You can read his writings, watch his travel videos, purchase the book he co-edited or contact him via email at any time at TheExpeditioner.com.

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