Travel Memoir

In this vivid history, Jo Ann Trogdon reveals William Clark’s highly questionable activities during the years before his famous journey west of the Mississippi. Delving into the details of Clark’s diary and ledger entries, Trogdon investigates evidence linking Clark to a series of plots - often called the Spanish Conspiracy - in which corrupt officials sought to line their pockets with Spanish money and to separate Kentucky from the United States. The Unknown Travels and Dubious Pursuits of William Clark gives listeners a more complex portrait of the American icon.

Their best-selling memoir, Come Back, moved and inspired with the story of Mia Fontaine's harrowing drug addiction and her mother, Claire's, desperate and ultimately successful attempts to save her. Now it's a decade later. At 51, Claire's shed her identity as Mia's savior but realizes that, oops, she forgot to plan for life after motherhood; Mia, 25 and eager to step outside her role as recovery's poster child, finds adult life isn't all it's cracked up to be.

In 1911, Captain Robert Falcon Scott went back to the huge frozen wasteland of the Antarctic with the intention of reaching the South Pole, by a long and terribly arduous trek across the ice. On finally reaching the pole, Scott and his comrades were devastated to find that they had been beaten by the Norwegian explorer Amundsen. With temperatures of minus 30, they began their slow journey back to their base.

Following in the footsteps of his literary hero, researcher and historian Oliver Lewis set out to visit all the places to have inspired and been lived in by George Orwell. Over three years he traveled from Wigan to Catalonia, Paris to Motihari, Marrakesh to Eton, and in each location explored both how Orwell experienced the place, and how the place now remembers him as a literary icon.

Two things flashed through my mind when I opened the door to the sex shop to find my mother standing in front of the display case, talking to a tall salesman wearing a leather harness, jock strap and a dog collar. The first was, "Oh, crap!" The second was, "I hate it when Dad's right." Thus begins David Alan Morrison's hilarious memoir about the evolution of family dynamics. Following the sudden death of his father, a single, middle-aged gay guy struggles with his own mortality by reminiscing about the travels with his gregarious mother.

An airline story is in the news today! And so it goes. There's hardly a day now that an airline incident of some sort or another is not in the news. We're taking a lot closer look at air travel these days than ever before. Therefore, as regards the psychology of travel, we should take a much closer look at what actually happens on airplanes.

The listener travels through time and space to when Aly has little-to-no money, works in tourism, learns how to garden, lives on a commune, dumpster dives, discovers herbal medicine, and falls for all the wrong men and women. In her heartfelt travel memoir, Unpacked, Aly Coy goes into raw detail about her sexually charged, sometimes hilarious, sometimes disturbing, life abroad.

In the space of a few days, Carrie loses her marriage, her career, and her home - all while working in Lagos, Nigeria. She is blindsided by the losses and realizes the story she painstakingly knit together over the past two decades - the story explaining her life and who she is - has unraveled. With no plan and only her deaf cat, Lucy, for company, Carrie decides to remain in Africa. What happens next is an awkward, amusing, and ultimately inspiring journey as Carrie slowly lets go of who she thought she was and starts from scratch at middle-age.

The acclaimed, award-winning novelist takes us on some of his most memorable journeys in this revelatory collection of travel essays that spans the globe, from the Caribbean to Scotland to the Himalayas. Now in his mid-70s, Russell Banks has indulged his wanderlust for more than half a century. "Since childhood, I've longed for escape, for rejuvenation, for wealth untold, for erotic and narcotic and sybaritic fresh starts, for high romance, mystery, and intrigue," he writes in this compelling anthology.

Boat Girl is the heartbreaking memoir of growing up aboard a sailboat. Throughout the 1980's and 90's, Melanie's family lived aboard a 47-foot sailboat, spending their summers along the US East Coast and their winters in the Bahamas. But the cruising life was not all fun in the sun. The family had to work hard to pay for their way of life. They dodged hurricanes, overzealous federal agents and bullying land-kids. And they endured a boatload of family drama.

Today, when Russia has regained its power on the world stage and Putin is restoring many of the old traditions and systems, it is helpful to understand what Russia was like at the time of transformation set in motion by Gorbachev and continued by Yeltsin. For a time Russia went through a period called "glasnost" and "perestroika" when all things seemed possible and a spirit of democracy was in the air.

Rachel is finding it increasingly difficult to ignore her sister’s derision, society’s silent wagging finger, and her father’s advancing years. She’s traveled the world, but now finds herself at a crossroads at an age where most people would stop globetrotting and settle. She’s never been one to conform to the nine-to-five lifestyle, so why should she start now? Was it wrong to love the freedom and independence a single life provided, to put off the search for Mr. Right and the children? Perhaps she could find the time for one last adventure.

The February 2015 issue samples the sorts of cons and scams experienced by travelers - their quest to travel safely, securely, and relatively comfortably, without falling victim to the innumerable schemes, scams, shams, and rip-offs perpetrated upon them at just about every turn in their travels (as well as, all too often, even in their own home countries).

Michael Brein's Travel Tales Monthly Bookazine Issue No. 11 for May 2015 contains among the best travel stories from Michael's huge collection of about 10,000 travel tales that he has gathered in interviews with nearly 1,750 world travelers and adventurers during his four decades of travel to more than 125 countries throughout the world.

Michael Brein's Travel Tales Monthly bookazine, Issue No. 12, June 2015, contains among the best travel stories from Michael's huge collection of about 10,000 travel tales that he has gathered in interviews with nearly 1,750 world travelers and adventurers during his four decades of travel to more than 125 countries throughout the world.

The January issue samples safety and security of the woman solo traveler (as well as women traveling together in pairs or very small groups) - the quest to achieve safe and secure, relatively comfortable, unencumbered, and unimpeded travel throughout the world.

Travel Tales Collections are groups of very interesting similar travel stories on a variety of very specific travel subjects, themes, or countries, such as close calls, great escapes, pickpocketing, scams, safety and security in travel, Paris, Morocco, Mexico, and so on. Eventually several hundred collections on all sorts of specific travel subjects, themes, and countries will be available on all the major eReaders.

Why not laugh yourself silly with this collection of funny, hilarious, gut-wrenching travel humor. Oh yeah, we do our fair share of ridiculous, raucous, belly-achingly funny things when we travel. And, I ask you: Is this not one of the most important goals of travel - to laugh ourselves stupid?

Paris is by far my most favorite city, not only in Europe but in all the world. And I love France as well. And while modern Paris is always exciting for me to visit, it is the old Paris that remains particularly etched in my memories. I got to know Paris particularly well when I researched it for my travel guide series to sightseeing by public transportation, Michael Brein's Travel Guide to Paris by the Metro. Although you could say that I popped in and out of holes in the ground (the Metro!), I still walked a great deal all around Paris.

London is one of my most favorite cities, not only in Europe, but also in the entire world. And I love England and the rest of the U.K. as well. And while London is always exciting for me to visit, it is the whole of the United Kingdom that remains particularly etched in my memories.