Guidebooks, Maps and Novels for Europe

Recommended Guidebooks and Maps

Dorling Kindersley Publishing, revised edition, 2003

This is a good book if you know you want to travel in Europe but are not sure where you want to go. It covers: Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.

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Michelin Europe: Tourist and Motoring Atlas, spiral-bound

Complete road atlas for Europe with western Europe at a scale of 1:1,000,000, eastern Europe at 1:1,300,000, Scandinavia at 1:1,500,000 and Greece at 1:700,000. Good for multiple country trip planning.

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Feeding Frenzy: Across Europe in Search of the Perfect Meal, Stuart Stevens, The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997

I loved this book!! And I don't know why. It is about two Americans from New York City, both foodies, who ship a 1965 Mustang to England and start a month-long trip through Europe eating in 3 star restaurants. Not exactly my cup of tea - I have never eaten in a 3 star restaurant and probably never will (too much concentration on meat and too much food - I am vegetarian) and this was fast travel. But I couldn't put it down. I just loved the idea of driving all over Europe with such a purpose. I am thinking of a theme trip for us - one week on the coast in Spain, one week in southern France, one week on the coast in Italy - one part of this book when they are driving along the Mediterranean made me want to do this.

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www.ritagoldengelman.com

This is a very interesting story of a woman from Los Angeles who leaves her comfortable lifestyle and marriage and starts to travel, and keeps on traveling. She supports herself by writing children's books and she lives cheaply traveling in Mexico, Central America, Israel, Indonesia, New Zealand and Thailand. She starts traveling in 1985 and is still living as a nomad now. Although I felt the book lost a bit of its focus by the end (probably because there really was no ending), I really enjoyed reading this. It is the type of writing that I really like - she writes about the good times and the bad times and even explains how she can manage it all financially. There is nothing in the book about Europe, but I include it here because it is an inspirational read.

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