All the books reviewed on this site will be directly related to travel for Seniors. You may be looking for something interesting to read yourself or you may be seeking a present for someone else. Either way, these travel book reviews should provide you with some good, and often inspiring, ideas.
• The Road to Little Dribbling – More Notes from a Small Island describes Bill Bryson’s fresh look at the Great Britain he loves, but now from the eyes of a ‘grumpy old man’, albeit a funny one.
• Shadow Trails: Adventures in Dark Tourism contains sixteen articles describing visits the author Tom Coote made to places with ‘negative’ historical significance.
• Travelling for the Over Sixties is both a travelogue describing the travel adventures of the author, Tim Blewitt, and a detailed travel guide to help the over sixties to get the most out of travelling.
• Dog Days: Tales from an American Road Trip describes a journey through 45 states in the USA by the author, Andrew Thompson, and his girlfriend. Initially travelling by ‘The Dog’, Greyhound coaches, proves difficult.
• Voodoo, Slaves and White Man’s Graves is both a travelogue of a journey Tom Coote made using local transport through West Africa and a commentary on some of the darker sides of the region, as indicated by the title. Senior travellers should read it before venturing to that part of Africa.
• Narrow Dog to Wigan Pier is both a travel story about two 75-year olds, Terry Darlington (the author) and his wife Monica, journeying on a narrow boat along canals in Northern England, accompanied by their two whippets, plus the author’s thought-provoking autobiography.
• Grandma Needs a Four-Wheel Drive is sub-titled Adventure Travel for Seniors, and that indicates exactly what this book is all about. Two grandmas – one a writer, Janet Webb Farnsworth, and the other a photographer, Bernadette Heath – get themselves into many hazardous situations as they drive, hike, canoe and pony-trek up creeks and through canyons, way off the beaten track.
• Travels with a Typewriter: A Reporter at Large The author, the celebrated playwright and novelist Michael Frayn, has produced both a travel book and a history book, in that it is a compilation of articles he produced 45 years ago when working as a reporter around the world.
• Is Further Away – Helping with Enquiries The author AA Gill, the Sunday Times TV and restaurant critic, looks back on life and brings out interesting observations from near and far, the latter being thirteen different countries around the world.
• The Island that Dared – Journeys in Cuba The authoress, Dervla Murphy was in her mid-70s when she undertook the three journeys described in this book. She provides plenty of ideas for travellers who wish to avoid mass tourism, whilst mentioning some of the pitfalls she experienced.
• From Bangkok to Siberia via the Marrakech Express A description of three railway journeys undertaken by a retired Welsh railway worker, William Bleasdale. However he is interested as much, if not more, in the local people and the scenery as in the railways.
• Eat, Walk, Write – An American Senior’s Year of Adventure in Paris and Tuscany A retired American lawyer, Boyd Lemon, decides to spend time in Paris, learning French, whilst visting other parts of Europe, but all does not go according to plan!
• Old Trails and Frontiers – Driving the American Southwest by retired headmaster William Croft. This travel guide describes eight car journeys within the south-western states of the USA through mountains and deserts, with historical background and information on the flora and fauna.
