Summer vacation often conjures up desires for exciting adventures and far off lands. For many students on a college budget, such luxurious travels are simply out of the question. With Memorial Day Weekend marking the official start to summer, there is no better time to fulfill your travel desires from the comfort of your own couch (or beach towel). 

Check out any of these five book choices whenever a dose of wanderlust hits you, or work your way through the whole list this summer!

Paris In Love

James does the very thing that so many of us can only dream of: she takes a year off from work as an English professor and transplants her family to Paris. With two children and a husband in tow, she explores museums, markets, boulevards, shops, and all the other beauty that Paris has to offer. Her recollections of daily obstacles that come with being Americans abroad are sure to make readers laugh, while her detailed descriptions are fully of insider tips for your next vacation. This charming memoir evolved from a series of witty Facebook posts that James used to share with her friends that described her expatriate excursions, resulting in a warm narrative that feels almost like chatting with an old friend. 

Great Writers on Great Places

Perhaps extensive reading about a single place isn’t for you. In that case check out this compilation of tales from various Conde Nast travel writers about their favorite places in the world. If there’s anyone who knows travel, it’s these writers! The writers transport readers to far flung continents for unique adventures, from camping out at a Tanzanian nature preserve to hiking on historic rock formations in Jordan or checking out the underground music scene in Iceland.  If one trip bores you, simply move on to the next one. This book has something to offer everyone and will expand your global horizons, hopefully inspiring you to take your own travels off the beaten path in the future!

On The Road

This classic explores the desire to find a place of one’s own amidst the development of the 1950s Beat Generation. This sense of needing to find one’s self is one that surely many college students can relate to, but Kerouac enables readers to do the soul searching without necessarily traveling thousands of miles. He chronicles his and his friend’s cross-country road trip as they explore the freedom, friendship and boundlessness that is as important for today’s youth as it was for Kerouac’s generation. 

Wanderlove

Hubbard combines the beauty and unexpectedness of travel tales with the longing and passion of a romance novel. As Bria Sandoval backpacks through Central America, she meets Rowan, a devoted explorer who convinces her to abandon her tour group. Both of them try to redefine themselves: Bria uses their relationship to shed her traditional values while Rowan hopes that she can help bring some stability to his spontaneous lifestyle. Their romance unfolds against the enchanting landscapes of Mayan villages and islands in Belize. The endearing characters and their all too understandable struggles are as much as a draw as the majestic places and cultures they explore.

Invisible Cities

This book is truly a testament to the creativity of its author. Through a series of imagined conversations between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, Calvino beautifully describes cities all over the world, both real ones and figments of his imagination. This book is for all the dreamers out there who refuse to let the confines of their budget - or the earth itself - prevent them from appreciating the vast beauty that the world has to offer. Don’t choose this book for the orderliness of plot or the emotionality of characters. Rather, pick it up to free yourself from those expectations and simply embrace the beauty of the unknown and the magic of giving oneself up entirely to wanderlust. 

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