Travel Bits: September 2017

Reading and Travelling.......

What has reading got to do with travelling? Plenty of reasons. For me, reading up on the countries and cities I am visiting provide me with lots of information on the sights and sounds that I can expect. It also allows me to better plan my itinerary and help me to decide on where to stay and how much time to spend in a particular place.

Other important information like currency exchanges, local culture and customs, potential immigration hurdles and visa applicabilities are also what I look out for when I read up on the places i am about to visit. Most of these information can be found in travel guides or on the internet.

Dungeons and Dragons, a wall mural in a former dungeon and now a toilet, in a restaurant housed in a heritage building, Tallinn, Estonia (2017)

And of course, reading about the experiences of other travellers provide me with a whole new world of information not usually available in officially published literature. For this reason, I have always enjoyed reading travel blogs and articles. Personal experiences from the travellers offer a different perspective of the places which cannot be found in travel guides and official tourism websites.

A rare ceramic piece on display at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (2016)

Besides reading, I will also browse through travel photographs. Being a keen student of photography, I am always seeking to learn from others. To learn how other travellers capture that picture perfect moment, the angle from which their stunning travel photographs were taken, how these cool folks photograph people and places and how these photographs collectively relate the stories of their travels.

My camera taking a break while I had lunch, Luang Prabang, Laos (2017)

In short, there are lots of information available and reading helps me to better plan, anticipate and subsequently, enjoy my trip.

At times, I will also bring along reading materials when I travel. If I am travelling to a new place, my reading materials are likely to include travel guides of the place. On a fair number of occasions, I discovered new areas to explore and experience based on what I had just read while travelling.

View of the road ahead while the setting Sun makes its way for the night, Tel Aviv, Israel (2017) 

Reading after the travel helped me to re-collect my trips and to re-live the experiences. There were also those "alas" moments when I realised that I had been to a place and yet failed to experience something  or visit somewhere that was interesting.

The kitchen of a Ramen stall, Tokyo, Japan (2017)

Where will you be heading to for your next vacation? Don't forget to read before, during and after you travel.

The author, with a borrowed copy of a travel guide on a trip to the Mekong River, Luang Prabang, Laos (2017)