Recommended Reading Materials

One of the best ways I discovered to get excited and motivated about extended travel was to dig into some independent travel-themed guidebooks. Particularly good were the Rough Guide's First Time Around the World, and Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. If these can't get you infected with the travel bug, nothing will! Mark Elliott's Asia Overland series is exceptional for nitty-gritty route planning once you know where you are going (this is the only book I am actually carrying with me, btw). Other books serve to inspire the imagination as only daydreaming of exotic faraway places can.