Travel - World

In 1880 a young medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle embarked upon an adventure, taking a berth as ship’s surgeon on an Arctic whaler, the Hope. The voyage took him to unknown regions, showered him with dramatic and unexpected experiences, and plunged him into dangerous work on the ice floes of the Arctic seas.

Andrew Eames set out to retrace Agatha Christie's life-changing trip of 1928. Following her route through the Balkans to the Middle East he encountered the people who live in these regions and developed an insight into the politics of two very troubled areas. Contains some strong language.

When Englishman Chris Broad landed in a rural village in northern Japan he wondered if he'd made a huge mistake. With no knowledge of the language and zero teaching experience, was he was about to be the most quickly fired English teacher in Japan's history? Abroad in Japan charts a decade of living in a foreign land and the chaos and culture clash that comes with it. Packed with hilarious and fascinating stories, this book seeks out to unravel one the world's most mysterious and impenetrable cultures.

Spanning 10 years and 47 prefectures, Chris takes us from the chilling summit of Mount Fuji to the chaotic neon-lit streets of Tokyo. With blockbuster moments such as a terrifying North Korean missile incident, a Japanese national TV experience gone horribly wrong and a week spent with Japan's biggest movie star, Ken Watanabe, Abroad in Japan is an extraordinary and informative journey through the Land of the Rising Sun.

In 1954, a young television presenter named David Attenborough was offered the opportunity of a lifetime - to travel the world finding rare and elusive animals for London Zoo's collection, and to film the expeditions for the BBC. Written with his trademark wit and charm, this is not just the story of his remarkable adventure, but of the man who made us fall in love with the natural world, and who is still doing so today. This book expresses some outdated views and cultural depictions.

Sheila Paine, an embroidery expert, journeyed through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kurdistan, the Black Sea coast and Bulgaria in search of an ancient embroidery pattern. Travelling alone, in remote and sometimes dangerous country, she recounts her many extraordinary adventures and the people she met.

This is a moving story of a wildlife sanctuary. Stone Hills is a game sanctuary and safari lodge in Zimbabwe. It is a place where you can share your shower with an owl or share the sofa with a warthog..

The average adult spends about a third of his or her waking time alone. Yet research suggests we aren't very good at using, never mind enjoying, alone time. Rising to the challenge, travel writer Stephanie Rosenbloom explores the joys and benefits of being alone in four mouth-watering journeys to the cities of Paris, Istanbul, Florence and New York, in four seasons.

Always attracted to mountains, the author spent over thirty years travelling in various mountain ranges. From his diaries he documents the dangers, hardships and rewards of mountain travel.

The Amur River is almost unknown. Yet it is the tenth longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific. For 1,100 miles it forms the tense border between Russia and China. Haunted by the memory of land-grabs and unequal treaties, this is the most densely fortified frontier on earth. 

In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic journey from the Amur's secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, he makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores, starting out by Mongolian horse, then hitchhiking, sailing on poacher's sloops or travelling the Trans-Siberian Express. 

Having revived his Russian and Mandarin, he talks to everyone he meets, from Chinese traders to Russian fishermen, from monks to indigenous peoples. By the time he reaches the river's desolate end, where Russia's nineteenth-century imperial dream petered out, a whole, pivotal world has come alive.

The Scott's reveal man's impact on this magnificent continent through detailed observation.

Actor Michael Palin follows the steps of Phineas Fogg to achieve the journey of Around the World in 80 Days for TV.

When Monisha Rajesh announced plans to circumnavigate the globe in 80 train journeys, she was met with wide-eyed disbelief. Packing up her rucksack - and her fiancé, Jem - Monisha embarks on an unforgettable adventure that will take her from London's St Pancras station to the vast expanses of Russia and Mongolia, North Korea, Canada, Kazakhstan, and beyond.

Moving and intimate story of the author's record-breaking achievement of sailing around the world single-handed.

A wonderful journey through time, along the waves of our planet's most significant ocean, in an irresistible blend of gripping history, fascinating science and exhilarating reportage.

From 1816 to 1845 John Barrow sent out teams of naval officers to do geographical and hydrographical surveys of unknown areas. Their lack of preparation makes this a tale of dangerous comedy and harrowing personal endeavour.

The broadcaster and writer gives a vivid picture of life in Iran.

Imprisoned in a cell in Beirut, John McCarthy and Brian Keenan travelled to the High Andes and Patagonia in their imagination. Five years after their release they made their dream a reality and travelled to Chile. This is the story of their adventure.

Having always dreamed about taking a trip on the legendary Route 66, Billy Connolly is finally heading off on the ride of a lifetime. Travelling all 2,488 miles of this epic road, the tales he'll gather on the way, from the skyscrapers of Chicago through the Wild West badlands of Oklahoma and Texas, and on to the beaches of the Pacific coast, will tell the story of modern America.

Billy's latest adventure takes him on an epic trip through the backyard of America, tracing the routes taken by the first European settlers westwards from Chicago to California, then back down south and eastwards through Arizona, Texas, Alabama and finally New York, over 6,000 miles and 26 states later.

Remaining unread in a Welsh castle, this is a story that has waited 200 years to be told. Married to Lord Edward Clive, son of Clive of India and Governor of Madras (1798-1803), the journals of Lady Henrietta Clive take us on a double journey, across war-torn southern India in the last decade of the 18th Century. This book is edited and annotated by the Texican anthropologist, Nancy Shields.

Brazil is one of the four new global superpowers with its vast natural resources and burgeoning industries. Half a continent in size and a potent mix of races, religions and cultures, of unexplored wildernesses and bustling modern cities, it is also one of the few countries Michael Palin has never fully travelled - until now.

Author and adventurer Bruce Chatwin was one of the 20^th Century's most charismatic writers. His first book, In Patagonia, changed the face of travel writing and made him a literary sensation. Collected here are dramatisations and readings of some of his best-known work, as well as a bonus programme shedding light on his relationships and writing.

The author has travelled the globe in search of the oddities of nature, prized so highly for jewellery and adornment. And why, when we can now manufacture synthetic gems, do jewels still hold such appeal?

This is the captivating account of the doomed quest, led by Robert O’Hara Burke and William Wills, to be the first Europeans to cross the harsh Australian continent in 1860. Only one man survived the expedition, yet despite their tragic fates, the names Burke and Wills remain synonymous with perseverance and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.

In early 2020, the world was on edge. An ominous virus was spreading and no one knew what the coming weeks would bring. Far from the hotspots, the cruise ship Zaandam was preparing to sail from Buenos Aires loaded with 1,200 passengers, plus 600 crew. Most passengers were over the age of 65.

Within days, people aboard the Zaandam began to fall sick. The world's ports shut down. Zaandam became a top story on the news and was denied safe harbour everywhere. With only two doctors aboard and few medical supplies to test for or treat Covid-19, and with dwindling food and water, the ship wandered the oceans on an unthinkable journey.

Cabin Fever is a riveting narrative thriller, taking readers behind the scenes of the ship's complex workings, and below decks into the personal lives of passengers and crew who were caught unprepared for the deadly ordeal that lay ahead. It is a story layered with moments of peril, perseverance and kindness. A remarkable tale that is filled with individual acts of heroism and the struggles and the tragedies of the crew and passengers.

Thinking his life is going nowhere the author abandoned his wife and young children for a year, and set off for Alaska. He had to exist in one of the harshest environments in the world, miles from anyone. A gripping account of his adventures.

In March 1912, Captain Oates walked out to his death in an Antarctic blizzard and won a place for himself in history as 'a very gallant gentleman'. This biography shows that there was much more to Captain Oates's life than his final famous act of self-sacrifice.

Six men and one woman made maritime history sailing the Pacific on a bamboo raft.  Book 6 of series.

WH Smith Travel Award. Fascinating portrait of Delhi & its people.

Despite our technological advances, the Arctic, the Antarctic and the highest mountains on earth, remain some of the most dangerous and unexplored areas of the world. Here Sir Ranulph reveals the chequered history of man's attempts to discover and understand these remote areas of the planet, from the early voyages of discovery of Cook, Shackleton and Franklin to his own extraordinary feats.

On a journey that takes her from Afghanistan to the Australian outback; from China to the saffron harvest in Spain, the author discovers the history of colour. From the efforts of artists and artisans to reproduce the rainbow, to the impact of their work on the world.

Travel writer Redmond O'Hanlon is famous for his adventurous expeditions. His new challenge is the Congo, the most dangerous and inhospitable jungle in the world, in search of a prehistoric lake. Sex and strong language. X rated, explicit sexual content and offensive language.

This book tells the story of the conquest of South America and the subjugation of the Native Americans by Spanish explorers.

After spending a year as a repatriation doctor, Dr Ben MacFarlane is heading around the world as a ship's doctor - and with 3,000 passengers and crew to look after he's in for the most exciting trip of his life. He has to deal with broken bones and broken hearts, and picks up the pieces after freak accidents on shore leave.

In 1930 the author & traveller spent a dangerous month hunting alone in the hostile Danakil desert of Abyssinia.

Danny Wallace heard about a manhole cover, on a small street, in a small town, tucked away in a remote part of Idaho. The manhole cover had been declared the Centre of the Universe. And the name of the town? Wallace. It was a cosmic coincidence Danny couldn't resist... Quick Reads.