Classic Memoirs Offer Armchair Escapes and Therapeutic Trip Planning Tools

Use our writers’ favorite books to inspire your next getaway

By Linda T. Kennedy

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Anna Bedell, a writer at Prince William Living, decided if author Elizabeth Gilbert could spend a year traveling and writing the New York Times Best Seller Eat, Pray, Love, she could do something similar with two weeks in Paris.

"I also booked a flight to Paris, and I'm going August 14 for 2 weeks on a solo trip," Bedell said in a text message to her friend with news about a difficult life change.

Bedell's message about going to Paris had a sober tone rather than one of excitement; the trip would be for recovery.

"I'm going to find myself in Paris," Bedell said, planning to model her agenda after something similar to the activities in Gilbert's book.

In Eat, Pray, Love, Gilbert chronicles how she chose Italy, India, and Indonesia as her destinations to recover from a divorce. She gained self-awareness through experiencing the food, romance, and dedicated meditation and prayer in those countries.

"Anna in Paris, Vignettes Du Jour"

Like Gilbert, Bedell recorded her trip and compiled a memoir, "Anna in Paris, Vignettes Du Jour," photos and brief stories that illustrate the personal illuminations she experienced. While she hasn't published her memoir yet, Bedell says it's an invaluable record of a time she overcame a difficult period.

"Somewhere along the line I realized I had put everyone else in my life first, and going to Paris was a start towards putting myself first," she said.

Bedell credits Gilbert's book with providing her with the best travel guide she needed to plan her recovery journey.

"Each day there, I did something to focus on one of my senses just like Gilbert did in her book," said Bedell. "I ate in little bakeries and small cafes to taste life again; I lingered, and searched my soul in beautiful museums, and I fell in love with the streets of Paris."

Eat, Pray, Love is available at booksellers and Amazon.

They Rose Above It by Bob Considine

The best way to travel and work simultaneously is to become a reporter — at least that's what Prince William Living Writer Linda Kennedy thought when she chose journalism as a career. Yet while she has yet to make it outside the United States — she has historical journalist Bob Considine's book They Rose Above It to take her around the world.

Like a hidden cafe off the beaten path of a famous tourist destination, known more by word of mouth than on the map, Considine's journalist's memoir is a rare book and an armchair travel gem back into some of the world's most historical moments.

The book, published when Considine died in 1975, starts by taking readers to the Space Center in Houston.

"Did you ever fall into an elevator shaft on the U.S.S. Hornet in full view of the President of the United States on the day astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins returned from man's first voyage to the moon? No? I did," said Considine, followed by an account of how he survived the embarrassment in front of President Richard Nixon.

Considine also takes readers to East Grinstead, England during World War II, Saigon during the Vietnam War, Seoul, Korea, and numerous places throughout the Unite States.

"Last year [1948] I spent time in Palm Springs, Paris, and Mexico City. I covered the Kentucky Derby and talked to the Pope. I even saw the World Series," Considine told Time magazine in a 1949 profile. "It's a pretty good job."

Finding the Game Changers

In the book, readers discover many of the locations Considine traveled to as a journalist and the behind-the-scenes moments with the world's newsmakers during his 45-year career. But his focus is on the game changers he discovered along the way, not the name makers. They inspired Considine with their ability to survive extraordinary circumstances, things he witnessed "off the record."

"You may find a knight or two in shining armor in this book, but please tolerate them. They slipped in through a side door. Perhaps the publisher failed to notify them that this book is devoted largely to the heroism and stoicism of persons who were not born with silver swards in their mouths, not lumpy with great muscles — just people who discovered in themselves a measure of majesty they may not have known they possessed when the chips were stacked against them. People like you, let's say," Considine said.

And that would be Considine too; his prolific work and career weren’t things he planned or aspired to do. According to the Time profile, Considine worked as a government messenger, typist, and clerk in Washington, and played tennis as a sport. The Washington Herald hired him as a tennis reporter when Considine complained to the editors about misspelling his name in an amateur tournament report.

Eventually, Considine became a mid-20th-century media star in his own right; he wrote for The Washington Post and papers owned by media magnate William Randolph Hearst. He also had a radio show and made television appearances later in his career. Considine's work is most recognized with the 1944 film adaptation of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, a book he wrote with Ted Lawson.

The most remarkable thing about They Rose Above It is the book's compact size — so much is packed into 111 pages and broken down into easy-to-read small chapters. Copies are scarce but can be found on Amazon and in collector's bookstores.

Linda T. Kennedy is a contributing writer for Prince William Living.

Your Next Armchair Trip is Just a Short Drive Away:

Barnes and Noble has copies of Eat, Pray, Love available, as well as other great armchair travel books.

Barnes and Noble

Address: Westgate Plaza 8117, Sudley Rd, Manassas

Phone: 703-393-0910

To locate They Rose Above It and other travel-themed collector books, tour these bookstores:

2nd & Charles

Address: 2904 Prince William Pkwy, Woodbridge

Phone: 703-680-3175

McKay Used Books

Address: 8345 Sudley Rd, Manassas

Phone: 703-361-9042

Bookworm Central Book Fairs

Address: 12193 Livingston Rd, Manassas

Phone: 703-367-0045

Order: bookwormcentral.com

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