"The Conde Nast Traveler Book of Unforgettable Journeys" Great Writers on Great Places

I've been reading a lot of articles lately about how vacation isn't going to be much of one this year. High gas prices make road trips hard and plane fares even harder to cope with, and the price of everything seems to be going up.

So if you're not taking a vacation, I've the solution. Read this book!

You'll be able to go anywhere (sort of like the Reading Rainbow, or perhaps by way of...). And, oh, the places you'll go.

The Big Island of Hawaii, Iceland, The Himalayas, a happy jaunt around France, to the mystical world of Ethiopia, the famous but elusive city of Jinn in Jordan. You'll relax in Georgia and set out on a dangerous safari in Tunisia.

This book is a collection of articles from the Conde Nast magazine over the past several years. I've never read Conde Nast before, but I gather that it's a pretty good magazine, and this collection in particular is well worth the time. The only gripe I have is that it sometimes seemed like the writers were traveling very luxuriously, and were accustomed to that sort of travel, something I find hard to relate to. Still, it rarely detracts from the places, and the places are quite amazing. Each article is even followed up with tips for traveling in those particular parts of the world.

And even if you don't read it, the cover is well worth it. You can stare at the tiny drawings and imagine yourself in other parts of the world for hours and hours on end. It's a great way to kill time. Trust me.