Trips inspired by books

[Anonymous]

Someone in a thread about Provence mentioned wanting to see a village because it featured prominently in the book A Year in Provence. It sounded so lovely. I’ve sometimes tacked on book-related sites to trips we’ve made for weddings or events. I visited Flannery O’Connor’s home in Savannah and Thomas Merton’s grave in Kentucky, for example. I’ve never planned a trip around a book or author, though. I’m curious about other non-touristy literary travel. Any great trip ideas or experiences to share?

Before someone screams questions at me saying they can’t plan my vacation if I don’t provide more details, I’ll be clear that I’m just making conversation with other people who want to share travel experiences.

[Anonymous]

Went to Saint Malo from All The Light We Cannot See. It was incredible.

[Anonymous]

Went to Breezewood and Erie PA, based on The Road. While the book wasn’t specific on locations, the film was shot there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Went to Breezewood and Erie PA, based on The Road. While the book wasn’t specific on locations, the film was shot there.

Sorry, should have added they were bleak and miserable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Went to Breezewood and Erie PA, based on The Road. While the book wasn’t specific on locations, the film was shot there.

Sorry, should have added they were bleak and miserable.

Yeah, hopefully that was just a passing through day trip!

[Anonymous]

My adult son wants to a Thomas the Tank engine train tour through the UK.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been wanting to travel to Vietnam ever since reading Up Country. Some day….

[Anonymous]

My son read some Minecraft books about “slot canyons” so we are headed to national parks out west next summer to see some in person!

[Anonymous]

I read the Winter in Paradise series by Elin Hilderbrand and went to St John after - the trip wasn’t exactly related to the book series but it helped push me to pick it for the trip! I also went to Nantucket for an Elin Hilderbrand event which was cool and showcased a lot of places in her book.

I went to Provence to visit my sister who was studying abroad there but we all read A Year in Provence before we went.

We visited Hemingway’s house in Key West. I also like Paris where he lived and Sun Valley ID area. He had a good taste in places, like Elin Hilderbrand, I think!

More often, after I plan a trip to an area I read a book that takes place there or something. I like doing that.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't the goal of the trip, but when I mentioned to my wife that we'd be passing near Malone, NY, we made sure to stop at the Almanzo Wilder House (Farmer Boy, Little House on the Prairie).

OK, not books but movie. I incorporated a trip to Devils Tower in Wyoming (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) as part of larger trip to South Dakota and Wyoming.

Not books but TV show. On a recent trip to Toronto I visited numerous filming locations from the show The Expanse. (Yes the show was based on books, but filming locations were related to the show.)

My wife and I attended Pitt a few years behind author Michael Chabon, so we knew many of the places mentioned in the novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. On a trip back to Pittsburgh a few years ago, we revisited a bunch of them.

Tenuous? I visited the sewers in Paris because of Les Miserables (yes, I've read the book too).

I've been all around the grounds of Yasnaya Polyana (Leo Tolstoy's house) in Russia including the oak tree that supposedly inspired the dying thoughts of one of the characters in War and Peace. Been to locations in Saint Petersburg mentioned in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Andrey Bely's Petersburg. Been to locations in Moscow mentioned in Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. Been outside the apartment in Saint Petersburg that's referenced in Joseph Brodsky's "In a room and a half."

[Anonymous]

Florence, after reading A Room With a View. (Maybe that was actually after watching George in the movie).

[Anonymous]

Ravenna after reading a book where the mosaics were mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Drove the great American road from Baltimore to St. Louis inspired by the lost continent by bill bryson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Florence, after reading A Room With a View. (Maybe that was actually after watching George in the movie).

We took that one step further and went to Fiesole while in Florence!

[Anonymous]

I've been wanting to go to Ischia after reading the Elena Ferrante series.