Edwin Way Teale is one of my favorites, especially his Walk Across America four book series.
Hunter S Thompson’s S American stuff originally posted in Scanlon’s, and some of which was reprinted in The Great Shark Hunt was pretty interesting.
One of the Monty Python guys is pretty interesting as a travel writer. He did documentaries as well on those same trips.
Michael Palin.
The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville by Giles Milton is a good read. Part travelogue, part medieval history lesson.
I loved that book – Tim Moore is one of my favourite travel writers – but it has to be saiid that it is pretty light. Probably not the OP’s cup of tea.
It’s called Spanish Steps in the UK. Got to love the prosaically dull title the US publishers chose, though! :dubious:
Here’s another vote for Bill Bryson = cringe. I can’t count the number of times I’ve read an anecdote by him and my immediate reaction was “Well, I know that didn’t happen; you’re freaking making it up.”
Some of my faves (many of them having to do with India) –
William Dalrymple - City of Djinns, In Xanadu, The Age of Kali
Suketu Mehta - Maximum City
Pico Iyer
Benedict Allen - Who Goes Out in the Midday Sun?
And these aren’t travel stories as such, but they have the same spirit of exploration –
Gerald Durrell – My Family and Other Animals, Birds Beasts and Relatives, Fauna and Family, Fillets of Plaice, The Picnic and Other Inimitable Stories, Marrying Off Mother and Other Stories
Jonah Blank - Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God
Rory Nugent - Search for the Pink-Headed Duck, Drums Along the Congo
Hey, Shamozzle, I forgot to get back to this thread.
Yeah, I thought Herodotus was a decent writer. However he might be a bit dry and textbook-ish if you aren’t interested in ancient Mediterranean cultures.