Gift Guide for Globetrotters

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This Christmas, our Booksellers have been busy curating gifting guides to suit all. Whether you're buying for that cousin who lives to travel, a Cricket obsessed uncle; looking for the perfect gift for little ones, big ones or difficult ones, we've got you covered.

Presenting our Gift Guide for Globetrotters:

This Way Up

Map Men

Mark and Jay – also known as The Map Men – are an online sensation, whose irreverent and hilarious videos have charmed and captivated millions around the world. Now they bring you their debut book, all about the world’s worst maps. Some are decades old, some are centuries old, and some are so recent they’re still being published today (or yesterday, if you’re reading this tomorrow). They include world maps, colonial maps, corporate maps, Soviet maps, pioneer maps, news maps and maps whose intended use was hijacked for a French surrealist political movement in the 1950s. Whether you’re an avid map junkie or simply ‘map-curious’, each chapter uncovers a unique tale of adventure, error and unexpected humour – as they attempt to answer the question: ‘What on earth happened here?’ So, ditch the compass (or disable location services) and set out into a world of cartographic chaos and mappy mishaps. Because the worst maps are the best maps.

Vanishing Places

Rough Guides (author), Amy Hopkins (author)

Vanishing Places - from the publishers of Rough Guides - is a first-edition, inspirational title, shining a light on places around the world that are vulnerable, fragile or disappearing altogether, in a substantial coffee table book format. Lavishly illustrated, this is an ambitious title that captures the essence of Rough Guides' mindful travel ethos through stunning images and engaging writing.

Michael Palin in Venezuela

Michael Palin

In February 2025, Michael Palin travelled to Venezuela to get a sense of what life is like in one of South America's most culturally rich, vibrant but also troubled nations. In the journal he kept during his trip he gives a vivid account of the towns and cities he visited, the landscapes he travelled through, and the people he met. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs taken on the trip, and permeated with his warmth and humour, this is a vivid and varied portrait of a complex country.

Moonlight Express

Monisha Rajesh

From Austria’s Nightjet to Scotland’s Caledonian Sleeper and Finland’s Santa Claus Express, Rajesh invites us on a multi-year adventure aboard the world’s most wondrous night trains. Along the way she samples reindeer stew on the night-train to Norway, sips on pisco sours while riding the Belmond Andean Explorer to the shores of Lake Titicaca – and considers a game of cricket down a carriage on the Shalimar Express. A decade ago night trains were giving way to budget airlines and high-speed rail. But as people search for slower and more environmentally friendly ways to travel, night trains are in the midst of a renaissance. By turns romantic and hilarious, Moonlight Express brings us along for the ride – and drops us back at the platform before sunrise.

Radical Cartography

William Rankin

Maps are everywhere. They can change how cities are designed and how rivers flow, how wars are fought and how land claims are settled, how children learn about race and how colonialism becomes a habit of mind. Maps don’t just show us information – they help construct our world. Cartographer and historian William Rankin argues that it’s time to reimagine what a map can be and how it can be used. Maps are not neutral. They are innately political, defining how the world is divided, what becomes visible and what stays hidden, and whose voices are heard. Brimming with vibrant, radical maps created by Rankin and by other cutting-edge mapmakers, Radical Cartography challenges the map as a tool of the status quo. Changing our maps can change the questions we ask, the answers we accept – and the planet we build.

America Day by Day

Simone de Beauvoir (author), Carol Cosman (translator)

In 1947 Simone de Beauvoir took a road trip across America. She travelled from coast to coast, from New York to Hollywood, taking in New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Washington DC. She rode a pony through the Grand Canyon, listened to jazz in New Orleans and visited the nightclubs of Chicago. And she captured the entire experience in her journal. This captivating book is that journal and an immersive portrait of postwar America. Beauvoir was disturbed by the poverty and segregation she encountered and at the same time delighted by American energy and friendliness.

Benidorm

Rob Ball

Capturing the juxtaposition between its vibrant beach culture and towering urban landscape, Rob Ball's photographs of this famous Spanish seaside town consider the promise of the perfect package holiday - and whether it has changed since it's conception in the fifties. From sunlit palm trees to shimmering neon lights, from pastel-coloured high rises to bright pink beach towels, from the greys and browns of backstreets to the pinks and reds of sunburn, this is a visual ode to all the colours of Benidorm and a testament to its irrepressible energy.

Epic Train Trips of the World

Lonely Planet

Continuing the collectible Lonely Planet Epic series comes this thrilling exploration of the world's greatest railway journeys - the perfect gift or self-purchase for railfans and anyone who loves to travel along the tracks. From luxury services such as southeast Asia's Eastern and Oriental Express to the scenic Rocky Mountaineer line in Canada; thrilling high-speed escapes in Japan to Switzerland's iconic Glacier Express, Epic Train Trips of the World offers an unforgettable window into railway travel with page after page of inspiring green getaways to feed your wanderlust.

Earth Shapers

Maxim Samson

Mountains, meridians, rivers and borders; these are some of the features that carve up the world on our maps and in our minds. But geography is far less set in stone than we might believe and, over time, we have become experts at reshaping our surroundings. From the Qhapaq Ñan, South America's 'Great Road', and the Panama Canal to Mozambique's railways and Korea's sacred Baekdu-daegan mountain range, Samson explores how we mould the world around us. And how, as we etch our needs onto the natural landscape, we alter the course of history. An immense work of cultural geography touching on ecology, sociology, history and politics, Earth Shapers argues that, far from being constrained by geography, we are instead its creators.

Extraordinary Islands

Alastair Bonnett

Dive in to a captivating exploration of 29 of the world’s most unique and enigmatic islands, each with its own compelling story. This visually stunning book is divided into four sections, each revealing a different facet of these extraordinary locales. Each chapter is a voyage into islands of wonder and mystery, offering a unique perspective on our world's most intriguing and lesser-known corners. Whether it’s an exploration of ambitious human endeavours or natural marvels, this book is a visual and narrative feast for the curious traveller.