Bill Bryson's "In A Sunburned Country" is my favorite travel-related book. I love Australia - I find it to be a unique, fascinating, under-the-radar country that justly deserves more exposure, and Bryson's novel both reaffirmed this notion while helping give it more exposure concurrently. Pairing humor with insight, factual objectivity with opinion, the book is a well-researched memoir, a book that at times reads like fiction because of the unique facts presented therein, and, as such, helps make it that much more grand because, at the end of the day, it is purely non-fiction. It is reality. For many, a trip to Australia is a dream. Taking a sojourn into Bryson's book allows many to get as close Down Under as we'll ever be. And what a breathtaking journey it is. Despite being almost exactly the same size as the continental United States, Australia only has a a few world-class cities, and a handful of major cities. In full disclosure, the book could be better if Bryson had been able to visit them all (he never set foot in Brisbane, and the state/province of Tasmania [featuring Australia's second-oldest city, Hobart, which is widely considered to be its prettiest capital city] was never visited altogether, which disappointed me). Bryson spends a lot of time on Aussie's history. And rightfully so. It's bigger and older than most countries put together. But this sometimes leaves the book reading like a history textbook, rife with tangents. To a casual reader, this might present a turn-off. But for someone like me, a Australia fanatic through-and-through, it was a heavenly experience. In America, our own country's history is hammered down our throat from grade school forward (to the point that it can be sickening). There is a whole world out there, full of countries that are full of history and culture that we rarely get to learn about because we as a nation are so focused on our own self-gratification. Books like Bryson's, however, allow me to conduct my own research into our neighbors we share the Earth with and find what makes them better than, worse than, or on par with America. And the most interesting part of all? This was only Bryson's experience. While those of us who make the trip Down Under will have different experiences, it will still be in this same enchanted land with these same wonderful citizens, and this amazing history and biological diversity. And "In A Sunburned Country" only helps you gain that much more appreciation for all this ahead of time. Appreciation that will only be multiplied should you find yourself standing on Australian soil and shorelines in the future. :-)

Yeah, he's probably overexposed, and even my parents swear by him, but Rick Steve's guide was pretty good for our whirlwind tour of Paris in 3 days that we went on 9 years ago.

My favorite travel-related book right now is a tie between my Moon Metro Seattle guide and Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. Each book has traveled with me long distances and given me the knowledge to travel in confidence.