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15 Best Funny Travel Books That Will Crack You Up!
- March 23, 2021
- Travel Planning & Tips
What's covered in this post
Collection Of The Best Funny Travel Books You Have To Read
Awful air travel activity book, andy robbins, would you rather book for kids: the book of silly scenarios, challenging choices, and hilarious situations the whole family will love, sunny panda, missions accomplished: and some funny business along the way, tim jenkins, the sex lives of cannibals, j. maarten troost, a walk in the woods: rediscovering america on the appalachian trail, bill bryson, neither here nor there: travels in europe, bill bryson, last chance to see, douglas adams & mark carwardine, the 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared, jonas jonasson, the ultimate hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, douglas adams, hokkaido highway blues, will ferguson, the wrong way home, peter moore, the great railway bazaar: by train through asia, paul theroux, lonely planet signspotting: absurd & amusing signs from around the world, doug lansky, the travel book: a journey through every country in the world, lonely planet, round ireland with a fridge, tony hawks, final thoughts about funny travel books.
One of the best things to do besides actually travelling is to read travel books, especially funny travel books!
They bring you around the world, let you experience a trip through someone else’s eyes and makes you laugh.
On long flights or layovers or at the departure lounge, reading not only helps to while away the time, it exposes you to new cultures in the comfort of an armchair.
And of course, it is not restricted to just travellers, but to anyone who wants to learn more about our world, the casual readers and just about anyone in between.
We specifically love reading those that are satirical in nature, admire writers who are not afraid of poking fun at themselves.
These books bring about optimism and joy and thus, we are rounding up the funniest travel books for your reading pleasure!
So in no particular order, please find below, *drum roll*, a collection of our favourite travel humour.
Before you go on, it is our responsibility to inform you that the following may or may not contain affiliate links. What that means is we will earn a small commission if you decide to buy or book something through the links, and we got to emphasize that it is at NO extra cost to you at all. BUT, should you end up acquiring something, you get to make not ONE, but TWO person’s day, keep this blog alive, and score yourself a great deal! And then, you probably will have a really nice warm fuzzy feeling about yourself since you did something great. How awesome is that! Good on you mate!
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Instead of filling up books with just words, this cute book by Andy Robbins comes with word puzzles, connect the dots and colouring pages!
That is a whole lot of fun to keep you occupied as you wait for your flight or when you can’t sleep next to the snoring passenger beside you.
No matter what activity you choose to do in this book, you are guaranteed a hilarious time!
Do you want a ton of laughs together with your family? Look no further as this book is filled with lots of ‘would you rather’ questions plus surprising situations to play out.
This will be great for game nights, hanging out with friends at the bar or any party!
Have the kids read out the different scenarios and let them discuss and debate. It makes for an excellent educational tool!
Tim Jenkins the author has traversed the world extensively and during his time on the road, collected hundreds of travel stories that deserves to be retold.
And hence Missions Accomplished was born, filled with amusing short stories (50 to be exact).
If you are like him, a travelling professional, you will find familiarity in his stories.
Even if you are not, you will find great insight to what life is like on the road in the most hysterical ways!
This one made the list as it has one of those funny book names. Just kidding.
The master of self irony, Maarten Troost is an underrated writer who should rank up there with Bryson for the best funny travel books.
Join his adventures as he spends 2 years in Kiribati with his girlfriend, the place he describes as ‘end of the world’, where the food is unpalatable and the place is sprinkled with Hepatitis A, B and C.
Strap in for a wild ride in this oldie goldie.
This is a number on best seller for good reason: it will tickle all your funny bones and more.
Follow Bill Bryson, the acclaimed travel writer known for his wit, on his walk on the Appalachian Trail.
In this classic, he recounts his journey, complete with stories of hilarious characters, his walking buddy Stephen Klatz, and and a couple of bears.
While the humour is top notch, it almost serves just like a travel guide too.
Be warned, you might not be able to put this down once you start reading!
Another classic by Bill Bryson, as he attempts to retrace his backpacking journey through Europe during the seventies twenty years later.
Imaginative writing and dry humour combines to make this one of the most important items you should pack in your bags.
Bill reminds us that despite all the gloom and doom surrounding us, there is warmth and sunshine elsewhere.
He is a brave traveler and his descriptions are on point.
Make this top of your list my friends.
A New York Times bestseller, Douglas Adams teams up with zoologist Mark Carwardine to go in search of exotic and endangered animals around the world.
The writing is on point and filled with marvelous and exciting adventures. These guys are seriously funny, but at the same time, they delivered a strong message about the plight of the animals.
Although this book was written over 25 years ago, the details are more relevant than ever today.
Don’t miss out this eye opener!
What happens when a man turns 100 years old and decides he doesn’t give a damn about the celebration?
He goes out the window and heads for an adventure for the ages.
This book combines what the protagonist Allan experiences in the present along with the stories he encounters in his youth.
Perfectly written and creativeness rolled into one. There’s really no reason to miss this one.
Take note this is part 1 of The Hundred year Old Man series.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that another book by Douglas Adams makes it to the list. He is a travel writing genius.
5 different books that brings you on a roller coaster ride, as Arthur Dent goes on a quest to bypass the intergalactic bypass.
So many people have heard of this story, since it was remade into movies, video games and a TV series, but there doesn’t seem to be many who have actually read the series.
Be prepared to be thrilled and entertained thoroughly on this journey!
Based on Will’s adventure hitchhiking across Japan, this is one of the funniest and eye opening look at the Land of the Rising Sun.
Will is an excellent observer, and combined with his free wheeling style of writing, this is an original that must make it to your book shelves.
While he may come across to some as disrespectful, you will need to read the entire book to really understand his method and in the process, learn more about the Japanese culture than anything else you can find.
Written by the Australian travel writer Peter Moore, The Wrong Way Home expertly marries dry humour with travel entertainment.
We love it for how he is able to capture different cultures and human behaviour in a rather strange but light way.
Follow him as he journeys through the Middle East, passing Europe and finding his way back home.
This is one of those books that you cannot wait to finish as you want to know the ending!
Although this book has been published since over 30 years ago, it doesn’t fail to entertain even the most modern traveller.
Paul takes us through an odyssey of train travel where he recounts his adventures; experience the great Orient Express through his eyes.
We consider him to be one of the best travel writers out there, and this classic is where you should get started to understand his works.
Surely at one point in time you have seen an amusing sign somewhere?
We sure did, and this Lonely Planet production is a great compilation of the funniest ones in the world!
We can’t imagine coming across these signs on our travels, since we as tourists often have to rely on them to get around.
No matter which is your favourite sign, this book is sure to keep you laughing out loud!
We got to warn you though, this is not for you if you are easily offended!
Sorry folks, this is not a funny book. But it is an amazing one that we felt had to be shared with our readers.
Lonely Planet produces high quality content, and this is no exception.
Filled with beautiful photos of all the countries in the world (according to the United Nations), this pictorial is essential to all travellers who wants to know more about world travel.
It is mind blowing, and the pictures themselves are worth the price tag.
Helmed by the hilarious British comedian Tony Hawks, not the skateboarder, this book is an unbelievable tale of how he hitchhiked across Ireland, with a fridge!
You are guaranteed laughs at every flip of the book, as Tony bumbles across the Emerald Isle, encountering all sorts of curious characters.
One of the sentences that left a deep impression was this: “One guy, seeing that I was hungry, insisted on buying me a huge lunch and when I thanked him for his kindness, he simply said, ‘Pass it on.'”
While the book might tickle you to no end, the lessons you learn from it are priceless too.
There are literally more than a million books out there, and sometimes it is hard to decide which ones to start with.
Hopefully in this short article, we have introduced to you a diverse selection of funny travel books to take you on your imaginary journeys.
As we read and discover more, we will definitely add to this list, so come back here once in a while to check it out, or better yet, sign up for our newsletter (down below and get a free ebook!) where we update you on what’s going on with our site.
Although there are only 15 books here, we are confident they will keep you screaming with joy!
What are your favourite funny travel books? And who are your favourite travel writers? Leave a comment down below!
Also don’t forget to use the free 1 month Kindle trial or 1 month Prime Trial if you prefer to read digital copies of these funny travel books!
For more travel inspiration, make sure to read these other articles:
- 19 Travel Bucket List places
- 50 Family Trip Quotes
- Travel packing checklist
- List of 21 free things you can do in any city
- Travel Destinations Guide
Be sure to pin this article on Pinterest and share it on your social media!
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The Best Of Humorous Travel Writing
There are people who believe that discussing the merits of funny travel books is disrespectful. Culture, tradition, and customs are only meant to be appreciated and studied and should never appear in humorous books. But these people (often scholarly types who never travel) miss the point. No travel writer sets out to laugh at or mock other cultures. The travel writing genre is rooted in the observation of people and experiences, with the journey or country taking second place. Humour can be a way of dealing with difficult situations.
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According to Peter McGraw, an associate professor of Marketing and Psychology, humour only occurs when something seems wrong, unsettling, or threatening, but simultaneously seems okay, acceptable or safe. It would appear then that humour is the perfect weapon for exploring the differences between people, describing new situations in “strange” countries, and explaining feelings of discomfort in normal (for the locals) social situations.
Look at Bill Bryson . One of the greatest writers of all time in my opinion. His books on topics as seemingly mundane as houses, the English language, and walking, use humour to turn dry subjects into fascinating stories.
Paul Theroux , not generally regarded as a humorous writer, can switch on the right and left sides of the brain at the same time. Serious to funny in the same paragraph without ruining the idea. And that’s a skill I wish I had.
Something to remember about funny travel stories is that writers often embellish their stories. There’s no shame in this and it’s not seen as any kind of dishonest move. What’s better? A dead boring account of something that happened to you, or a hilarious version of the same story, albeit with some poetic license in the telling?
Most people don’t care about the truth in details. That’s why Fox News, the National Enquirer, and Instagram influencers are so popular. Most of us know it’s fake, but many of us still consume the stories.
We want to hear funny travel experiences, not dry reports. We all enjoy travel stories that make us laugh.
Many travel books are about hardships and the trials and tribulations of navigating your way through a foreign city. When things go wrong, it’s not a lot of fun. But it makes for great stories. I wonder how many travel writers hope that things go wrong?
As the great Paul Theroux once said, “Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” My own, less eloquent version of this idea is, “Travel is only funny when told to your mates in the pub back home.”
Here are my picks for the funniest books about travel ever written (or at least the ones I’ve read).
A Walk In The Woods
Bill Bryson
I could fill an entire blog post with books written by Mr Bryson, but for the sake of diversity, only two Bryson books make the list.
A Walk In The Woods is less a travel book and more a funny hiking book. For the reader, the place names and locations are lost in the details. But you will remember the struggles, discomfort, hilarious misfortunes, and personality quirks of the author and his companion as they walk the Appalachians. It’s a book about hiking and the pleasure and pains of being in the outdoors.
Don’t expect to learn useful travel tips. This is not a guide book . It’s a hilarious account of someone taking on the challenge of walking the Appalachian trail with a (possibly fictitious) companion. The dialogue will have you laughing at some of the most mundane things. Bryson’s descriptions of situations will make you cringe. Read this and weep (with tears of laughter).
.ugb-9e54f56 .ugb-blockquote__quote{width:70px !important;height:70px !important} That’s the trouble with losing your mind; by the time it’s gone, it’s too late to get it back.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams
Not a real travel book. (I’d point that out before anyone writes a strongly-worded letter to the editor) A book that’s difficult to describe in less than a paragraph, The Hitchhiker’s Guide is a cult classic that every sci-fi geek and fan of the weird has read. The novel’s travel-related pop culture quotes and hilarious takes on the laws of physics, future technology, and the weirdness of the universe have become part of internet legend. For example, the Babel Fish from the book is a fictitious organic version of many of the apps we take for granted today. Babelfish.com is a website that translates, just like Google Translate. Google translate helps us understand the world’s most popular languages and even some obscure ones. The difference (apart from the billions of investment behind it) is that Babelfish has a cool name. Read Douglas Adams’s view of flying.
.ugb-fe16a91 .ugb-blockquote__quote{width:70px !important;height:70px !important} There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
Think about that next time you’re sitting into your seat on the next plane.
Round Ireland with a fridge
Tony Hawkes
There’s only one reason people take on frivolous but all-consuming challenges like walking around Ireland with a large kitchen appliance. That reason is to write a book about it and make millions. I doubt if author Tony Hawkes has banked a million from the book but I don’t knock him for trying. Humorous travel writing doesn’t have to be real, meaningful, or deep. It just has to make us laugh while introducing us to a part of the world we might not know. (This is a part of the world I know well but not from the point of view of an ambulant fridge minder).
So what’s it about? In case you didn’t guess, Around Ireland with a Fridge is a travelogue with a difference. It’s the account of one man’s experience hitchhiking around Ireland with an enormous old refrigerator. All thanks to a drunken bet. And this is no modern appliance. It’s a monster of a fridge which makes the gimmick even more bizarre.
Without a doubt, everyone he meets is friendly, good-natured, and full of stories. That’s the fairytale image of Ireland and quite a lot of it is true. But the weirdness of the situation helped attract other interesting (weird) people to Hawke’s mission. Breaking the ice in any conversation is easy when you’re depending on strangers to transport you and your refrigerator around the country. I must say that breaking the ice in Ireland is an easy thing to do.
It’s the kind of book that makes you laugh when you least expect it. The most mundane situations turn out to be the funniest. And it’s a good companion to the next book.
McCarthy’s Bar
Pete McCarthy
This book generated more belly laughs than any of the others. It helps (a bit) to be Irish, as McCarthy’s observations of the Irish psyche are more hilarious when one realises how accurate they are. Author Pete McCarthy sets off around Ireland intending to have a drink in every bar with his surname over the door. No mean feat, as there are a lot of bars (or pubs as they are locally called) in Ireland . And there are plenty of people called McCarthy. With over 7000 pubs, plus 2,5000 restaurants.
According to the Revenue department, there are quite a few businesses in Ireland licensed to sell alcohol and have trade names that include the “McCarthy”. McCarthy is a man deeply in love with his ancestral homeland and it shows. He’s also an expert at crafting funny travel stories around mundane, ordinary things. Like going to a pub for a drink, for example. As funny travel books go, this is one of the best.
.ugb-4c2093f .ugb-blockquote__quote{width:70px !important;height:70px !important} I like reading in a pub rather than a library or study, as it’s generally much easier to get a drink.
Hokkaido highway blues
Will Ferguson
The book is twenty years old but little has changed in the human character. And that’s what this book is about. It’s less a tour of Japan, more a tour of the Japanese psyche.
While it’s not a love story to Japan, Hokkaido Highway Blues takes a reverent look at the Land of the Rising Sun from the passenger seat of cars, buses, and trucks as the writer hitches along the entire length of the country during cherry blossom season (Sakura). According to WikiTravel, thumbing your way around Japan is the only true budget way to travel. Transport is expensive, particularly for tourists so relying on the kindness of strangers will save you plenty of cash for sushi and sake.
While it’s technically illegal to stop traffic on the highway or even be on a highway as a pedestrian, Japan is a friendly place to hitchhikers. It’s also one of the safest countries in the world. This isn’t a book about danger and suspense. It’s a book about people. Anyone who’s been to Japan will know that in contrast to the polite, reserved nature of the locals, extraordinary characters are easy to find. Or they will find you. Hitchhikers tend to meet their fair share of oddballs driving the roads. And in Japan, this makes for comedy gold in the form of travel stories by a foreigner.
Every quirky thing you’ve ever heard about Japanese culture is turned up to level 11 as Paterson writes about his observations, encounters, and experiences in one of the world’s most interesting countries and cultures.
.ugb-19659ec .ugb-blockquote__quote{width:70px !important;height:70px !important} People don’t listen to karaoke, they endure it until it is their turn. It is the singularly most self-indulgent form of entertainment available.
The Full Montezuma
Peter Moore
This was one of the books that inspired me to travel around Central America. Released in 2000, the following year I was beating my way through jungles in Guatemala, remembering the tales in Moore’s humorous travel book. The title is a play on words inspired by the hit British movie “The Full Monty”.
Packed full of funny road trip stories, Moore’s book takes us on a Regular Joe, non-glamorous tour of a fascinating part of the world. While it’s almost 20 years old, the mix of cultural and funny travel stories makes for a great introduction to the region. If you’re planning to visit and are worried about dangers or security, Moore’s travel writing will ease your fears.
For more of Peter Moore’s funny books, check out The Wrong Way Home (1999), in which the author follows the hippy trail from London to Sydney overland. Hitting some well-known (pre-war) hippie haunts such as Afghanistan, the author finds humour in the most unlikely places.
The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia
Paul Theroux
Theroux’s dark humour and seemingly grumpy outlook (he’s nothing like this in real life) can be charming, once you get used to it. Ride along the tracks with Theroux for a while and you’ll begin to smile, chortle even, at the writer’s wit. This will never hit most people’s top ten list for the funniest travel books, but I find Theroux’s grumpiness amusing. Maybe you will too.
.ugb-62eb55b .ugb-blockquote__quote{width:70px !important;height:70px !important} I always found myself in the company of Australians, who were like a reminder that I’d touched bottom.
The Great Railway Bazaar is Theroux’s multi-month train journey in 1973 from London all the way to SouthEast Asia . He returns to London on the Trans-Siberian railway route.
.ugb-c76ec09 .ugb-blockquote__quote{width:70px !important;height:70px !important} The traveller is the greediest kind of romantic voyeur, and in some well-hidden part of the traveller’s personality is an unpickable knot of vanity, presumption and mythomania bordering on the pathological. This is why a traveller’s worst nightmare is not the secret police or the witch doctors or malaria, but rather the prospect of meeting another traveller.
Holidays in Hell
P.J. O’Rourke
P.J. O’Rourke’s non-fiction account of his visits to war-torn parts of the world can seem brash in today’s politically correct and “triggered” culture. O’Rourke visited El Salvador, Lebanon, and Nicaragua during the 80s when these places were hot spots for conflict.
If you’re easily offended, stay away. If you can take a joke, you might find O’Rourke’s travel writing devilishly funny. It’s not going to be any use as a travel guide, but that’s not why you’d read it.
O’Rourke doesn’t sugar coat anything and hits the offensive button many times. The book’s subtitle is ‘In Which Our Intrepid Reporter Travels to the World’s Worst Places and Asks, “what’s Funny about This?”’
So that will give you an idea of how he approaches the subject of travel in these countries. Tourist boards will disagree and to be fair, many of the places mentioned are no longer war zones. But again, this isn’t a travel guide. It’s part historical report and part quirky travel biography.
This is about as non-Lonely Planet Guidebook as you can get.
Neither Here Nor There
I’ve already mentioned the author and will probably quote him a million times more in my writing. He’s very quotable. Bryson is also the funniest travel writer there ever was. Yes, this is beginning to sound like the BB fan club, but trust me, if you haven’t read his books yet, stop what you’re doing (after you’ve finished reading all of my blogs), turn off Twitter, Tinder, Tik Tok or whatever you’re looking at these days, and read a book. It’s worth it.
.ugb-88d01d1 .ugb-blockquote__quote{width:70px !important;height:70px !important} …there is nothing like being trapped in a train compartment on a long journey to bring all those unassuageable little frailties of the human body crowding to the front of your mind – the withheld fart, the three and a half square yards of boxer short that have somehow become concertinaed between your buttocks, the Kellog’s cornflake that is teasingly and unaccontably lodged deep in your left nostril.
Bryson is the ultimate geek. He can write in-depth about the nerdiest of topics. He has an entire book about homes. Another about the English language. He has even written a guide to the universe. These topics might seem a little dry, but not only are they filled with wit and humour, Bryson’s books are page-turners. You will read them cover to cover.
Neither Here Nor There, a travelogue through Europe in 1990, is one of the author’s first published books. The book details Bryson’s journey to Sofia, Istanbul, Rome , Paris, Switzerland, the former Yugoslavia, and Amsterdam, among many other places. I have a copy of the 1991 version that I read every year and laugh out loud like it’s the first time.
.ugb-944f88d .ugb-blockquote__quote{width:70px !important;height:70px !important} In the evening I went looking for a restaurant. This is often a problem in Germany. For one thing, there’s a good chance that there will be three guys in lederhosen playing polka music….
If you ever wanted an overview of the best major cities in Europe, this is a good place to start. It’s a warts-and-all account of Europe that you won’t find in the Lonely Planet. A classic.
Do you read funny travel books? What’s your favourite? Which ones in this list do you love? All the above books are available on Amazon (paperback and kindle) and some you will find at your local book store. Load them up on your kindle or go the old-fashioned route and buy the paper version. Whatever you choose, laugh out loud as you go on an adventure into the weird world of travel.
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1 thought on “The Best Of Humorous Travel Writing”
Great list of offbeat travel books. I’ve read a few of them and will read the others as time permits. Coincidentally, at the same time in 1972 when Bryson and Adams were travelling around Europe, so was I. We may have even bumped into each other, though I visited no restaurants that had guys in lederhosen playing oompah music. I wonder is that why they are two of my favourite writers?
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