Ten Places Books Have Made Me Want to Visit

1. One word: Hogwarts. But for real, I will visit Alnwick Castle before I die! I would also love to visit the train station and take the Harry Potter tour. We’ll be going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando in December, but I want the real, English feel.

2. I know that New York is dirty, smelly, and busy—but I can’t help but want to visit after reading so many novels staged in New York. I’m a very career-oriented individual, and I can’t help but feel that the pulse and excitement of New York would vibe with me. I would love to live in a tiny studio apartment, visit tiny, busy coffeeshops, and have to walk everywhere.

3. Outlander seriously makes me want to visit Scotland—however, I can’t decide if I would prefer the present day version or 1743 version! Though the lack of deodorant, indoor plumbing, and respect for women makes the whole world sound pretty awful, Gabaldon does such a fabulous job of describing the world that I don’t think I’d mind much.

4. I read Amazing Grace my sophomore year of high school, and for some reason, I’ve wanted to visit Alaska ever since.

5. Ever since I read South of Superior, I’ve been obsessed with Michigan. If I could pack up and move to Michigan, I’d be happy! There’s something about the changing seasons, cold winters, and small-town feel to it that calls my name.

6. I am not a summer girl. I don’t like the heat or clothes I have to wear in order to not suffocate, and I definitely don’t like the constant sunshine. I love rainy days, the gloomy darkness that envelops everything. That’s what makes me happy. In The Things We Do For Love, Kristin Hannah describes Western Washington and the Washington Peninsula so perfectly that it makes me want to live there, with the near-constant rain and moss everywhere. Such a beautiful setting for a beautiful book.

7. In high school, I took 3 years of French but none of it stuck, I literally remember one phrase. Anna and the French Kiss makes me want to relearn the entire language and escape to Paris, eat croissants and watch old movies. The entire atmosphere of the book makes me feel like I experienced it all along with Anna and that makes the desire that much more fierce. It’s so beautiful and so different than the States. Someday, far down the line, I will go.

8. It probably doesn’t help that I am a wannabe Southern Belle, but Beautiful Creatures (and honestly any book that takes place in the South) makes it so much worse. I wish I could live there! South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, any of them. I think I romanticize it quite a bit, I’ve visited Louisiana a couple of times and it’s not all sweet tea and pecan pie. There are alligators, flying cockroaches and SO MUCH HUMIDITY. I will just keep visiting, for now.

9. I have never been one that has a huge need to travel to the outer reaches of the globe or to experience different cultures (I like to stay in my comfort zone, where I can speak English and not wonder what’s in the food). The descriptions in Daughter of Smoke and Bone make me want to do just that though. They don’t speak English in Prague, and I would have no idea what to do there, but I have this very bizarre desire to go there after reading this.

10. Right after I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love I turned to my husband and told him that we were selling all of our stuff, leaving the puppies with my mom and going to live in Bali. I know that logically, this is not a very good plan but I still want to do it! Leaving everything behind and starting new sounds like such a great idea until you really think about it…

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