Tunner: “We must be the first tourists since the war.”

Kit: “We’re not tourists. We’re travelers.”

Tunner: “Oh. What’s the difference?”

Port: “A tourist thinks about going home the moment they arrive, Tunner.

Kit: “Whereas a traveler might not come back at all.”

- From the film “The Sheltering Sky”, Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci (original novel by Paul Bowles)

Literary travel is a particular fascination of mine. Reading guidebooks, especially in anticipation of actually traveling to a specific destination, has never been a prerequisite (although Lonely Planet, Bradt and Moon have all figured in many of the foreign locales I have visited).

No, I prefer to consult the likes of Graham Greene, John Steinbeck, James Joyce or my personal favorite, Evelyn Waugh, whose “When The Going Was Good” I consider the best travel book ever written.

I recently discovered the bookstore of my dreams – Idelewild Books in New York City. In a small sidebar article in the Travel section of a recent issue of the Sunday New York Times, they present a short piece on this store and the pleasures to be discovered within.

As if you needed another reason to travel to NYC, you just found a new one.

[REW]

Bookstores are a ‘must do’ travel experience for us. Do you have a favorite? Comments below.