Do you buy books while you’re traveling? If so, what’s the most exotic place you’ve purchased a book from, and do you still own the book?
Thanks for asking this question. It sent me looking for my exotic purchases from sometime around 2004 when I took a group tour to four of the Hawaiian Islands. While there I visited bookstores, of course, during some of my free time and found local publications like Hilo Legends and Petroglyphs of Hawaii both published by Petroglyph Press, LTD. From University of Hawaii Press: Hawaiian Tales of Heroes and Champions by Vivian L. Thompson. Also a couple oldies: Hawaii a Pageant of the Soil by Jean Hobbs and Hawaii: The Sugar-coated Fortress by Francine duPlessix Gray. Yep, still own them all! And enjoy this opportunity to revisit. Perhaps I will actually get around to reading them all the way through.
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I’m trying to jog my memory. Hmm. I did buy alphabet books for my niece who was young at the time of my travels. These ABC books reflected the country/state/city and culture. I recall two - ABC of Hong Kong and one about Alaska.
I used to travel with a close friend to Ashland, Oregon once or twice a year for the Shakespeare Festival there. We’d stay at a fancy bed and breakfast, and spend enough time there to see every play offered (sometimes as many as six over three days). In between, we’d always go shopping (and wine tasting!) and the bookstore down there was a favorite stop. We’d each buy three or four books for ourselves, and then we’d make the other person buy a book at our recommendation. (“Here! You really need to read this!”) Sadly, too much has changed - personally, and in Ashland - and we fell out of the habit.
The most exotic place, though, was, like @Connie_K, a purchase while I was in Hawaii. (Got married on Kauai 30 years ago!). I became fascinated with Pele, and bought a book of Hawaiian folklore.
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I bought Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones in Barcelona. That’s the only interesting travel purchase I can recall. And no, I no longer have it. Gave it away after reading. It was too good not to share.
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@NanK Oh, good thought. Yes, always look for kids’ books for our niece when we travel. Most recently brought her some from castles in France and a tee shirt of course. Also a couple smaller books in elementary French as her mom speaks a bit of it - auntie is always looking for a teaching moment (poor kid).
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My husband and I love to travel and we build our vacations around National Park Service sites. I can’t say any are “exotic,” but each has been special. The visitor centers and their bookstores are a must stop for book(s) and bookmark(s). We’ve visited 99 sites, monuments, battlefields, parks, etc. so we have a lot of books from our travels. The most useful book has been a North American road atlas we purchased in Saguaro National Park. GPS is great, but it’s much easier to plan a trip with a paper map plus GPS occasionally lead us astray. Brighty of Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry is the most treasured book from our travels since we bought it for our daughter when she was eight and had her picture taken petting Brighty’s bronze sculpture at the Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim. It has become even more special since the Lodge burned to the ground in 2025 and Brighty’s sculpture was severely damaged.
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After visiting our son and his family in Atlanta, we took a slight detour on our way back to Dublin, Ohio by way of Nashville–just to go to Ann Patchett’s bookstore, Parnassas Books. I spent a bundle, and every book I purchased, including four by Ann Patchett, were signed by the authors.
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What fun!!! A stop at Parnassas is on my bucket list.
And bonus! Apparently–and you’ll probably be as surprised as I was by this–there is something else to do in Nashville besides Parnassus Books! 
Out-of-staters are common at the bookstore. When you walk in the door, there is a map of the United States to your left with pushpins to indicate your hometown. It’s fun! SO many visitors…er, pilgrims.
I was not only thinking books, but music. Having been raised by a country music loving Dad, and five years of steel guitar lessons as a child, I have a soft spot for that genre of music. So I would need to include a stop on “music row” and the opera along with Parnassus stop.
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Howdy neighbor, I live close to Dublin, Ohio.
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