“Every piece of travel writing should be about the meaning of life. It doesn’t have to be the central theme of the piece—it shouldn’t be…—but it should be a filament of the story.”
—Don George
A couple of weeks ago here, I loved sharing the evolution of a recently released book that I was honored to be a part of—a collection of stories by renowned travel writer and editor Don George, beautifully titled The Way of Wanderlust.
Today, I’m excited to follow up that story with another little announcement—I’m giving away two signed copies of The Way of Wanderlust here on the blog!
I didn’t share too many details about the book before, so I’ll mention now that the collection is a wonderful reflection of the forty years Don has spent as a writer and traveler at large in the world. Although the stories span some twenty countries from six continents, what I love most is that the book demonstrates how the openness, presence, and grace the world grows in us can enrich our daily lives at home as well.
I first read what is arguably my favorite story in the collection, “A Pilgrim at Stinson Beach,” when it appeared on a site called Gadling a few years ago. In it, Don writes about visiting a beach about an hour’s drive from his house at the beginning of each year, as a way of getting grounded, preparing for the year ahead, and asking himself:
“Where does it come together? What does it mean?
Focus. Enjoy the moment while you have it. Enjoy your loved ones while you have them. Recognize the gifts the world gives you: Inhale the sea, sink your toes into the sand, let the ocean-roar silence your mind.
Then take this simple scene home with you: Sun. Sand. Rocks. Sea.
…Dedicate yourself to creating something of value with your days. Something that will last.
The sea swashing ceaselessly scrubs the mind clean.
Where does it come together? What does it mean?
Sun. Sand. Rocks. Sea. A Stinson Beach clarity.”
I’ve always loved Don’s writing for the way he weaves poetic observations with poignant life lessons from his journeys, and these filaments of meaning are woven throughout The Way of Wanderlust—so I couldn’t be happier to share two copies with you here!
How to enter the giveaway:
- I love to keep giveaways as simple as possible, so all you need to do to enter is leave a comment below, saying where you’d like your wanderlust to take you next (Mongolia is always next on my list…).
- The giveaway will be open until the end of next Tuesday, the 8th of September.
- I lastly just wanted to mention I’ll be happy to ship the books anywhere in the world, so if you’re reading this from outside the US, please don’t hesitate to enter.
And in case you can’t wait until the giveaway is over to get hold of a copy, The Way of Wanderlust is now available on Amazon, as well as in bookstores across the country.
I can’t wait to send some wanderlust love your way!
What beautiful illustrations, Candace! Congratulations on being part of such a wonderful project. To answer your question about the place on my wanderlist (see what I did there? 😉) Bhutan is at the top of my list. I’m so intrigued by their system of Gross National Happiness and the way the people there have held onto their culture. Hoping that some day I will have the chance to experience it for myself!
Brazil with my son!
Thanks so much for entering the giveaway, Andi! I just sent you a message through Facebook, letting you know you’re one of the winners 🙂 Can’t wait to send a copy your way!!
What a wonderful post! The illustrations are beautiful, I would love to read this book. To answer your question, the top destination of my wanderlust list is chefchaouen, morocco. The city is painted in light blue and looks like a dream.
I would like to go on a long distance walk in Northern Ireland.
Wanderlust is taking me to a place I’ve thought of for so long & I’m not waiting anymore to go- England!-summer 2016
Again, congratulations! It’s always so nice to see ones work in actual print.
My wanderlust is an insatiable thing; never quiet, always lurking & egging me on. For now we’ll settle for Ricketts Glen, Pennsylvania but deep down I want to be somewhere in Yellowstone.
Wonderful illustrations! My wanderlust wish is Cuba while it is still pretty frozen in time and before things change too much with the influx of tourists.
Every place I have ever been I would like to return. On the other hand, there are so many places I haven’t been. . . I think I’d like to go to Africa and follow the source (s) of the Nile, Maybe back to Istanbul to see how much it has changed. Or perhaps to Turkey & sleep in a cave in Cappadocia. Or maybe Marrakesh …It’s a big, wonderful world out there.
Venice, Italy
Back to Portugal and then?
Hi Candace–glad your artwork is getting more exposure! I’ll go wherever the flowers are blooming–which makes timing/planning round the world trips kinda critical!
Ireland or Scotland
What a beautiful cover! New Zealand is always next on my list (but it looks like I’ll actually be heading back to Greece and Italy next!)
Lovely sand dollar drawing! It looks like an insightful book. My wanderlust is calling me to travel next to Nepal (they need all the travelers possible to help restart their tourist economy) or Ecuador (so much diversity in a small country)… but there are few places I’d say “No” to!
though i live in the netherlands, i love to see eskdale in GB again
Thank you so much for entering the giveaway, Geert! I’m excited to let you know you’re one of the winners 🙂 If you could please send me your mailing address to [email protected], I can’t wait to send a copy your way very soon!
Wow, thank you very much! I have send you my mailing address, and can’t wait to read the book and see your paintings.
I want to go to Ireland! And see the cliff where the ending scene of the movie Leap Year was shot!
Pick me pick me! 🙂 My wanderlust is taking me to Sri Lanka at the end of this month [I can’t wait!], and I am dreaming of taking a vacation to Ireland sometime next spring. That one is still in the very vague planning stages, but I am crossing my fingers I am able to pull it together. Oh, and I am hopefully going home for Christmas, so no need for shipping to India 🙂
Sending you a big hug and hoping you are loving life in SF! xx
Oooohhhh, I’d LOVE to get to read more of Don George’s inspiring stories! Wanderlust is taking me this fall to Spain and Portugal and winter in Morocco!
Congratulations Candace , wonderful illustrations. My wanderlust is taking me along
the east coast trail of Newfoundland.
Most of the world beckons, but after reading your post about this year’s Book Passage, Corte Madera shot to the top of my list. I attended in 2009, and had a day-long session with Don in SF. To return and experience the magic again would be glorious.
What beautiful illustrations Candace! In three weeks time I will be travelling from my home in Cape Town to the Lake of Stars Festival in Malawi together with my 23 year old daughter, who shares my passion for travel. I am so excited and beyond happy that she wants to travel with her old mom!
Congratulations on making it into Don George’s book Candace! I’m forever inspired by your unique way of documenting and experiencing new places! I’ve sketched a few times when I’ve been away but your beautiful drawings inspire me to work harder at them in the future, good luck with everything!
Stunning illustrations as always, high up on my list is Wallowa, Oregon, I would love to explore the Eagle Cap.
The book looks beautiful – both in prose and illustration! My wanderlust would have me traveling all over the world – and it could be a toss up between South America and Southeast Asia, but right now Myanmar is high on the list (wait – so is Mongolia! and …Colombia! and… )
Seeing as I’ve already ticked off Myanmar and Easter Island, I’d say Antarctica is the dream…. India more likely to be the reality.
This looks utterly gorgeous – some of your art with Don’s words would make a fab combination!
As for my wanderlust … today it’s Papua New Guinea because I was reading about someone I kind of know who went recently. PNG is always somewhere near the top of my wanderlust list because my Dad worked for a bank there for a couple of years before I was born. I always wished he’d done it later so that I could have lived there too.
I’m wanderlust to experience countryside Italy, the land of my ancestors. I also want to see Cambodia (only 8 short months away!!) and England, too.
I empathise with the ‘always next on my list’ sentiment. I read Sara Wheeler’s Terra Incognita several years ago now and whilst my wanderlust continues to bounce from place to place, country to country and continent to continent, Antarctica will always be next on my list. Just reading about Antarctica can be a spiritual journey, a continent that provokes not just questions on the meaning of life, but questions on the meaning of the universe. Should I ever get the chance to visit Antarctica, I shall truly have lived.
Thank you for sharing, the book promises to be amazing – and on something that is so dear to my heart! Mongolia is indeed in the bucket list, I just missed it this summer :). But Alaska and Peru come as priority, especially their shamanic villages and sites.
That´s amazing!! I work for a travel agency in Brazil and every day I come to work I have a new extensive update on my bucket list. But to be honest, the top ones never change: Ethiopia and Myanmar! Totally off the beaten track and always in my heart <3
I love reading the comments here almost as much as I love reading your posts. Such great inspiration. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my next wanderlust takes me to Kenya and Tanzania. My travels are all about looking for birds and to visit another continent would mean nearly every bird I see will be a new one to me.
Wonderful, a giveaway! Thanks Candace.
I’d love to visit Alberta, Canada. I’ve been seeing some gorgeous photos from the mountains there and it’s been way too long since I immersed myself in a long hike.
Such beautiful illustrations! My wanderlust is taking me to Portugal for the next three months and then on to Scotland for Christmas and New Years, solo! I am counting down the hours until my flight! <3
Book looks great! It’s also ironic one of the maps Candace drew includes Connecticut, as I’ve always wanted to explore Mystic, in particular Mystic Seaport. In my imagining I arrive Mystic by ship, rent a room overlooking the water and wander the shores, boardwalks and shipyards taking in the maritime and natural history. I’d read ‘Moby Dick’ again, eat fresh caught fish and drink cottage brews, all the while listening to old timers tell their vintage tales. Anchors Aweigh!
Great to hear from you, Candace!! Beautiful sketch, as always. My wanderlust would take me to Turkey or Argentina next, hopefully! I’m currently keeping an eye out for flights to either of those two places – here’s to hoping it’ll actually happen!
Yay, I’m happy to throw my hat into the ring, can’t wait to read his book (and see your beautiful illustrations). And… Iceland is always next on my list. Someday I’ll actually get there.
That’s a harder question to answer than it would seem! On one hand, I want to go back to a tiny town in France called Saorge next. But new places like India are calling!
The book looks lovely! As for where I would like to go next…hmmm. That’s a hard one. The list is so long. However, right now I’m hoping for Spain in the spring of next year and perhaps a longer term visit to Guatemala or Mexico by the end of 2016. It was Mexico, but after reading more about Lake Atitlan where you stayed, I can’t get it out of my head.
Wanderlust is more than anything a desire to “see” and experience something for the first time, yet as Don demonstrates, you can be a pilgrim even at a familiar nearby beach where the “sparseness helps me – makes me – slow down and pay attention” – something we rarely do on our home-turf, yet is the secret ingredient to when we travel 😉
No matter where I am, I am quenching my thirst for wanderlust!
How lovely! My wanderlust is taking me, my husband and our two teenage children on a trip around the world! Departure day is in 15 days and our first stop is Istanbul!! Here’s to all of us who hold wanderlust in our hearts! May we always hold the world in wonder!
Hi Candace. I’ve been in love with your style of writing, its fresh, crisp and musical. While I do enjoy reading about travel and have loved every bit of your work, I’d love to read about other things too- through your voice. Probably a new muse, absolutely anything. Just thought I should let you know. You have a gift.
Good luck with your next project!
Awesome, congratulations on your contributions to the Wanderlust book! Your blog inspires me to be open to new people and places, if only through your lovely paintings and travel stories. My wanderlust dream/goal would be to travel to New Zealand, and make my way ultimately to Fiji! Have you been to Oceania? Best wishes for serendipitous encounters during your stay in SF. 🙂
Great article! I’m always looking for ideas on new places to stay. I stayed at http://riverhouse.com/ in Bend, Oregon and loved it!
I love your style of sketching and the way you express yourself both in words and colours. I also loved the touching little story of the book The Way of Wanderlust that is now on my to-buy list.. Thank you for the inspiration in this post’s multi-dimensions depth!