This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Whether they tell us about a single destination or take us to the four corners of the planet, travel stories make us see the world through different eyes. Here are a few to savor while seated in your living room, train or plane chair.
I live on an island
Do we really know where we live? This is the question sent to us by this delicious book by Rodolphe Lasne, who undertook a journey on foot around Montreal at the end of the summer of 2019 to rediscover the insularity of his Isle. From his five-day urban hike were born 160 geopoetic fragments like so many kilometers traveled to the rhythm of his steps.
“Go around the island on foot. Not by bike and even less by car. Not weighting myself down with a mount, giving myself the opportunity to venture on the most uncertain of paths, to jump over barriers if necessary, to wade if necessary. »
In order to feel the change of scenery and to project himself “in a state of travel”, he completed his backpacking itinerary in one go, “without returning home between each stage”. We thus leave the Old Port with him to explore the perimeter of the island in an anti-clockwise direction.
Through his glasses, the Jacques-Cartier Bridge fades and bark canoes loom on the horizon, the buildings of the Molson brewery disappear as applause resounds for Louis Cyr in Sohmer Park and the bridge- Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel gives way to the historic village of Longue-Pointe. It is not only insularity that we find over the pages, but also parts of history diluted in the present. Along the way, we promise ourselves to pay attention to a host of details that are part of a setting that we no longer see and to slow down, too, to better understand what surrounds us.
I live on an island (Rodolphe Lasnes, Lemeac, $23)
My year abroad. Slow travel story
Leaving for a whole year, host, columnist and photographer Jean-Michel Dufaux had long dreamed of it when, in the fall of 2018, he weighed anchor for the Asian continent with his girlfriend. The fifties blues, a quest for identity and greater professional flexibility allowed him to go and recreate his daily life in different corners of the world. “I didn’t want to be constantly in my suitcases: I wanted to take the time to settle down, discover a corner of the world and really live there,” he writes.
Over the next few months, he would travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand, Mazatlan, Mexico, and Da Nang, Vietnam — where he would join a ball hockey league! —, his base camps, before spending a few weeks in Europe to conclude his adventure in Champex, Switzerland, where the chalet inherited from his paternal grandparents is located. If this route is not logical from a geographical point of view, it clearly demonstrates the state of mind in which this eternal freelancer approached his journey: with as few constraints as possible.
We should not expect a linear story here, but rather an album of silver photos in which addresses, impressions and reflections on different themes are mixed. To be left on the coffee table.
My year abroad. Slow travel story (Jean-Michel Dufaux, Perfume of Ink, $30)
A world to see. 100 adventures to live in the new era of travel
Since 1996, journalist Carolyne Parent has been writing stories and travel reports in numerous media, including ELLE Quebec and The duty. Tireless globetrotter — more than 120 countries on the clock! —, the author attributes the choice of her way of life to her refusal to “wither away in an office with partitions”. In the current context, it seems necessary to give meaning to our departures. It is with this criterion in mind that it selected the 100 destinations in 55 countries and territories ofA world to see.
Over the course of 352 pages, this “professional tourist” proves not only that her passion for elsewhere is intact, but also that one can embrace the unknown as much as postcard images without losing one’s soul as a traveler. Above all, it invites globetrotters to go beyond the bucket list and the most popular places, and to make more considered choices. “Recognizing that we are among those we wish to avoid elsewhere would already, it seems to me, be a first step towards raising awareness aimed at countering the harmful effects of overtourism. »
We revel in his photos and the unique graphics of this book that we want to offer to all travel lovers.
A world to see. 100 adventures to live in the new era of travel (Carolyne Parent, KO editions, $30)