All travelers seem to be, at least to some degree, readers. The downtime and travel time of the average vagabonding journey lends itself to reading, and, whether you consider yourself a reader or not, you may well be one be the time your return home.

For some of us it works the opposite way — reading is a gateway to travel. It wasn’t the only reason I went, but certainly part of the appeal of Paris for me has always been Henry Miller’s descriptions and adventures there.

Reading and travel can create a kind of feedback loop, in a good way: you read about somewhere interesting, get inspired to go and when you arrive you discover a whole new way of looking at what you read. For example, as soon as I took one look around Prague I immediately understood far more about Kafka than I ever got from discussing his books in college.

If you needed any further affirmation that you’re not alone in loving the confluence of travel and reading, look no further than the web. There are several sites devoted to the intersection of literature and travel, but Literary Traveler is one of the best.

The site has a wide variety of content, from book reviews to trip reports on members’ literary themed travels. My favorite part of Literary Traveler is that I can simultaneously discover books I want to read and places I want to go.

There’s also a whole section of guided trips you can sign up for — for instance you could spend a week in Savannah walking in the footsteps of Flannery O’Conner. Unfortunately the trips are rather overpriced and of dubious quality (fFlannery O’Conner spent the vast majority of her life in Milledgeville, GA, though to be fair, there isn’t much in Milledgeville).

However, while the trips don’t sound so great, the rest of the site is well worth a look. Especially if you’re like me, stuck in one place at the moment, and looking for a bit inspiration to get out on the road, or just some books about others who are out there.

And of course be sure to let us know about any similar sites you love in the comments.

[Also note that Literary traveler accepts submissions if you're looking to scratch that travel writing itch]

[Photo of Kafka Statue by skugga2shadow, Flickr]