Andiamo! by Kelly Barber

 

 

I started buying and collecting guide books and maps about three years back: starting with our road trip from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu and Kelantan, and then for our first visit to Melbourne and Sydney.  Initially and partly for my research, I became more interested in different types of guidebooks and maps - not necessarily buying them because I plan to visit those places, but to understand how places are depicted in guide books.  And it's always nice to imagine traveling to those places one day, and at the very least, see the visual experiences from those books.

I bought "Andiamo!" by Kelly Barber in July 2009.  I was attracted to its pictorial essay, which is a lot of visuals compared to texts.  Simply said, it's like looking through a travel album of someone else.  It's nice to see the photos people take - some are of scenery while some are of mundane yet fascinating things like a wall decor of a shop.  I haven't seriously had the intention to visit Italy in the near future, but sure, I'd love to visit that part of the world one day.  As it turns out, there's a conference coming up in Italy in November this year.  Seems like a great opportunity for me to lengthen my foot steps there, don't you think?