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Vera Marie Badertscher
Contact Information WE READ AND TRAVEL
When you travel, you start gathering information before you go. I know that you can find guidebooks and talk to friends, but here at A Traveler’s Library, I point you to the travel literature that will stay on your shelf.
I have been a freelance writer for more than 15 years, and a traveler since my parents took me on a road trip when I was one year old. I’ve visited most of the states in the U.S. and more than 30 countries. When I want to know about a place and can’t get there for first hand knowledge, I read about it.
Here at the Library, we will wander the globe, in no particular order, ignoring the Dewey Decimal system, the alphabet, continental boundaries, or any other artificial organization. Novels, histories, biographies, travel narratives– all kinds of literature that help you understand a place and the people and culture. Many guests join me in talking about new books and old books, including a stellar group of 6 outstanding writers. You can meet them at the contributors page. Movies belong on the shelf along with books, and sometimes music, museums and art works add to our understanding. Travelers with children and travelers with pets have special needs. Some people just want to EAT. The team of 6 specialists provide us with information on all those special travel angles.
The Blog
You, the traveler, like to read literature and watch movies that enhances your travel. Popular bulletin boards for travelers, like Fodors.com and Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree get long strings of comments when someone asks about books. I realized that nobody else on the Internet was providing a discussion of books to read that shed light on a place you are going. Since starting this blog, I have found a few others that discuss books and travel, but none quite as thoroughly as A Traveler’s Library, or with the combination of books and movies and other attractions. From comments from readers, and the constantly increasing traffic, I believe we are providing a needed service.
Whether you travel on a plane, in a car, on a train, or from your armchair, A Traveler’s Library wants to help your journey.
We thrive on your suggestions and discussions with other readers, so please do talk back.
What Else Can I Do For You? If you are looking for words on travel for a magazine, book or web site, check out my work at my writer’s site, Pen4Hire. I long ago lost the thrill of seeing my name in print, so don’t offer me exposure as compensation. My articles have appeared in National Geographic Traveler, AAA Living, Home & Awayand otherAAA magazines, Arizona Highways,American Style, Islands, Rolls Royce Owner’s Desk Diary and Luxury Travel and Steinway & Sons Magazine among others. I have also written for various web sites, and the most recent ones are listed above. I won’t bore you with the whole list, since we both know that web sites come and go with appalling regularity. If you want to hire a writer who produces work on time, meticulously researched and to your specifications, and you pay, let’s talk. I have written profiles, shelter, real estate, fashion, shopping, dining and promotional copy as well as travel articles, so don’t be shy.
Blog Policies
When I accept something for free, or at a reduced price because I am a writer, and then I write about it on the blog, I will tell my readers about it. My readers are intelligent enough to figure out if I am lying about things just to get freebies. I won’t, so they will be spared much thought.
I do accept press trips to places that I think might be interesting to readers, and I promise the sponsors to write about some part of the destination on my blog. I do not promise that what I write may be mistaken for a press release.
The books that publishers give me for review are generally passed on to my readers through giveaways or given to a local library after I have written about them. Sometimes the books that I receive turn out not to be suitable for the blog, and I tell the publisher that. Sometimes the books that I receive are so bad that I don’t even give them away as prizes. But most of the time, the books are wonderful and I am happy to share them.
A NOTE ABOUT ADVERTISING
[Here's a note for publishers and authors about the books we discuss, and to advertisers about advertising on the site.]
I use affiliate advertising on my site. That usually means that I have a link to books sold on Amazon within the text of my blog posts and receive a small percentage of sales. I occasionally link to other products if they fit extremely well. In those cases, I have a financial arrangement with the advertiser, which I will reveal at the end of the post where the link occurs. Readers should be aware of these financial ties.
Please remember that patronizing the advertisers is a vote for continuing this blog. Every purchase helps.
To see our Policies regarding privacy and your protection, see this Privacy Policy page. OTHER STUFF ABOUT ME AND A TRAVELER’S LIBRARY Lonely Planet featured A Traveler’s Library and me as a Blog Sherpa with reprinted articles from 2010 through 2012 when they ended the program. Bloggies 2010 Finalist in Best Travel Blogs Category. Monthly contributor to Reel Life With Jane as Movie Classic Connoisseur. Traveler’s Library Editor at Wandering Educators. Contributor at Your Life Is A Trip Contributor to Absurd Reviews (which really aren’t absurd at all). Contributor at Girls Getaway, where my posts were in the top five traffic generators. Contributor to Indie Travel Podcast Magazine Chosen as one of the Travel Insights 100 Travel Expert, interviewed on Cheap Flights. Click image to read my interview. 
Writing Around the Web I am very active in the blogger community and have written guest posts for the following blogs/websites: Attainable Sustainable: About Louis Bromfield, pioneer of sustainable agriculture and Malabar Farm. Archaeology Travel, Those Sexy Etruscans, a review of D. H. Lawrence’s book about visiting Etrusca. Girls Getaway: Travel Like a Lady in Brittany Your Life Is a Trip: Sisters Road Trip Info Ireland: Books from the Blasket Islands (Feb. 09) Spot Cool Stuff : The Miracle of Siphnos I Explore: The Creme de la Creme of Cooking Classes Go Packbacking : Six Tips for taking the ferry in Greece. The Culinary Life: Food allergy translation cards; Emily Dickinson’s Black Cake Recipe Writing Horseback: Tanque Verde Guest Ranch; Hidden Meadow Ranch Velvet Escape: Master Potter of Mata Ortiz, Mexico; Tohono Chul Park in Tucson Travel Wonders: Canyon de Chelly; Bayeux Tapestry foXnoMad: The Minoans of Crete Writing Horseback:A road trip to northern Arizona Freelancedom: A post on Why I Write I have an article in the web National GEO Traveler–a road trip through duPont country in Delaware and Pennsylvania . Wandering Educators: The Perfect French Movie (Just one of many articles at that site). Mothering.com: A book about peanut allergies What a Trip :List of things to do in Bayeux, France. My Itchy Travel Feet: Normandy and Bayeux; Review of Book for Boomer Adventure; Paddling North (review); Five Adventures on the Navajo Rez;
About the Author:
Travel and lifestyle writer, wife, mother and grandmother. Publisher of A Traveler's LibraryAlso co-author of biography of Navajo artist Quincy Tahoma http://tahomablog.com
pen4hire – who has written 249 posts on A Traveler's Library.
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[...] guest blogger is Vera Badertscher from A Traveler’s Library. Vera is a freelance travel writer, so eating safely in other places is a topic she knows well! [...]
Hi Vera, nice to meet you. I’m from Indonesia, far away from your country. But one thing : we love Agatha Christie. Visit me back in my blog, please.
Hi: And Thanks for visiting. I did check out your blog, but unfortunately I can’t read it. Glad to see you are such a fan of Agatha Christies and bloging about books in Malay.
Bonjour Vera,
Your bio page is so inspiring! How I wish to have taken drama in school (too shy) or to be as ready to travel (I’m a homebody, but do have the chance to “voyager”. Will hope to see Greece next, after reading about your passion for it
hello
i like your website a lot…my namer is senem..from Turkey
i am now travelling to Brasil..
i am wondering if you could reccomend me some books about brasil,argentina and chile
thanks a lot in advance
regards
and happy days!
Unfortunately, I have not posted many books in South America. You can always do a search in the search box to see what is on the site. For Chile, I really love the writer Isabel Allende. And there’s a great book on Uruguay, Invisible Mountain that I did review.
Dear Vera,
Re Trip Planning France, you’ve forgotten to allow comments on the article.
If you come south, and would like to hike for a couple of days, please look us up.
Our site section at:
http://www.enlightened-travell.....px?pgId=14
is hopefully all you need to plan your hiking tour in France.
All the best,
Steve
I’m so glad I found you on Twitter! I love your blog and hope you find yourself back in Lancaster County someday… and that you’ll visit the Historic Smithton again (of course!).
Rebecca: So nice of you to come by and comment, and I’m so glad that you like the blog. How are those beautiful flowers of yours doing? Getting ready to burst into bloom?
I too have changed careers, from engineer to management to artist to writer. I did much traveling in between. However I am a novice campared to you. I am very impresed by your experience. But I do have one over you and that is my tour of Sicily. I originally thought that Sicily was a collection of farms and orchards. In 2004 I toured Sicily and was astonished at its history, being occupied at one time through history by each of the European nation
From the gold imbedded wall pictures of the Cathedral Montreal of Palermo to the ruins of Taormina to the Greek Temples of Agrigento, I was amazed. Touring the three Greek Temples and the drive by at night when they were brightly illuminated was the high light of the tour.
Hi Vera,
When you do the Pacific Northwest, may I invite you to come a little south to the Monterey Bay area. I would like to show you Santa Cruz, on the north side of the bay, in person and through the murder mysteries I write that are set there.
If that’s not enough of an enticement we have several noted mystery writers living in the area although I’m the only one writing about Santa Cruz.
Nancy Lynn Jarvis
Author of “The Death Contingency” and Backyard Bones”
Dear Vera:
Like you, I have traveled the world, and I write. I thought you might be interested in one of my novels, Sigourney’s Quest, which delves into the culture, spirituality, landscapes, and political difficulties in Tibet. I photographed Tibet in the 1990s for a tour operator and fell in love with the people and country, but hated what I saw the Chinese doing there. Sigourney’s Quest was my response. It is available through book stores, Amazon.com, etc. My website has a brief synopsis and sample chapter.
Best wishes,
Gordon Snider
I see that you’re headed to San Antonio. I just moved here a few months ago, and it is truly a beautiful, vibrant city. Happy travels!
Thanks, Sarah. I had never been to San Antonio, until two years ago. This will be my third trip in two years. Surprising how things work out. Last year my husband and I took a Texas Hill Country back road trip (up to Ft. Worth) and stopped at that bakery in Castroville that you talk about in your blog.
I hope that you’ll come back often to visit A Traveler’s Library.
Love the site. Now the hard part is going to select which books not to buy then finding the time to read them ALL. And I’ll definitely be adding this site to my favorites.
Hi Vera,
I got this bit of advice about adding a logo to my blog from a great Twitter pal of mine. Funny thing was, I already had the logo but couldn’t incorporate it into my WordPress theme. He helped me out with changing the codes but it didn’t look nice so I switched to a different theme, hence the revamp! I agree with him that the logo does work wonders for your branding and it adds another personal touch to your site.
Well done. I love your site and like you, am learning tonnes at Darren’s 31-day challenge!
For your site, I would suggest getting a logo that reflects you and your site’s content. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy. You can have one made on the internet for free (just do a Google search, something like “create logo+free” and dozens of adequate logo-making software will appear). That’s how I got mine made… shush… don’t tell anyone else
Cheers,
Keith
[...] thanks to Vera Marie Badertscher for guest writing this post. Vera writes about travel and the books that inspire and inform the [...]
Have read several of your excellent travel reports demonstrating your ability to get into the essence of local culture and color, thanks to an empathy with the locals of many locales. Looking forward to you next discovery!
Mike: That is an honor indeed. I will try to keep you interested.
A lovely and a lovely-looking site. You’re now on my Google home page so I can watch for new postings, an honor given to few.
Good luck with it.
regards
Mike
Congratulations
Another world to conquer. As usual, you will do it with style.
Love
Ken
Great job! I’ll be adding you to my “Travel blog” links.
Thanks, Christina. That’s what I like to hear. And I have that dilemma, too, about how many books to read and when in the heck to find time for them.