summary of the art of travel by elon de baton written by lee shuleri in quick read narrated by alex smith introduction instead of learning where to travel why not learn how and why throughout the art of travel de baton teaches you about the pleasures of anticipation and why we as humans crave something exotic with insight from fellow travelers like budalier wordsworth van gogh and alexander humboldt the baton details the right way to travel instead of cramming every tourist hot spot under your itinerary try something different take a page from baudelaire and immerse yourself in a new culture or be like wordsworth and take a hike in nature stopping frequently to take in sights smells and sounds or even take a page from van gogh and sketch the landscape and architecture stopping to pay attention to the details and appreciate your surroundings traveling doesn't have to be filled with lines crowds and countless photos that take just one second to take it's about appreciating something new something beautiful or something different at the end of the day de baton asks us if we aren't stopping to take in our surroundings then what's the point of traveling chapter 1 the realities of travel a dominant aspect of our lives is perhaps our search for happiness many try to find it in their jobs while others may seek happiness in their relationships others however believe they'll find it in their travels this quest shows that we as humans understand what life is truly about of course we understand the need to work and survive but at the end of the day happiness is our main goal therefore when searching for a new destination we are inundated with advice on where to travel to however we hear very little of why and how we should go many see pictures of beautiful tropical destinations a simple brochure filled with curated images of palm trees clear skies and white beaches we see this image and tell ourselves that if we were laying on the sand right now our problems would be solved we failed to think about the lengthy and expensive journey ahead and we failed to realize that our problems don't magically disappear by simply leaving for a few days or weeks in an 1884 novel called a rebor by joris carl heisman heisman recounts the story of duke of ascentus an aristocratic misanthropic hero who despised the ugliness and stupidity of others his hatred of society led to a life of solitude spending his days in his home reading classic literature one night however the duke surprised himself with an intense desire to travel to london this inspiration struck during the reading of charles dickens which evoked visions of english life that the duke became excited to experience immediately he ordered his servants to pack his bags while he got himself ready to take the next train to paris while in paris the duke went inside an english book shop on the rue de rivoli and bought a volume of bediker's guide to london he then made his way to an english tavern where he sat and watched the people of the city over a bowl of soup and a pint of beer as the train approached the duke's dreams of london were about to turn into a reality however he began to think about the stresses of traveling he would have to run to the station fight for a porter board the train endure an unfamiliar bed stand in cues and feel cold as he moved around the sights of the city realizing the trouble of traveling was too overwhelming and exhausting the duke paid the bill left the tavern and took the first train back to his villa where he stayed and never left again this story of the duke reveals the reality of how the anticipation of travel is far more exciting than the trip itself de baton experienced a similar scenario when he traveled to barbados prepared to spend his days lying on the beach under a shady palm without a care in the world upon landing however he quickly realized that nothing was as he imagined he waited in line at customs as immigration officials carefully scanned the pages of hundreds of passports and he then found himself in a sea of tourists trying to hail taxi cabs and get to their hotels even worse the heat and humidity was intense and uncomfortable the next morning he found that he was still as anxious as before that his problems didn't magically go away simply because he was at a beautiful tropical destination chapter 2 the miracles of trains and planes de baton recalls the 19th century french poet charles baudelaire who from his childhood never quite fit into society baudelaire didn't get along with his family and was expelled from a succession of boarding schools he knew he was destined for a life of solitude and always wanted to travel as far away as he could he would spend his time watching ships dock and depart telling himself that they were setting sail for happiness he admired these large vessels and was amazed at their efficiency to travel between continents similarly de baton frequently goes to heathrow airport when he feels sad finding the comfort in the ceaseless landings and takeoff of aircraft he imagines all the places these planes have just been and where they are headed a plane takes off for new york while others sit at the terminal destined for canada brazil pakistan korea he watches as men perform a choreographed dance as workers unload baggage and passengers disembark while baudelaire loved the miracles of ships de baton feels the same about airplanes from the moment we take off and leave the earth we are filled with excitement and given the opportunity to change our perspective as we travel higher into the sky the buildings below us become smaller and smaller until they are no longer in our site our perspective begins to change as we realize just how tiny we are in this big world finally we break through the clouds to see a vast landscape below us being amongst the clouds changes us what were once giant obstructions of the sun and producers of rain are now beautiful equals even bad airplane food tastes better when dining among the clouds in the grand scheme of life we experience a rare view that historical poets like baudelaire could only dream of seeing it's a remarkable thing to be able to fly over a cloud in a poem titled the outsider baudelaire writes i love the clouds the clouds that pass by over there those lovely clouds it's amazing how among the clouds our earthly problems just seemed to disappear similarly american painter edward hopper viewed trains in a magical light seeing a dreaminess in trains hopper believed sitting on a train and watching the landscape pass by allowed people to think more freely and access memories they didn't know existed de baton agrees that watching the landscape flow past distracts our minds and opens us up to uninhibited reflections during a train journey of his own debutant found himself thinking about his father's death and an essay he had been writing calling this train dreaming de baton argues that when we allow ourselves to just sit and train dream we can connect our thoughts to past experiences that we may have otherwise forgotten during our busy lives chapter 3 the freedom of exoticism de baton once flew to amsterdam a relatively short flight for most europeans despite the short trip however de baton became infatuated by the seemingly mundane things such as the signs at the airport he recalls the dutch vowel combinations giving him genuine pleasure and reminded himself that he was in fact somewhere exotic the allure of traveling somewhere exotic has long been an impetus for travelers everywhere we have the desire to travel somewhere different and immerse ourselves in something new and exciting in the early 1800s the word exotic became synonymous with the middle east an area commonly referred to as the orient writers like victor hugo became fascinated by the middle east's exotic customs and architecture so much that the architecture in european cities began to reflect what they saw in the orient for instance french novelist gustav friber hated his sterile banal and laborious life in the city of roon and began to dream and write about life in the middle east he imagined the orient as an escape from the sensible boring life in france after the death of his father fleber traveled to egypt at the age of 24 and became thrilled to find himself in a world with negroes negresses camels turbans and guttural cries he loved the chaos of egyptian life the yells of animals the bold colors and the locals manner of speech chaos was the true way to live calmness and order simply stifled human creativity and was no way to live throughout his travels in egypt flabir studied language culture and history in fact his dark features and egyptian dress led him to pass as a native people even calling him abu shanab or father of the moustache like anything however the excitement wore off after months of traveling around egypt flaubert slipped back into depression he realized that changing your location doesn't simply cure you of your unhappy predisposition instead you just become unhappy abroad this doesn't mean his trip failed him however in the end he didn't want to leave egypt and spoke about his life-changing trip until the end of his days through his experience flabir argues that nationality should reflect what we are attracted to not simply our place of birth fulbert thought he was as much chinese as i am french and had a respect of loyalty that ran deep for the arabs he succeeded in breaking down barriers of foreign and familiar he found a place that reflected his personality through the power of travel according to de baton you too can find freedom through immersing yourself in different exotic worlds chapter 4 why traveling is boring on a trip to madrid de baton woke one morning with intense lethargy he began to peruse a few travel magazines and guidebooks to inspire himself to walk around and explore the beautiful city outside his door was a new world he had yet to discover but instead all he felt was exhaustion and a lack of enthusiasm he resigned himself to his hotel room to sleep however the constant interruption of housekeeping led him outside to look around the city this lethargy and exhaustion is a common experience among modern day travelers when it comes to travelers of the past however there wasn't time to be tired in 1799 german scholar alexander von humboldt sailed from spain to south america when he set out to south america europeans didn't know much about the continent and humboldt's job was to inform them during the voyage itself humboldt recorded everything from the temperature of the sea and the ship's location to the unclassified species of the sea that he caught from a net once the ship anchored the recording continued he drew maps of the continent and its rivers recorded temperature and atmospheric pressure made discoveries about the earth's magnetic fields and studied the indigenous peoples and their way of life humboldt was exploring territory that had never been explored before today there's no land left to explore thanks to early explorers like humboldt everything about the places we are traveling are already known simply put early travelers like humboldt didn't have time for boredom like today's travelers when de baton finally left his hotel room to explore madrid he found himself anxiously wondering what am i supposed to do here what am i supposed to think explorers like humboldt were never plagued with these questions his job was to make new factual discoveries which are now seemingly impossible as debaton read through various guidebooks he became maddened by the details that seemed irrelevant to his life instead he finds himself becoming curious about spain's lack of vegetables spanish people's long names spanish men's small feet and the prevalence of modern architecture when visiting the royal basilica of san francisco el grande de beton found the facts of his guidebook to be superficial and uninteresting therefore he began asking himself questions that he would want to be answered why did people first begin building churches why are many churches different in design why is this particular church so popular and successful de baton believes simply following a path prescribed for you from a guidebook will lead to unfulfilled travel you must follow your own subjective interests to get the most out of the cities and countries that you are visiting by asking questions and developing a curiosity surrounding which you are exploring you will not only learn more about the places you're in but you will also learn more about yourself chapter 5 spots of time born in 1770 the british romantic poem william wordsworth spent his childhood in the lake district running wild among the mountains his connection to nature continued into adulthood as he walked every day along the lake or hiked in the mountains each time he wrote short poems about the significance of nature and criticized the dangers of city life with pollution people and poverty urban life was bad for the soul living in a city led to a population of people obsessed with social status and consumerism nature on the other hand was good for the mind and body flowers had an air of humility and meekness while trees represented patience and dignity wordsworth paid attention to the way nature moved and saw the intricacies of the environment around him he believes noticing the beauty of nature could heal your mind he once wrote a poem about daffodils and stated for oft when on my couch i lie in vacant or in pensive mood thy flash upon that inward eye and in my heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils according to wordsworth the concept of remembering nature is called storing up spots of time he made this revelation when walking amongst the italian alps and stating scarcely a day of my life will pass in which i shall not derive some happiness from these images in other words remembering particular scenes from nature could allow people to relieve stress and everyday worries inspired by wordsworth appreciation for nature de baton visited england's lake district himself despite the rain the author immersed himself in nature noticing the trees the birds and even a sheep that he encountered as they stared at one another de baton wondered what was going through the sheep's mind sitting under the oaks a favorite pastime of wordsworth de baton felt calm as he allowed his mind to forget about the anxieties of daily life later upon returning to london debutant experienced his own spot of time while sitting in a traffic jam he suddenly returned to the trees of the lake district and stopped worrying about his upcoming meeting it would benefit you to use the same technique in your own life when traveling in nature take in your surroundings and the view upon returning to everyday life you can recall these moments when you begin to feel stressed and anxious hopefully these memories and images will have a calming effect similar to what wordsworth and debutant experienced chapter 6 the sublime on a trip to the sinai desert de baton read a passage from the philosopher pascal that inspired him to wonder about the smallness of humans in this huge world humans occupy such a small space which is both awe-inspiring and scary as he explored sinai de baton encountered deep canyons valleys and granite mountains that seemed infinite along the horizon he began to think upon how the endless sinai easily swallows up the human observer as he felt minuscule in comparison this feeling known as the sublime is the meaningful feeling of insignificance that de baton experienced this concept however is far from modern in 1712 an ancient greek treaties on the sublime was translated into english inspiring writers to take up an interest in recognizing the power of our world and the landscapes that surround us when visiting places such as sinai it's impossible to ignore thoughts of deities and gods it's normal to think about something greater than ourselves something that had a hand in creating such monumental beautiful landscapes in fact many earthly philosophers and theorists saw the sublime as proof of god's existence even writing about such experiences in the bible the book of job for example recounts the story of a man named job an incredibly wealthy man job suddenly experiences the loss of livestock as a sheep are either stolen or slain soon afterwards a raging storm kills his son job's friend suggests that his sin caused his misfortune however job defends his innocence and knows that he has not sinned job turns to god to question what he did to deserve such a loss god replies do not be surprised that things have not gone your way the universe is greater than you and you cannot fathom its logic in other words humans play such a small role in the grand scheme of the universe humans can never understand the logic but must simply continue to trust in god's plan for the universe whether you believe in god or not understanding that humans can't control everything can lead to a sense of peace and happiness understand that we as a people are small we must relinquish control where we do not have it and focus on our future rather than dwell on our pasts chapter 7 art and travel when traveling to province in the south of france de baton admits that province is not particularly appealing to him to prove to himself that there must be something inspiring about the place he pulls off the road to look at his surroundings a bit closer he aims to seek for province's beauty but he can't seem to find anything redeeming when he arrives at a friend's house however he tells them that province is simply paradise vincent van gogh came to province in 1888 at the age of 34 and immediately began painting the landscapes of the town of arlas he aimed to show others the south of france wanting to open other's eyes to a part of the world they had never seen before during de baton's stay he read a book on van gogh one night to help him sleep the next morning de baton noticed two cypress trees in the garden and became reminded of van gogh's sketches of cypresses capturing their unusual proportions and dances in the wind suddenly de baton began to feel an appreciation for the trees and landscape of province works of art are important and can inspire us to travel somewhere new when people see paintings photographs or even movies that feature stunning landscapes of unfamiliar destinations people become inspired to visit them for instance until the late 18th century british people rarely appreciated their own countryside instead they took trips abroad to italy because of the many poems and paintings about roman naples it wasn't until british poet james thompson wrote a poem called the seasons which celebrated the english countryside his poem inspired poets his poems inspired poets like steven duck and john claire and even painters like thomas gainsborough and richard wilson who began painting the beautiful scenery soon tourists began flooding the area of the lake district in the scottish highlands to experience the wonder and beauty of them at the end of the day art influences what people observe which is why art and travel can be mutually enriching through art people can try new perspectives and even travel to new places to produce more art traveling can help painters depict a place in a way that no one has ever seen before allowing viewers to see them from a new perspective chapter 8 writing and drawing your travels if you've traveled in recent years you might notice the habits of travelers at popular tourist spots hundreds maybe even thousands of people moving along snapping a picture to take it off the list and quickly heading to the next destination what are these people really learning about the place if anything if traveling is simply taking a picture and moving along then what's the point born in 1819 londoner john ruskin focused his attention on how to truly capture the beauty of a particular place he paid large attention to detail and discovered that drawing and writing about beautiful places is the best way to understand it believing that drawing was more important he encouraged everyone to learn it regardless of occupation social class or artistic talent the point wasn't to create better artists but happier people the act of drawing forces you to notice rather than merely look frustrated by the tourists who try to see everything he believes drawing placed value on detail allowing you to truly appreciate the place you were visiting de baton took the advice of ruskin and decided to try drawing the window of his bedroom in the lake district his drawing was not exactly perfect the window panes weren't exactly square and the paint wasn't necessarily white however during his drawing of the scenery de baton learned the structure of the tree branches proving that drawing forces you to pay attention to the details additionally ruskin emphasized the importance of word painting also known as writing writing can have a similar effect in that it helps us absorb our surroundings and appreciate where we are however simply describing your surroundings isn't enough lazily writing out descriptions of pretty landscapes or the weather won't force you to appreciate what's around you instead begin asking yourself questions about how and why things are beautiful why is one lake prettier than another what does this object or place remind me of what makes this place stand out against the others additionally ruskin wrote descriptions attempting to bottle the skies through his words and writing extensive descriptions of sunsets and morning skies he personified his surroundings seeing clouds as if they were animated by an inner will or compelled to an unseen power the trees and the alps became quiet multitudes that stand comfortless and proud amidst the rocks giving his surroundings a human quality forced him to appreciate their details and think of them as more than mere objects so the next time you travel instead of taking a simple photograph try bringing a sketchbook or journal along sit down on a bench and begin taking in your surroundings sketch the people eating at the cafe or ask yourself questions about them what do you think their story is are they locals or tourists perhaps draw the landscape or write a poem describing your feelings at that moment writing or drawing during your travels will help you appreciate the art of traveling and allow you to take in your surroundings if that's not the point of traveling then what is final summary traveling can certainly be stressful and exhausting but the next time you travel remind yourself of the art of travel remember that flights can shift your perspective allowing you to recognize that your problems are small in comparison to the universe similarly the sublime reminds us that life is not in our control and that we must not question the power of nature in the universe we must learn to appreciate nature we can do this by looking at art and traveling in nature to bring us peace and calmness we can submerge ourselves deeper by writing or drawing our surroundings when we travel simply paying attention to the details the flowers the trees the clouds the architecture the people will teach you to enjoy the moment and appreciate where you are so the next time you travel remember the art of traveling stop to smell the roses and really see the place you're in this has been a summary of the art of travel by lan de baton written by lee shuleri and quick read narrated by alex smith the end did you like this audiobook summary click the like button now to support our channel and click subscribe if you want to get notified each time we post a new free audiobook summary on youtube you can also download our free app and enjoy thousands of other free book and audio book summaries go to quickread.com app and download our free app today