All I know about Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" is that it contains the memorable quote "Wherever you go, you take yourself with you" which pretty much sums up Alain de Botton's antidote to all those picture-perfect guidebooks.
Travel doesn't really interests me; what interests me is different places but to get to them, I had to travel, which I did in between jobs because everyone of my over fifty jobs was always in a different place, often in a different country, and then almost always on a different continent.
And everywhere I went, my body and mind would travel with me and somehow threaten or even negate my full appreciation of the new destination. To quote the full quote: "It's like the people who believe they'll be happy if they go and live somewhere else, but who learn it doesn't work that way. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you."
Unfortunately, Alain de Botton's eye-opening and thought-provoking "The Art of Travel" was only published in 2002, long after I had finished with my travels. If I had been able to read it earlier, I might've been happier on my journeys. Still, it is wonderful to listen to Alain de Botton now:
Yes, he is lucid, fluid, uplifting and can enrich and improve your life.
