Have pen, will travel. More people are pulling up stumps and chasing dreams on the other side of the world- and writing home about it.
From hostessing in Tokyo to living la dolce vita in Rome, wherever you want to travel, you can do so between the pages of a book. Travel memoirs are becoming the literature du jour.
But the genre has expanded well beyond American author Bill Bryson's first humorous travel book in1985, The Palace Under The Alps.
Now, it is young women who are often wielding the pen. Though, not those on the well-trodden gap year between high school and university. They're in their late 20s, 30s or beyond, and have had a taste of working life, before their wanderlust has bitten.
Clinical psychologist and life coach Darryl Cross says the desire to travel, once having established yourself in a career, is a reflection of modern times. "The Baby Boomers said, 'We can't travel, because we have to save money for our flat or our house and have money in the bank.' Whereas Gen Y are not as money-hungry. They're much more about the experience of life. They might come home broke, but they will be more rounded and have had more experiences."
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With young people's skills continually being recognised abroad, including in tax havens like Dubai and the Canary Islands, it looks as though there will be a few more page-turners yet to come.
Amanda Tabberer
Amanda Tabberer travelled to Italy in 1983 to learn the language and wound up staying 20 years. The daughter of fashion guru Maggie Tabberer says Italy has always been a big part of her family life.
"Maggie's second husband was Italian [Ettore] and he was my real dad. Although I didn't speak Italian or hadn't travelled there extensively, I just had this yearning to learn the language."
Her language lessons were soon swapped for a career in fashion PR and media in Italy's north, including at Lei magazine. But a holiday in the jewel-like town of Positano saw her change course.
"It was basically myself and 20 gay friends - all boys - heading south," Tabberer recalls. "Everyone was saying we had to go to this restaurant, which you could only reach by boat - and we got the best-looking boat boy." That boy later became her husband, Sergio. "I ended up moving down with him and we lived in his garage on a waterbed!"
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