Reading on the Road
We are avid readers and know many other caravanning families like to read on the road, so here are our tips.
We recommend doing the majority of your reading electronically, but we always have a couple of hard copy books on the go for beach reading, poolside reading, waiting for public transport, etc.
Hard copy books
Due to space and weight restrictions, there are only so many hard copy books you can take on the road. But did you know there are a number of options for swapping books?
Caravan parks often have swap libraries! Look in laundries, camp kitchens, and other common spaces for a pile of books. The idea is to leave a book, take a book, to share hard copy books with fellow travelers. This works for both adult books and children's books, although be aware you are more likely to find children's books in caravan parks targeted at children (i.e. those with playgrounds, jumping pillows, bike tracks, etc).
Street libraries are also present in many small towns. These are often housed in quirky spaces like old telephone boxes, custom built mailboxes, or fridges. For street library locations check out this website or empower your passengers to keep a look out!
Second-hand bookstores and op shops can be found in many towns, where you can drop off your hard copy books and buy new ones for a small fee.
Some Visitor's Centres also have travel libraries where you can swap books.
Electronic borrowing
Most libraries now have electronic books (ebooks) and audiobooks that you can borrow using apps like BorrowBox, Indyreads, Libby and Librivox.
Based on our experience, we recommend joining multiple libraries, including one bigger library (like a State library). Join libraries that utilise different apps, so you can experiment with which one(s) you prefer. Some apps allow you to download books so that you can read them offline, while others require you to have internet access.
Personally we have had Kindles in the past, but prefer to use Samsung tablets. That's because Kindles are single use (i.e. only for reading), where as tablets are multi-purpose. We also use our tablets for streaming, watching tv, weather, trip research, booking accommodation and educational purposes.
Books are not just for fun
While we love relaxing with our hard copy and ebooks we read for entertainment, we also utilise books for other reasons.
Audiobooks are great for travel days! They help pass the time on those long stretches of roads in outback Australia with little to look at and no radio reception. We find those really looong books, like Lord of the Rings, or series of books for children, like the Harry Potter series, work really well as audiobooks. As mentioned above, you can borrow audiobooks from libraries, but you can also borrow them from music apps, like Spotify, which allow you to download (in case you don't have wifi on the road).
We also use electronic books for research and education when on the road as books are a rich source of information on coutless topics. Some examples of how we use books are:
We borrow electronic and hard copy non-fiction guidebooks and travel books relevent to the area we are traveling to. These help us fully research the area, allowing us to plan what we want to do when we arrive, where we may stay etc. While we recongnise much of this information can also be found online, books are another option that often provide more information.
Books are fantastic for local history or stories that can really help us appreciate our travels and connect with the places & cultures we are visiting and the people who live there.
Books are great to learn a new skill or hobby. You might want to learn more about photography, to help make your travel photographs the best they can be. Or maybe enhance your cooking skills in the caravan!
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