Bon Voyage Book Box: An Origin Story
It began, as most important moments do, in a bookstore. I was searching for a few books to prepare for my upcoming trip to Transylvania and the Balkans. Over the course of my travels, I have found that the best way for me to personally get excited and to feel connected to a new location is to read its literature. If you've read a lot of world literature, then you probably know what I mean. The mark of a culture is hidden within the pages of books, whether new or old, no matter the genre. While many meanings are inevitably lost in translation, a skilled translator wields their pen like a surgeon's knife, carving out only what is necessary and taking care to stitch the words together neatly. The end result is not quite the same as the original, but it retains its own beauty. I want to swim in these worlds of words. Each time I emerge with a clearer picture of my new destination. This was my mission as I scanned the bookshelves of my local bookshop, searching for a hidden gem that could reveal to me a glimpse of Romanian culture. My hopes and book bag were empty as I slipped out of the bookstore and resolved that in lieu of a new book, I would reread Dracula when I got home, hoping that I could find an English translation of a modern Romanian novel during my trip.
This wish, too, was unfulfilled. However, on my long bus ride up to Bran Castle, the inspiration for The Vampyre by John Polidori and later on Bram Stoker's Dracula, I convinced my fellow travelers to download the ebook of Dracula as I passed around my hard copy of the novel. The collective gasps every time the bus took an abrupt turn or jolt and the excited chatter as we explored the castle made me smile. There was a mixture of authentic clothing and furnishings from the Count's time period contrasted with the cutesy Halloween decorations and a holographic Count Dracula who jump scares unwitting patrons when they first enter. As we filed onto the bus, many of my fellow travelers stopped to thank me for encouraging them to read the novel before their visit. The return ride was full of discussion about the real Count and his evolution into a mythic creature. While this was not my intended literary voyage, this experience taught me the power of shared literature. I experienced this myself 10 days later when I arrived in Bosnia and Hezergovina. I am ashamed to admit that I was ignorant of the recent genocide in this region of the world. Born the year the Bosnian war ended, my history books in school did not include this section of the world or anything post 1980s.
We began our visit to Sarajevo with a walking tour of the city. I have never had a more enthusiastic and engaging tour guide. He radiated joy and pride in his city. We walked to the car that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in that began World War I. We perused the Sarajevo market, lined with stalls of handmade goods from pottery to pastries. We ended our walk at the city center, where one can see the mosque, the temple, and the cathedral side by side. Our guide pulled out a dog-eared book from his satchel. He held it reverently in his hands as we clustered around to see the title. He explained that this was The Book of the People, it was written by an Australian author about a discovery of a treasured and rare Jewish Haggadah that was preserved inside the Sarajevo mosque. While it is a work of fiction, the Haggadah itself exists and is considered a UNESCO World Heritage document. I saw many other inspiring and horrific sites while exploring the city, but the guide's passionate recommendation of this book was another reminder about the power of the stories we share, and I wanted to create something that would allow anyone to travel from home and just maybe, inspire them to travel to a place they had previously never considered. I returned home with my first sketch of what would become Bon Voyage Book Box.
As a former English teacher, I am a firm believer of the power words hold and the capacity for others to gain a new perspective through a good book. In a world where our attention is a commodity and empathy is scarce, we need books more than ever to peel back our assumptions and to remind us that the world is a beautiful mosaic of stories.
Bon Voyage Book Box was born out of a need to discover and to share the stories of the world and to inspire travel. I hope your next box transports you to another culture and that you share your experience with your loved ones.
