Best Summer 2022 Books for 9 Euro Ticket Trips

Sustainable travel has taken a brand new spin with the introduction of the 9 Euro ticket in Germany. If you're from the area, you've likely even seen satirising TikToks poking fun at the sheer number of people on the trains… Take it or leave it, the whole entire summer of 2022, you can travel with regional and local public transport all around Germany for as much as 9 Euro/month. So if the circumstances allow you to, seize the moment and a water-repellent backpack (if you know you know), travel light and accept minor inconveniences for adventure’s sake!

And what a better accessory for a… murder? Hardly! For travel, no fit is a fashion crime and the only thing to kill is boredom. So get comfortable in those trekking shoes or birkenstocks, carefully layered onto socks to prevent blisters. Here is a handpicked collection of your potential imaginary companion, according to the precise day-off category!

Tanning

“Book Lovers”, “People We Meet on Vacation” and “Beach Read” by Emily Henry. An utterly feel-good beach read to get your head off things. The first one on this list is a three-pack, because we couldn't possibly choose. Perhaps, try a counting rhyme?.. Careful to not fall asleep in the sun while you choose!

Stormy days in

Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah, a multilayered novel by a Nobel-prize-winning author for when the weekend has not blessed us with travel-friendly weather, and a cup of Earl Grey looks more appealing than raindrops mimicking teardrops on your face. Especially when the sunscreen isn’t waterproof!

Nature escapism

Ocean Vuong - Time Is a Mother. In this poetry collection, the 2017 T.S. Eliot Prize winner recounts a deeply intimate tragedy whilst speaking to humanity per se. Tender and bold, fragile and tough, it is not quite what you’d conceive of bite-sized literature: it draws you into contemplation and leads you to perceive the current moment more vividly.

Mediterranean city trip

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. A gripping coming-of-age novel to make you wonder what it would be like to grow up in a different city. This Italian sensation, translated into a myriad of languages, is the first book in the series that cover a story of one friendship from childhood to old age. Based in Naples, drawing the two main characters together and pulling apart, moving around Italy, and just that - moving. Get ready to frantically get the next one, and the next one, and the next one while you’re approaching the last page!

Audiobook for the daily commute

A pro tip here: listen to the one you love and read in your mother tongue already, but in the language you want to learn or improve. Does wonders to listening comprehension! Potential bonus: three Harry Potters in Spanish in, everyone thinks you really are a witch to speak with such a good accent yet poor grammar, so don’t disdain exercises!

Visiting historical sites

Non-fiction, we find, suits very well to get you into a pensive state and make the processes all around you more discernible. Read by the author, who happens to be an excellent speaker, On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder provides a cornerstone for thinking the modern world in terms of continuation of history, granting it a bigger presence. The newest version includes 12 new essays, courtesy of Random House Radio.

…Captivating as it is, your brain is no eternal engine: don’t forget a snack! Preferably, one that doesn't crunch too loudly, especially if you’re into audiobooks or face a grumpy peevish seatmate who looks like they’ve been buying DVDs for over 50 years just to avoid a munching crowd and would make one vile neighbour. (True story). (A petition for the landlord of our cinema & apples junkie copywriter Anna to let her foster an emotional support animal…)

To be resilient for when the plot wraps up worse than HIMYM or Friends, go for real food that speeds you up even when you're on the regional train, calms you down when you're waiting for a delayed one and enhances the enter-train-ment experience when you're actually going to Königssee, but end up playing “Trip to Jerusalem” fighting for a seat on a Sunday!

And what doesn't crunch like apples or nuts when you munch on it?

Our Nut-free, fudgy Rich Brownie + Ashwagandha AHARAbar! A safe bet: no need to worry about cracking your teeth or getting on someone's nerves while you eat and read! If only because they get jealous and start dropping saliva uncontrollably. That would be awkward.