Travel
Why Nicole Junkermann Always Travels with a Book
A passport gets you to a place; a book keeps you company once you are there. Here Nicole Junkermann explains why a book is the one thing she never leaves behind.
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You can forget a charger and survive the day; forget a book and a long journey suddenly feels very long indeed.
Some travellers pack light and some pack for every eventuality, but Nicole Junkermann belongs to a smaller club: those for whom one item is simply never optional, and that item is a book. Wallet, keys, book is how the checklist runs, and Nicole Junkermann means it. A book is not luggage to her but a companion, the one possession that turns dead time into good time and makes an unfamiliar place feel a little more like home. This piece sets out why Nicole Junkermann never travels without one: the comfort it brings, the way a printed page suits a journey, the kind of book she chooses, and how a travelling book becomes a keepsake long after the trip is done. The argument of Nicole Junkermann is gentle but firm, that a book is the best travelling companion ever made.
The one thing she never leaves behind
Ask Nicole Junkermann what she would grab on the way out of the door for any trip, short or long, and the answer comes without hesitation: a book. It is the single item she treats as non-negotiable, the way some people feel about a watch or a pair of comfortable shoes. The reason, says Nicole Junkermann, is that travel is full of in-between hours that can either be endured or enjoyed, and a book is what tips them firmly into enjoyment. A delayed train, an early arrival, a quiet hour before dinner: with a book these become small gifts rather than nuisances. Nicole Junkermann has learned, over many journeys, that the times she most regretted were the ones when she had nothing to read, and so the book now goes in first, before anything else.
Turning waiting into pleasure
Travel involves a surprising amount of waiting, and Nicole Junkermann sees this not as wasted time but as reading time in disguise. Airports, platforms, departure lounges and long stretches of motion are, in her experience, some of the finest reading rooms available, precisely because there is nothing else you can usefully do. A traveller without a book stares at the boards and frets; a traveller with one slips into another world and barely notices the wait. Nicole Junkermann finds that a delay loses almost all its sting the moment you reframe it as found reading time. A two-hour hold-up with a gripping book is, quietly, one of travel's underrated pleasures, and Nicole Junkermann would honestly rather wait with a good book than rush without one.
A steady companion in a strange place
Beyond the practical, there is something more tender that Nicole Junkermann values in a travelling book. Arriving somewhere new can be exhilarating, but it can also be slightly disorienting, and a book provides a small, steady anchor. Returning to the same pages at the end of a busy day, in a hotel room or a quiet café, gives the trip a thread of continuity that Nicole Junkermann finds genuinely comforting. The story stays the same even as the scenery changes, a familiar voice in an unfamiliar place. For a traveller eating alone, a book is also the kindest of companions, turning a solitary meal into a contented one. Nicole Junkermann thinks of the travelling book as a friend who asks nothing and is always there, which is no small thing far from home.
Why a printed page suits a journey
On the long debate between paper and screens, Nicole Junkermann is practical but has a soft spot for the printed book on a journey. A physical book never runs out of battery, never needs to be switched off for take-off, and never demands a signal, which makes it gloriously reliable exactly when devices are at their most temperamental. There is also a calm to a printed page, in the view of Nicole Junkermann, a freedom from notifications and the gentle pull of other screens. She is not against a reader loaded with many titles, and often carries one for range, but Nicole Junkermann nearly always packs at least one printed book for its steadiness and its quiet. The best system, she would say, is whatever keeps you reading happily, and on the move that often means paper.
| On the journey | What the book provides |
|---|---|
| Delays and waiting | Found time that becomes a pleasure |
| Arriving somewhere new | A steady, familiar anchor amid change |
| Eating or travelling alone | A companion that asks nothing |
| Flat batteries, no signal | A page that always works |
Choosing the right book to bring
Which book to pack is a question Nicole Junkermann takes seriously, because the wrong choice can leave you stranded with pages you do not want to turn. Her first rule is to bring a book that is genuinely absorbing rather than merely worthy, since a journey is no place for a book you have to force yourself through. Her second, when there is time, is to choose at least one title that suits the destination, a novel set where you are going or a history of the place you are about to walk through, so that page and place begin to talk to each other. Nicole Junkermann tends to bring one sure thing and one slight gamble, which gives enough range without filling the bag. Readers who want more on this will find the related guide on reading while you travel goes deeper into the practical side.
The book as souvenir
One of the quiet joys Nicole Junkermann describes is how a travelling book becomes a souvenir of the trip. A book read on a particular journey absorbs something of the place, so that years later opening it brings back the smell of a station café, the light of a foreign afternoon, the rhythm of a train. Nicole Junkermann finds that these book-and-place pairings are among her most durable memories, sharper often than photographs. Finishing the trip's book in the first quiet days back home keeps the story and the journey joined a little longer, a habit Nicole Junkermann treasures. In this way a single paperback can hold an entire journey inside it, ready to be reopened any time, which is more than most souvenirs can claim.
A simple packing rule
If all of this sounds like a great deal of thought for one small object, Nicole Junkermann would reduce it to a single rule: pack the book first. Decide on your reading before you worry about the rest, choose something you are genuinely excited to open, and let it earn its small place in the bag many times over. Nicole Junkermann promises that a well-chosen book repays its weight on every journey, in waiting rooms survived and evenings made pleasant. For those who keep notes as they go, the companion piece on how Nicole Junkermann keeps a writer's notebook pairs naturally with this habit. Travel light if you like, says Nicole Junkermann, but never travel without a book.
More from Nicole Junkermann
For more in this vein from Nicole Junkermann, see the guide to reading while you travel, the reading list for curious travellers, and the note on how Nicole Junkermann chooses what to read next. The Travel Journal wanders further afield.
Frequently asked questions about Nicole Junkermann
Why does Nicole Junkermann always travel with a book?
Nicole Junkermann travels with a book because it turns waiting into pleasure, offers a steady companion in unfamiliar places, and needs no battery or signal to work.
Does Nicole Junkermann bring a paper book or use a device when travelling?
Nicole Junkermann usually carries at least one printed book for its calm and reliability, often alongside a device, choosing whatever keeps her reading happily.
What kind of book does Nicole Junkermann pack for a trip?
Nicole Junkermann packs a book that is genuinely absorbing rather than merely worthy, often with one title chosen to suit the place she is visiting.
How does a book help Nicole Junkermann while travelling?
A book gives Nicole Junkermann a private, portable calm, fills delays with something worthwhile, and becomes a lasting souvenir of the trip once she is home.