My latest travel companion is not Rick Steves

On my European travels, I discovered how much relative reading material could add to the traveling experience. A reading of Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence inspired a rather under planned excursion through the Luberon resulting in the European equivalent of trains, planes and automobiles. While Bill Bryson’s Neither Here nor There didn't inspire any cross country treks, it kept me laughing at his generalizations, only to discover the truth days later. He’s often right; I still agree that Europeans really don’t understand the concept of a line.

When I exhausted all my paperbacks, I moved on to my ipod and Under the Tuscan Sun. Sadly, my exploration of Tuscany really didn't benefit from the labored reading. After suffering through five minutes of Francis Mays reading her own prose, I was ready to give up on audio books and podcasts as they related to traveling, relegating my ipod to music.

However, a recent discovery will soon put my ipod back to full use. iToors.com is the website for the curious traveler, providing free informative podcast tours as well as book, movie and music suggestions to fully round out your travels. It says it is “the confluence of a passion for music, conversation, travel, storytelling AND the desire to give people what they want—the ability to download content for free without ethical or legal repercussions.” My favorite podcast is “A Moveable Feast: The Hemingway in Paris Rough Guides iToor.” Starting in Paris’ Left Bank, it explores Hemingway’s and other ex-pats’ literary past. Some highlights include meeting the proprietor and founder of the Shakespeare & Company bookstore, as well as a visit to the site where Hemingway helped Fitzgerald measure his manhood--not something usually mentioned in tour groups, I’m sure.

iToors podcasts are currently limited to Paris, New York, California, Glasgow, Prague, and London, but the suggestions for relative films, books and music remain more expansive. If you happen to be traveling to any of these locations, I highly recommend downloading the podcasts. While the programs do contain “relevant messaging” in order to keep them free, the information provided is well worth the short interruptions. Informative and convenient, iToors is a wonderful travel companion that's hardly as ubiquitous as Rick Steves.