The Travel Wire: best travel reads #29

The new American travel anxiety, an 8,000-mile rail journey from England to the Taj Mahal, walking in solitude and sunshine in Sicily, and more travel reads

Welcome to The Travel Wire, where I curate the best travel reads of the week.

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Travel reads

• How to travel in a world of increasing chaos [Brent and Michael Are Going Places]

“We're trying not to be fearmongers, but international travel may get much more difficult in the years ahead. Here's *specifically* what can you do about it.”

• The new American travel anxiety: ‘Will they hate us?’ (archive) [The New York Times]

"In light of recent American foreign policy decisions, many U.S. travelers are concerned about how they will be perceived abroad."

• Here’s what I learnt on an 8,000-mile rail journey from England to the Taj Mahal [Adventure.com]

• Walking in solitude and sunshine in Sicily: a newly restored pilgrim’s trail [The Guardian]

• Hidden Histories - Gournia - and the pioneering woman who uncovered a whole Minoan city [Claire In Crete]

• In search of a new role: the port city of Szczecin [Hidden Europe]

"The shipyards in Szczecin once built some the world's finest and fastest passenger liners. But today the cranes are silent, and the city of Szczecin is struggling to define its role in modern Poland. The Baltic port city is a gritty place, and all the more interesting for that."

• Explore Rome’s hidden underworld, where a city lurks beneath a city [Smithsonian Magazine]

"A journey into the vast subterranean grounds preserved under Rome—from ancient aqueducts and apartment buildings to pagan shrines."

• The paradise islands that don't want to be Hawaii (archive) [BBC Travel]

"The Cook Islands is proving that sustainable tourism isn't just possible – it's essential. Here's how this South Pacific nation is preserving their paradise for generations for come."

• Europe’s most underrated capital has everything, except crowds (archive) [Traveller]

"Is Zagreb Europe’s most underrated capital? I’m beginning to think it might be. It has everything you expect of a European city – trams, leafy avenues, fountains, parks, unusual museums, cafe tables spilling onto cobblestones, a satisfying old town – without the tourist hordes."

• Why I scroll a city’s Facebook Marketplace whenever I travel [Thrillist]

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James Clark (Nomadic Notes)