You don't have to be heartbroken to get it.

I’m a travel aficionado and if my budget would allow, I’d spend lots more of my time on the road. Travel, like nothing else I’ve ever experienced in life, has the ability to spike my confidence, mend my broken heart, deepen my spirituality and inspire my dreams. So far, I’ve collected passport stamps from 20 countries and counting.

My family, and plenty of my friends, seem to think I’m adventurous and brave, ready to take on any foreign land. But - believe it or not - I’m always a bundle of nerves when packing my bags. Before I conquer any new trip, I tend to hang back, hang home and bury myself in a book. I might possess grand images of myself stepping up and taking on the world, but I often find the chuztpa to actually get up and get out there by reading tales of women who’ve gone before me.

In recent years, I’ve noticed a new genre of travel literature appearing on bookstore shelves. These books are chic lit with a travel twist. The heroine is always a plucky, fashion-forward and witty gal, just as the chic lit genre seems to demand. Yet in this particular category of books, no matter how spirited the heroine is, she is dumped in the first chapter. A big trip to somewhere far-off and remote always takes shape in her mind as a sort of breakup revenge, but in the end, the big trip also becomes her redemption.

While the plots are fairly predictable, it’s also fun to read about saucy gals coming to terms with their single-girl status while tackling the globe. If you too have contemplated a breakup trip, but haven’t quite squirreled up the courage to get out there, perhaps one of these books will tip you over the edge:

Cuba by Emily Barr
Maggie thought her life without her ex was going to be exciting and new. Instead, it was incredibly lonely and dull. When she overhears her next door neighbors planning a move to Cuba, she decides (unbeknownst to them) that she needs to tag along.

With or Without You by Carole Matthews
Lyssa wants a baby. Too bad her live-in boyfriend doesn’t agree. When she discovers he’s been having an affair, she throws him out and, in a spurt of independence, quits her job and boards a plane for Nepal to go trekking in the Himalayas. If she’d known her hiking guide was going to be so damn cute, she might have gone sooner.

The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club by Jessica Morrison
Poor Cassie. In one day she gets fired, dumped and evicted from her Seattle life. During a late-night, Internet-induced haze, she books a ticket to Buenos Aires and reserves a room in a boarding house. None of her friends (and especially her mother) believes she’s actually going to follow through, but as far as she can tell, she has nothing left to loose.

Adventures of an Ice Princess by Liz Maverick
Clarissa quit her job because she was going to get married and live happily ever after. Unfortunately, her boyfriend forgot to propose. Jobless and loveless, she doesn’t know what to do until a friend suggests she interview for a PR position inside the scientific community at the South Pole. What do you know? She gets the job and takes off for Antarctica.