Journey to the Hebrides
The account of Johnson and Boswell of their trip through Scotland, is of course two books. One more a tale of the actual trip, sights seen, places visited. The other an account of their social interactions along the way, people met, hosts stayed with. This 18th century account, or two as I said, served me as a travel guide when I visited Scotland in '95 or '96. I stayed with a good friend in Aberdeen, where she was working for an oil firm. My stay was short, and I merely visited a little part of Scotland, but I enjoyed reading this book while the train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen followed the route Johnson and Boswell took 200 years before. As they did, I merely saw one tree.
I picked this book up before flying to Aberdeen and visiting Edinburgh. But I could as well have bought it in one of the great little bookshops in the crooked streets below the south wall of Edinburgh Castle. They were well worth a visit.