So you want to go to Tibet, but AAA doesn't make a guide. Whom can you ask? Try owner Priscilla Ulene, or anyone else who works at the Traveler's Bookcase.

This specialty bookstore exudes a lot more character than the travel section of Borders and a heck of a lot more in customer service. The staff will help find the perfect book to plan your vacation, be it to Paris or Paraguay, and many of them are avid travelers with stamps in their passports a lot of people would envy. On the back wall, four clocks hang near a portrait of the store, each with the time of a different city: LA, New York, London and Tokyo. Near the check out, globes decorate the space and antique maps hang above the entrance of the store. It feels like the den of a great-uncle that tells amazing stories about his travels in the French Foreign Legion. The store sells city maps, passport holders and other accessories that make great "bon voyage!" gifts, and plenty of kids books and games to keep parents from hearing the dreaded "are we there yet question" for the forty-second time. Even those going nowhere will get a spiritual jolt just wistfully browsing the shelves. And the best part of the no-travel getaway inside the store? It's a cell phone-free space so your daydream of seeing the Coliseum will not be interrupted by an "In Da Club" ring tone.