Abstract
This article explores the world making capabilities of travel writing (Goodman 1978; Youngs 2013). The premise is that literary products are key elements in the configuration of the world itself and that specifically authors of travel accounts mediate the world to their readership at home (Archetti 1994).
 By highlighting three different examples of travel writing, the article discusses the persistent notion of the tropical island as an actually existing paradise on earth. More specifically, the discussion focus around the notion that happiness exists in places to which one can travel to.
 The examples at hand are two eighteenth century travel logs one French and one English; Louise-Antoine de Bougainville’s from 1772 and William Bligh’s from 1792, while the third and final example is a contemporary Swedish travel piece written by Anders Mathlein and first published in 2001.
Highlights
Where is your happy place? Where is that place on earth where you see yourself enjoying an easy and carefree life? A life without hardships and worries
I propose that the notion of an existing earthly paradise, where one can live a happy and idle, simple and good life, is a tenacious one and that a reason for this may be because people throughout time have wanted to believe that there are paradises on earth that one can travel to
The article further suggests that the broad genre of travel writing, from the earliest examples to today, has played a key role in shaping and maintaining the notion of remote tropical islands as places on earth where happiness prevails
Summary
Where is your happy place? Where is that place on earth where you see yourself enjoying an easy and carefree life? A life without hardships and worries. It is a place we have read about and seen images of but have not yet visited While many such happy places may remain imagined, it seems to be important that they are, possible to reach; that your paradise on earth exists and that you someday might be able to travel to it. The article further suggests that the broad genre of travel writing, from the earliest examples to today, has played a key role in shaping and maintaining the notion of remote tropical islands as places on earth where happiness prevails.. The article further suggests that the broad genre of travel writing, from the earliest examples to today, has played a key role in shaping and maintaining the notion of remote tropical islands as places on earth where happiness prevails.2 To exemplify these propositions, I present three cases in point.
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