I've always liked Tony Robbins. I think he encompasses what a true motivational speaker should be; he's positive, kind, cheerful, successful and respected by many across all professional fields. I don't get too much into many of the people who came after him as many of them seem gimmicky. I'll say it too just in case somebody pipes up about it, I am not a big fan of the firewalking thing he does, but nobody's perfect.

Anyway, here are three books I have found extremely useful in my life.

1) Time Tactics of Very Successful People by B. Eugene Griessman - This is one of those books that is so simple in it's reading and implementation it is genius. I reread this book (or at least try to get back to it to skim through) at least once a year. It is one of those books that I have written notes in because I find it so stimulating and inspiring. Just for one example as to how this book made me think, there is a passage that discusses considering what your time is worth, not only in business, but in your non-business life (social, familial, etc.). If I make $25 an hour and consider that to be what I am willing to work with then why in the world would I let somebody waste my time like a sponge when I could be making $25 every hour I am letting somebody sponge off of my time and energy when I could be making money or furthering my career (or health, actual meaningful relationships, etc). That little lesson has led me to being more aware of how I am spending my time and with whom I am spending it worth. It can be quite eye opening to think that the last, say, eight hours of screwing around or spending time with a sponge could have cost me something along the lines of $200. There are a lot of fantastic concepts and suggestions in this book and they are all gained from interviews the author gathered through interviews (with very successful people).

2) The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley & William D. Danko - This is another classic I love to go through yearly to remind myself of the lessons learned by the authors. You can find plenty of summaries of it so I won't bother with another one except to say that the book contains excellent information as to whom the affluent in America really are and how they became affluent as opposed to whom people think the affluent are and how most people think those so-called affluent attained their "wealth". I use this book and the information contained within to ground me from fanciful ideas of how to become wealthy. It is a sobering look at how the affluent actually attain their wealth - another can't go wrong book.

3) Motivation and Personality by Abraham H. Maslow - This is actually a book of psychology by the famous the famous Maslow. You may have heard of his "pyramid" even though he never actually presented his steps to self-actualization in terms of a pyramid. The book is somewhat "science-y" if you will, but I think you (and most people) are more than capable of reading it. This book is fascinating, entrancing. This is the book that helped me understand for the first time in my life why I was so frustrated with so many things (in particular, my family). I have been for the last four to five years been trying to move towards higher levels of personality, ultimately eyeing a sense self-actualization, something my family, unfortunately, will never attain, and, in many ways, have been holding me back from moving toward. The book has been a great explanatory tool for me to better understand myself and others in my life (along with all of our motivations or lack thereof).

Hope those help. By the way, where did you end up going? Please do post a summary of your travels in a post for everybody to see. It sounds like you did some good thinking on your trip. Would love to hear about it.

Edit: Just some formatting.