Exotic Horizons

Yemen--not space--may be the final frontier for Yuppies with a penchant for travel.

“Travelers are becoming more sophisticated,” says Brian Draper, whose Burbank map and travel book store supplies the adventurous with the necessary paraphernalia.

“They’re going to more out-of-the-way places. It used to be Europe, now it’s Thailand or Peru.”

For even more remote destinations such as Botswana, Antarctica and Yemen, he orders Department of Defense maps, the only ones available.

Draper, an admitted lifelong “map freak,” started the business a year ago after selling maps for Thomas Bros. Opening the store in Burbank’s media district proved a good choice.

“We get travelers, of course, then there’s a great demand from studio for props and location scouting,” said Draper, 35. “I sold a dozen maps of Afghanistan because Rambo was going there.”

In addition to travel books, globes, and all manner of maps, Geographia stocks travel gadgets such as voltage converters for appliances, the Bra $tash money pocket and calculators that do metric and currency conversions.

The store also offers map mounting and framing. Often the orders come not from people leaving on a trip, but from travelers who have returned home.

“They like to plot where they’ve been and hang it on a wall,” Draper said. For resolute homebodies, Geographia Map and Travel Book Store stocks “topos” or topographical maps that show the terrain of one’s own neighborhood.