I was recently asked, by someone who knows my predilection for staying home, if there were any books for the armchair tourist. That sent me on a search. :-) Most were about stay at home parents, or working from home, but I did find a few.

Seasoned travelers tell of a bad experience or two in I Really Should Have Stayed Home: Worst Journeys From Harare to Eternity, edited by Roger Rapoport and Bob Drews. From faraway places to a bad trip on Puget Sound, this was a book that convinced me all the more to just stay home. (Okay, so it wouldn't take much) (!) I particularly enjoyed the different writing styles of each contributor.

Classical Destinations: an Armchair Guide to Classical Music is the companion to a PBS show (which I missed). I played various CDs as I read, though, and that helped set the scene for me. Great pictures, of course, with good mini-biographies of the composers, and even a page about hotels, restaurants, and shops for those who really do want to travel.

Traveling in Place: a History of Armchair Travel, by Bernd Stiegler and translated by Peter Filkins was .... an interesting read ... a bit dry, but interesting. I liked the idea that any reader is an arm chair traveler since books will take us to far away places, distant times, or even into the future. One contributor, a man under house arrest, describes the things in his room. Another asked if RV's are a way of cheating? Yes, you are on the road, but you are, in a way, still at home. It also includes a tour 'within' using Asimov's Fantastic Voyage. This book made me think what I'd write about on a tour of my surroundings. It would be a most peculiar journey! :-)

Thanks to Constant Reader for the inspiration for this 'trail'. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog