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ARMCHAIR TRAVEL

"The gladdest moments, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands" - Sir Richard Burton

This year, 2020, has become the non-travel year, certainly not to the usual places, such as Europe, USA and Asia. We are travelling more in our own back yard or virtually, as there are more online opportunities to see places such as museums online. Another wonderful way to travel vicariously is to read a novel based in places we wish to visit, including time travel. Dunedin Public Libraries has many such examples:

Hippie. Paulo Coelho
Following the messages from the music festival of Woodstock in 1969 in the USA, many young people around the world were on a search for inner truth and enlightenment. Paolo from Brazil has dreams of being a writer and sets off to Bolivia, then Peru,  and later hitchhikes through Chile and Argentina.  Paulo's journeys take him to Amsterdam where he meets Karla and they both travel by bus through Europe and Central Asia to Kathmandu. Their experiences shape their lives thereafter.
Also available as an eBook from our Borrowbox collection.

Last Bus to Wisdom. Ivan Doig
In the summer of 1951, eleven-year-old Donal Cameron sets out from Montana to Wisconsin to be cared for by Aunt Kate while his beloved grandmother and guardian has surgery.  Aunt Kate is difficult to get on with and soon sends Donal off on a Greyhound bus back to authorities in Montana.  His uncle Hermann decides to accompany him and the pair have many adventures along the way.

The Beach. Alex Garland
The Beach is a legend among young travelers in Asia: white sands circling a lagoon hidden from the sea, coral gardens and freshwater falls surrounded by jungle. In this earthly paradise, it is rumoured, a select community lives in blissful innocence. For Richard, haunted by the glamour of Vietnam war movies, a trek into unknown Thai territory is irresistible. He was looking for adventure. Now he's found it.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Toshikazu Kawaguchi
A cafe in Tokyo which has served coffee for over one hundred years offers customers a unique experience - the chance to time travel.  The stipulations are that customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the cafe, and they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold. The questions are asked - what would you change if you could travel back in time and who would you want to meet?
Also available as an eBook.

The Silver Ladies of Penny Lane. Dee MacDonald
Best friends Tess and Orla run a dressmakers shop on the corner of Penny Lane.  They enjoy life, but one day sixty-two-year-old Tess decides she needs more adventure in her life and joins a senior dating site.  Then she and Orla book a singles cruise around the Mediterranean.  Lots of fun is had along the way and the two women learn to be in the moment and appreciate the joy of second chances.

The Women Who Ran Away. Sheila O'Flanagan
Two very different women, Deira and Grace, meet by chance while on separate road trips in Europe.  Grace is following a treasure hunt issued by her late husband.  Deira has her own reasons for setting out on her road trip on her own, and both women learn from each other, and the reader is invited along on this European escapade. With the past, the present and the future all converging, each woman must make a decision about who they want to be once the trip comes to an end.

SEE ALSO:

Lost Property. Laura Beatty
Villa Pacifica: A Novel. Kapka Kassabova
The Trip of a Lifetime. Monica McInerney (also available as an eAudiobook from our Borrowbox collection, and as an Audiobook on CD)
The Age of Magic.  Ben Okri
Lone Star. Paullina Simons (also available as an eAudiobook from our Borrowbox collection
If you Could Go Anywhere. Paige Toon