Thursday 30 January 2014

Travelling...Via books


Whenever someone gets asked a question on what their hobbies are, the stock set of answers are: I love reading, I love music, I love travel and so on. I am not going to comment on the reading bit, because hello, this is a blog where I talk about books (and movies and other things, but mainly books). And I will maybe tackle music another day but I would like to talk about traveling as a hobby.

Someone recently asked me if I liked to travel, and I answered saying yes. And I do like traveling, especially with friends and family (right now more with friends than with family - a deliberate shout out to my family, who have gone on trips with out me :P ). But what with a busy work schedule that my friends and I have we are unable to really travel as much as we would like. So even though I answered with a yes I added a caveat saying: 'I like traveling, but I use books to travel'.

Now when I said this to this particular person, and to a lot of other people, he looked at me weirdly. Like I was the most crazy and laziest person on earth. And that offends me, even though it is true that I am lazy and I am definitely certifiably crazy, that they assume I must just not like traveling and am finding a lame alternate.

It is not true that I would not like to travel if given a chance. Come to think of it, I have traveled quite a bit. I've not gone overseas but my father loves traveling so he has taken me and the rest of the family on quite a few trips (near or otherwise). But traveling within the world that is created by a book is just amazing. And I am not bound by boundaries at all. Not just physical boundaries but the boundaries of space and time are of no match to me when I am reading a book. If a book is well written then it can take you to different locations like America (almost every YA book and various other adult books that I have read), Sweden (the Patrik Hedstrom series), Egypt (Sphinx  by Robin Cook), Russia, France, Brussels (Bourne trilogy) and it can even let me travel backwards and forward through time. And I didn't even need any documentation.

I have also traveled to distant planets, parallel universes (where I am just as lazy as I am now but either super rich and intelligent or super poor :P) and to Middle Earth of course. It might seem lame to some but I think of this kind of travel as preparation for actual travel. I know of a few places to visit in the countries I mentioned above and what is generally accepted or not accepted there. I also learn a bit of their culture and laws.

And if I ever meet a troll I know that I should keep them talking till the sun comes up (LOTR) or that I should be wary of black monoliths on unknown planets (2001: A Space Odyssey). I will always travel with a towel as that would be my best friend (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and to keep garlic and silver on my person while I travel if I ever meet pesky vampires or werewolves.

All in all I would say traveling via books has actually made me more prepared than anyone else who has not read. So take that all you doubters and travel snobs. I, I mean my imagination, has clocked more kilometers than any of you. And to all you readers out there, Have a happy journey!!

2 comments:

  1. Your article made the best point. Kilometres better imagination of the reality. Kudos for the good job.

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    1. Thank you Manasa... It is great to know someone is reading these posts :P Where are you traveling recently? What book are you reading?

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