I have got a cold, and spend my week-end indoors. And a favorite way to spend time then is to armchairtravel.
In Oslo earlier this week I found a wonderful Norwegian book about female travellers and how women have conquered the travel litterature during the ages. The Norwegian title of the book is "Odyssevs i skjørt" and it is written by Anka Ryall. I meet many of my favorite female travellers in this book, among them Margaret Fountaine, Alexandra David-Neel, Mary Wollstonecraft and others.
For some years now I have run a yahoogroup called Armchairtravelling. You find us at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Armchairtravelling/
We do alot of different discussions on the theme of armchairtravelling there. Right now we are discussing The Pre-Raphaelites. A wonderful way to get to know the world better, and to get to know people on the list.
You don't need to travel far to be a traveller, or a travel artist. Travels can be so many different things, and for me it is a state of mind. The way I see the world, like a pilgrim on her way to the goal but still living with open eyes. My travels can be far away ones, but they can also be a bus trip downtown, a walk in my garden or reading a book. And I hope that I can keep on being an art traveler. "I hope I can keep walking untill I die. I'd like to be climbing a mountain when that happens"(Judith McDaniel in A Woman's World - true stories of life on the road)
