Travel in place looks like it’s going to be on everyone’s agenda at least for the next six months or so—with, maybe, a few day trips to destinations nearby. With that in mind, the Bashful Adventurer offers some spectacular armchair traveling options for the rest of the year and into 2021.
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Spectacular Armchair Traveling Tip #1: Take Up a Pandemic Hobby & Train for Future Travel
In years past, I was a lazy kayaker, paddling around a lake I happen to live on in good weather and when the mood strikes. General boredom with staying home all the time during this seemingly endless pandemic inspires me to try something new and, for me, physically challenging: stand up paddleboarding (AKA SUP).
Candidly, I watch stand up paddle boarders at various destinations and the activity seems simultaneously really dull and physically challenging (what with needing to balance on the board and all). But once I actually try it, I am hooked! I prefer it now to kayaking.
Why? Stand up paddle boarding is a great way for me to get to know the lake I live on just a little better. Plus, it provides more of a full-body workout than kayaking does and, given my propensity to fall off every now and then, I have plenty of opportunity to swim.
Most excitingly, I can actually do it—even though I’m in the 50-plus crowd and have never been particularly athletic. Yes, it’s sometimes hard to get back on the board after I fall in, but up I climb! I’d say I have a long way to go before I catapult myself back on my board gracefully.
Even so, my interest in paddle boarding has expanded to plans to paddle beyond the boundaries of New York state. I am aiming to stand up paddle board in Iceland, in Sweden, and in Italy. The world’s the limit! To get ready, I’ve already purchased a new wetsuit and other gear so I can paddle until my lake freezes over.
For the winter: Looking for an indoor activity to keep me occupied, I lean toward crocheting. I’ve bought a half-dozen books and just need to get serious about choosing a pattern and getting going. I am hoping to weave some history into any project. Right now, I am exploring antique quilts that contained signs used to indicate which way was north for use in the Underground Railroad. Even if I don’t complete my own quilt for a long while, I am loving the history lessons I am learning. I also like becoming ever so slightly more sustainable.
Spectacular Armchair Traveling Tip #2: Read Fiction Set in Places You’d Like to Go—Or Places You’ve Been
On my nightstand is a copy of Dear George, Dear Mary, a novel by Mary Calvi chronicling an alleged romance between George Washington and Mary Philipse. George Washington, as the first president of the United States, can, of course, be associated with any number of places, but I particularly like his links to New York. So as I read about life during a different time of tumult, a period when people were not certain to whom they should be loyal. I appreciate being able to visit places in New York where George Washington was present, from Fraunces Tavern in New York City to Westchester County to Cold Spring, NY. Novels as well as history books bring these places alive. I look forward to visiting Philipse Manor Hall in Yonkers, NY. The home plays a part in history as well as in Dear George, Dear Mary.
Switching eras, and locales, also on my to-read pile is A Gilded Grave by Shelley Freydont. Set during the gilded age, this mystery brings the “cottages” of Newport, RI back to life, back to a moment when they were lived in, if only seasonally, and used. Are you hooked on Newport, RI too? If so, you might also like Murder at the Breakers by Alyssa Maxwell.
Want to travel through reading some more? You might like these posts:
Reading Sonia Choquette’s Waking Up in Paris
Shirley MacLaine’s Camino Adventure
There Really Is a House of the Seven Gables
New England History for Truth-Seeking Tourists
A Book about Adventures in Travel at an Uncertain Time
Spectacular Armchair Traveling Tip #3: Buy and Read Some Old Travel Guidebooks
In this year when a little reassurance that some things really do remain the same across time and pandemics, old travel guidebooks can be a trusty companion. I used to delight in finding these treasures in local independent bookstores in places that I visit, but Etsy and other online vendors are good choices now. Boston was one of the places I visited before everything shut down, so I have been enjoying a couple of travel guides I picked up while I was there.
From Chiang Yee’s Silent Traveller in Boston, which was published in 1959, I learn that Paul Revere “was the first dentist to practice in the United States of America.” (page 227). Apparently, Revere had a side gig involving the creation of artificial teeth. He wasn’t just a silver smith and a rebel with a cause. Also worth noting about Revere: he had 16 children, eight with each of his two wives. His entire existence is a good reminder about both adaptation and the importance of following your heart.
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From a 1903 guidebook on Boston by Edwin Bacon, I learn that cemetery tourism was a thing even more than a century ago. Bacon describes Copp’s Hill Burying Ground being full of “a mob of youthful guides of both sexes and various nationalities pressing us along the way, rattling off with glib tongue the ‘features’ of the region, and offering to show them, all and several, for a nickel.” (Edwin M. Bacon, Boston: A Guide Book, Ginn & Co. 1903, page 61.) I wish one of those guides had been available on my visit this past winter.
I take comfort from a two-volume history of Venice published in 1905. I enjoy the drawings in the book—across centuries, so much of Venice has remained the same, which is also reassuring during this moment of uncertainty. The history chronicles Venice’s challenges such as periods in the 1400s when Venice was battling both other city-states in the region while facing the collapse of the Byzantine Empire and its replacement with the Ottomans.
Sultan Mehmed II “had impaled a Venetian captain and beheaded thirty of his crew before the siege; he had decapitated the Venetian Bailo and his son in cold blood afterwards, a great number of Venetians had perished in the massacre, and twenty-nine nobles had been held for ransom,” writes Frances Marion Crawford in Salve Venetia: Gleanings from Venetian History, Macmillan Co. 1905, vol. 1, page 480. On the bright side: “in return for these injuries and insults, the Republic had not struck a blow. The exigencies of commerce were great.” In sum, despite bad times, life—and business—go on.
Want to travel virtually with old guidebooks some more?
You might like these posts:
Spectacular Armchair Traveling Tip #4: Cook or Order In Your Next Destination’s Cuisine
Make staying home a more sensory experience by planning meals based on locations you plan to visit in the future or on those for which you have fond memories from visits past. At home, I try to make dishes I can’t get easily elsewhere right now. Because I enjoy both my trip to Russia and my more frequent excursions to the Russian Tea Room in New York City, I pick up a book filled with recipes from the restaurant, The Russian Tea Room: A Tasting by Faith Stewart-Gordon (Clarkson Potter, 1993), and now blinchiki are mine. And there’s no better time to eat them than when I am also reading the biography of the Russian Team Room itself: The Russian Tea Room by Faith Stewart-Gordon.
For more rugged cooking adventures, I turn to cookbooks of old. When in Seneca Falls, NY last year, I bought a copy of The Woman Suffrage Cook Book, the original version of which was published in 1886. I marvel at the old instructions, which tend not to include information about temperatures or cooking length. And, so, a muffin recipe calls for butter the size of an egg and directs that the muffins “bake quickly.” Every time I achieve a success with a recipe like this, I feel like I deserve an extra reward just for doing what my forebears, no doubt, could have done easily and with far less apprehension.
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Need just a touch more instruction? Pick up Revolutionary Recipes: Colonial Food, Lore, & More or Colonial Christmas Cooking, both by Patricia Mitchell, for modernized versions of colonial recipes (which are also included). Let me know how Martha Washington’s Chicken Fricasee turns out for you—and if you made it Martha’s way (just add “a little white wine”!) or using Mitchell’s updated suggestion (that would be a quarter cup of white wine in the mix).
Want to indulge in more armchair travel with food history? You might like these posts:
Old Sturbridge Village for Grownups
Petra Kouzina Cooking Experience
Spectacular Armchair Traveling Tip #5: Take a Staycation
So many of us have been vacationing in situ for most of the year that we are just itching to get away to anyplace we can. If you’re tired of circling your neighborhood in your car, on your bike, or on foot, try visiting nearby destinations that you hope to see survive this year. People not particularly inclined toward nature walks might nevertheless give more outdoorsy activities a try. Just give it five minutes or a half an hour and see what happens.
Other activities I engage in during this most strange time: walking in nearby nature preserves, attending antique car shows, participating in a vintage car tour (riding in a vintage vehicle and driving by historic sites in my town), and visiting unusual geographic phenomena (in my case, Balanced Rock in North Salem, NY). Sure, it’s not Piazza San Marco, but it is still fun!
Are you looking for staycation attractions in Westchester county, NY? You might like these posts:
Castles in Westchester: Caramoor
A Visit to the Babe Ruth Grave
Finding the American Revolution in Sleepy Hollow
Spectacular Armchair Traveling Tip #6: Learn a Foreign Language
I’ll be honest: despite taking French class from seventh grade through college, I still pretty much can’t speak it. I can often, but not always, get the general gist—but definitely not nuance—if I read material in French. And still, I try: I’ve been playing with language learning app Duolingo and watching French language films on Netflix. I wish I were better. Fortunately, I think this coming winter is going to afford me the opportunity to stay home and learn more French. Join me!
Are you pining for France? You might like these posts:
French Film: Crazy on a Bad Day
Living in Paris vs. Visiting Paris
Visit Versailles via Farewell My Queen
Spectacular Armchair Traveling Tip #7: Drink like a Parisian, or a New Yorker . . .
Even more fun than trying to follow old recipes is making cocktails like a bartender would. Having recently dined at New York City’s historic Fraunces Tavern (George Washington used to visit), I’ve been trying to cobble together my own version of a Presidential Punch (ingredients: Jim Beam rye, Ferrand dry Curaçao, Goslings rum, Angostura bitters, lemon juice, and peach iced tea). Mine admittedly isn’t quite as good, but I still can’t wait to try the real thing again in lower Manhattan.
Disinclined to be your own bartender? Then order beverages from your favorite destinations instead. I loved a trip I took to Mendocino county in California a few years ago, a journey that introduced me to Lula Cellars, a winery in Philo, CA. I’ve been ordering their pinot noir ever since!
Similarly, on a trip to Key West, I stopped by Baby’s Coffee for a caffeine boost and have had its coffee beans delivered since then. Give Voodoo Queen or Baby’s Private Buzz a try!
Dreaming of cocktail tourism? You might like these posts:
Barbados Excursion: A Mount Gay Rum Tour
Spectacular Armchair Traveling Tip #8: Watch Films Set There
There’s nothing more fun than watching a movie and later going to the destinations featured in it. In a similar vein, viewing films set in locales you recently visited can reinforce memories of a calmer, more delightful time.
My last big trip before the Great Pause happened to be to Greece, so I’ve been appreciating films like the aptly named The Trip to Greece.
Are you looking to travel through film? You might like these posts:
Films Set in Venice: Don’t Look Now
What Happens in Italy Stays in Italy
Spectacular Armchair Traveling Tip #9: Cruise Locally
Not many actual cruises are operating right now, but boat tours—you know, the three-hour cruises made famous by Gilligan’s Island—are still around. I took the Circle Line tour around Manhattan recently, and it was a great opportunity to see New York City’s changing skyline, to be outdoors on an open-air vessel, and to maintain social distance from other passengers. In short, my little trip offered some good old-fashioned fun. Being a tourist in your hometown can be delightful, even more so when you happen to be on a boat.
Looking for places with good boat rides? You might like these posts:
Is a Cape Code Whale Watch Worthwhile?
Washington, DC: Day Cruise Chesapeake Bay
—Lori Tripoli
Lori Tripoli is the editor and publisher of Bashful Adventurer. Based in the New York City vicinity, she writes about travel for a variety of publications. Contact Lori at loritripoli @ bashfuladventurer.com.
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What spectacular armchair travel have you undertaken recently?