(Armchair) Travel in the Time of Corona

The coronavirus and COVID-19 have stopped travel and tourism in their tracks. Nationwide lock-downs, sweeping travel bans and border closures are firmly in place and in 2020 no-one is going anywhere.

As I type this 36,277 people have died so far from the coronavirus outbreak. There are currently 753,385 confirmed cases in 199 countries and territories. Life as we know it has changed.

This worldwide pandemic has forced governments and health experts to find solutions to stop it spreading any further. People are being asked not just to social distance themselves, but to self isolate. In short, people are being told to stay put – or to put it rather more bluntly as seen on social media #staythefuckhome.

It has had an enormous impact on the travel and tourism industry. If you had any trips or journeys booked they will have probably been postponed or cancelled. Nobody knows when they will be able to travel again.

With millions of people under quarantine twiddling their thumbs, I thought I would suggest some books, films and music on the theme of travel. I have read and reread, listened to on a loop and watched the following countless times and they have given me an incurable case of wanderlust.

So here is my guide to how to be an armchair traveller in these unprecedented times.