This book is the best and most philosophical alternative to actual traveling. I dip into it whenever I have itchy feet but lack the budget or time to go somewhere new. Alain de Botton explores the reasons why we travel and what we get out of it using some of his own trips as examples, but adding a really fascinating philosophical bent to it. On top of that the book just looks and feels nice and the text is complemented by black and white artwork and photography.

Lucid, fluid, uplifting' - "Sunday Times". With the help of a selection of writers, artists and thinkers - including Flaubert, Edward Hopper, Wordsworth and Van Gogh - Alain de Botton's bestselling "The Art of Travel" provides invaluable insights into everything from holiday romance to hotel mini-bars, airports to sight-seeing. The perfect antidote to those guides that tell us what to do when we get there, "The Art of Travel" tries to explain why we really went in the first place - and helpfully suggests how we might be happier on our journeys