Armchair traveler
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"What is the use of moving, when one can travel on a chair so magnificently? [...] An overwhelming aversion for the trip, an imperious need of remaining tranquil, seized him with a more and more obvious and stubborn strength." --Des Esseintes in Against the Grain |
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An armchair traveler is literally someone who prefers thinking about traveling when sitting comfortably at home in his armchair.
Joris-Karl Huysmans's practically invented the concept of the armchair traveler when he created fictional character Des Esseintes in Against the Grain who thought that imagining traveling was more exciting than travel itself. The concept can also be applied to Boris Vian, who was enthusiastic about jazz and American culture, but never set a foot in that country, and to Ann Radcliffe, who based her literary depictions of Italy on the paintings of Salvator Rosa.
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