Thomas Cook @200*
Thomas Cook’s guide books contributed to the concept of the armchair traveler.
Many people still prefer the real thing.
So did our protagonist.
She asks:
“Where are you going?”
He answers:
“To the Great Exhibition in London. I took your copy of The Stones of Venice , I hope that’s alright?”
“I booked a ticket with Cook“
She shouts:
“Don’t leave me now!” – “Where are you going?”
He answers:
“To the Exposition Universelle in Paris. I took your copy of Walt Whitman‘s I Sing the Body Electric, I hope that’s alright?”
*Thomas Cook was a British travel agent, born exactly 200 years ago today. He commodified the Grand Tour and invented tourism as we know it today. He gave you a A Room with a View in Tuscany. His guide books contributed to the concept of the armchair traveler.