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So here we all are, at home during the COVID-19 lockdown (except for our wonderful health and other essential workers, of course)  – all immediate travel plans cancelled, summer plans doubtful or postponed, and wondering when will we ever get away again. Not being able to go, doesn’t it make the urge to travel even stronger? Well, if we can’t go in real life, at least we can travel in the imagination. Here are a number of Dublin City Libraries eResources that might help to scratch the itch.This blog is brought to you by our colleague Charlotte from Donaghmede Library.The Great Courses Library Collection has an excellent travel section, offering online lectures such as ‘Great Tours – Medieval Europe’, ‘Geology of National Parks’ and ‘Great Tours – Greece and Turkey’ and much more. Each course consists of 24 to 36 lectures that are roughly 30 minutes long each and are taught by experts in the field.  In ‘Great Tours - Medieval Europe’, for example, you can visit towns like Siena, Bruges and York, all from the comfort of your sofa.  Not bad at all.Prefer to look at magazines? Then you could visit the RB Digital Magazine Collection. It has a number of digital travel magazines for you to download. For example, you can browse ‘The Lonely Planet Traveller’ or ‘Condé Nast Traveller UK’ among others to get ideas about where your next holiday could take you. Register for RB Digital magazines. Watch our how to video Want more? Then try Pressreader. Pressreader has no less than 467 travel and culture magazines from different countries and in different languages to browse, such as ‘National Geographic Traveller’, and ‘Backpacker’.If you need help with planning the perfect family holiday, why not take the online course ‘Great Family Vacations’ with Universal Class? Access Universal Class online, register with your library card number and email address. This course is designed to help families determine their own ideal family vacation spot. By the time you finish this course, you will have an idea of what type of family vacation you want to pursue, as well as travel tips and arrangements required.And last but not least, you can download travel guides and travel books on BorrowBox. Input the keyword ‘travel’ and it will bring you to a large selection of travel books on any perceivable destination. (One of my favourites is ‘Travel with Dogs’ by Lonely Planet.)  Access eBooks/eAudiobooks on your phone, tablet or reader. Once you have installed the app, search for Dublin in the ‘Library’ field provided and then sign in using your library membership card number and PIN. Watch our how to video on Borrowbox. Members of other library authorities will need to log in using a different link. 

It might be late-June, but it's never too late to plan a holiday abroad. Though given the weather we've been having here, why leave these sunny shores, you might wonder?! True, but many of you do and will, so as we always aim to please and anticipate your requirements here in Dublin City Public Libraries, we have compiled many travel guides that might interest you should you be so inclined.So be it Brazil (get to the World Cup, there is still time!), Crete, Cuba, Africa, the European continent, South America, anywhere in fact, there may well be a travel guide amongst our travel guides to start you on your journey.

Spring is on the way! Time to shake off the winter blues and plan a holiday, as it’s one of the nicest times of year to travel. While travel guides are great for practical advice on where to stay, what to eat, and what jabs you need, travel writing brings a much more personal and human view of countries and cities. The best ones  are great for bringing to life places you might not have considered visiting, and  make you want to pack up and head off straightaway. Brief encounters by Edith Newman Devlin, a Dublin-born lecturer on world literature at Queen’s University Belfast, regularly organised literary-themed tours for her students to the most far-flung and unlikely places: Nepal, Syria, pre-glasnost Russia. We take travelling to these places so much for granted now that we forget how exotic and adventurous these destinations were, in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. This book goes a long way towards bringing that feeling back! A handful of honey by Annie Hawes is her account of travelling round Morocco and Algeria. She describes the people and culture of North Africa in a really affectionate and intelligent way, and especially so on the subject of the daily lives of Islamic women. Hawes is a nomad by nature, and has the gift of being accepted readily wherever she goes, making for interesting characters and stories.    Renowned Irish travel writer Dervla Murphy  visited Cuba when she was in her 70s, along with her daughter and grandchildren. The result is The island that Dared.  Written in Murphy’s usual forthright style, it’s a balanced, insightful, and affectionate look at a tough and resourceful people who defied the giant on their doorstep.   Delhi: adventures in a megacity. Writer and reporter Sam Miller takes a walking journey around one of the most overwhelming cities on earth, moving in a slow spiral from the centre to the outer edges, and meeting  a bewildering array of people along the way. As Miller points out, this is a city of around 17million people, and the bulk of their lives are lived outdoors, making this book a rich reading experience.   Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons is Matthew Fort’s story of travelling around Sicily on a Vespa. It’s a food-based journey, as you’d expect from Fort, a long-standing food writer, and mixes tasty-sounding recipes with descriptions of the island and people. It includes a visit to the town of Corleone, and looks at the locals’ attitudes towards the island’s Mafia culture.   The Man in Seat 61 by Mark Smith is a travel guide, but with a difference. It tells you how best to get around by rail rather than plane, thereby reducing your carbon footprint and putting some old-fashioned glamour and excitement back into travelling. It concentrates on Europe, but also looks as far afield as Morocco, Syria, and Japan, so you can plan a weekend trip to Rome or a proper old-fashioned Orient-Express style trip to Istanbul. Smith is experienced, informative, and is a huge advocate for making the journey part of the holiday.

Going on Summer Holidays? Why not save yourself some spending money and pick up some travel guides at your local library. We have a wide range of up to date travel guides e.g. Lonely Planet Guides, Rough Guides and Timeout travel guides, as well as lots of info on places to go and things to see.With Basic info such as how to get to and from the airport plus maps of the areas and recommended activities, accommodation etc. that will suit all the family, these guides are a must have for all you holiday makers looking to make the most of your stay.If it’s a staycation your after, we also have lots of books and guides on Ireland which will cater for your needs. The Bridgestone guides are a great place to start. The Bridgestone 100 Best Places to Stay in Ireland guide offers a great range of places to stay in over twenty counties which includes Northern Ireland. The Bridgestone 100 Best Restaurants in Ireland guide is a good one for all you foodies out there! Whether you want to splash out or just have a quick bite this guide has them all and a rough estimate of the prices you will have to pay. You could also check out the Lonely Planet guide to Ireland.If you are still undecided as to where to go on your holidays why not have a look at some of these books for ideas. The Lonely Planet guides offers travellers advice on the best trends, destinations, journeys and experiences1. Readers can choose from lists of the top ten countries, the top ten regions and the top ten cities to visit in the world. We also have a book titled 1000 Places to See Before You Die. This book, described as a traveller's life list, offers destinations from all over the world to choose from, reasons why to visit and also basic information such as addresses, useful telephone numbers etc...Where ever it is you decide to go, go to our online catalogue and reserve your travel guide now!