SOMETIMES YOU JUST CAN’T AFFORD to travel. Maybe you just got back from a big trip that you spent all of your money on and you still have the bug, or maybe you’ve got other obligations you have to take care of before spending on a plane ticket. There are three things you can do to quench your wanderlust in this scenario. First, you can make the financially irresponsible decision and go traveling anyway. Second, you can get super depressed. Or third, you can crack open a book.
The best books are ones with extremely well-defined settings — backdrops so perfectly described that you feel you’re almost there. These books feel like travel in their own right, and they cost you a tiny fraction of what you would’ve paid to buy a plane ticket. Here are 7 books that will take you somewhere new.