Gay Travel (1961)

This is another Russian book focusing on transportation in the future. I adore the visions of our electronic, streamlined, helicopter commuting future.

The title "Gay Travel" was translated by the seller, it might also be "Happy travel" or maybe one of my constant readers will have a better one.

Gay Travel.  Moscow. 23 x 29 cm. 1961

From my gentle scanning of the illustrations, it seems to be an exploration of how we might travel in the future. There are only a few space illustrations but the overall design tickles my astrofuturism sensibilities.  I hope you find this as charming as I do.

Streamlined "bubble" cars and commuting helicopters are just a few of the vehicles we have to look forward to.  We have almost reached this future since it seem that many of these cars are self-driving (and televisions in cars).Why not include chess, sleep, reading, and playing with your dog?

 Streamlined trains also evidently lie ahead for us. I particular can not wait for the swimming pool car on my next train trip.

 Domed mega-cities are the obvious solution to global warming. Why spend all this time trying to control the Earth's climate when we can live in climate-controlled luxury (until the machines stop of course)?

 I was also a big fan of our undersea future when I was growing up, so this series of exploration vehicles is very promising.

 Our future in space begins with stratospheric planes.  We are still hoping to make our world smaller with faster and higher jets.

 These last three illustrations show how we will move out into space, exploring the moon (although the person in the upsidedown space suit does not seem to be demonstrating good safety practices).

 Finally I really like the use of color in illustrations of space stations. There is no need for everything to be grey, blue and silver. It may increase your heating and cooling costs but a little color brightens up the "landscape".