I feel I have neglected this blog recently so I thought I
would reboot it by mapping the countries that Fleming’s Bond travelled to.
Bond lives in London and spent part of his childhood in
Scotland so the United Kingdom is first on the list. Bond is a regular visitor to Jamaica, the
United States, West Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France as these are all
featured in multiple stories.
From Russia With Love is a great travel story with Bond following
the Orient Express route through Turkey, Greece and Yugoslavia. Thunderball is based in the Bahamas whilst nearly
all the activity in You Only Live Twice takes place in Japan. The short story For Your Eyes Only takes Bond
on a trip to Canada and in the first part of The Man With The Golden Gun Bond
recalls his stay in the Soviet Union.
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| James Bond replica passport from indyprops.com |
Bond travels to Africa at the end of Diamonds Are Forever, visiting Sierra Leone & Liberia and we have visits to the Seychelles and to the Kenyan port of Mombasa in the Hildebrand Rarity.
There are other mentions of Bond’s previous travels in the
books. We know he has visited Sweden as
he shot a Norwegian double agent in Stockholm and Thunderball hints at a visit
to Lisbon in Portugal during the war as well as a trip to Hungary in 1953. Bond learnt to ski in Austria and the country
is referenced in Octopussy, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and From A View To A
Kill.
Bond recalls visits to Mexico & Venezuela in the first chapter of Goldfinger which also describes the
service’s waterfront office in Hong Kong.
Other quick mentions include a trip to Trinidad in The Man With The Golden
Gun, Monaco in Casino Royale and in Goldfinger Bond recalls watching a motor
race in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
The final mention goes to Denmark, not specifically named but Bond’s JAL flight
to Tokyo in You Only Live Twice would have stopped at Copenhagen on the way
there.
I am sure I have missed a few places that Bond visited in Fleming’s
novels so please let me know!
