I LOVE TRAVEL, BUT?

 

I have always loved to travel. So a couple of recent articles caught my attention. “The Case Against Travel” (New Yorker) and “Don’t Want to Travel?” (CNBC). Both noted the increased number of people who are reluctant or have vowed to never travel again. In Japan, that number reached 35%, in the US it is 14%.

The articles cited various reasons for this, safety, cost, the sheer number of people traveling, etc. I started thinking about the recent stories from the travel world. The turmoil aboard airlines,  the wait for entry passes at DC attractions, ones that you used to be able to just walk into. Not to mention the 3 1/2 hour wait lines to check into Las Vegas properties, the $700 a night hotel rooms in cities. Little by little it takes the glitter off the joy of traveling.

So what do you do. You can just lean into it and bear the rough edges of it all, or think about alternatives. A good place to start is figuring out why you travel in the first place. Once you figure out that, the question is do you have to go to the brightest lights to achieve that or are some “small ball” places able to meet those goals. 

For me the magic is meeting interesting people, taking photographs, a good meal, and touring local museums and galleries. Enjoyment comes from having enough quiet time and not being run over by the masses.

Don’t get me wrong, I still lust after grand travel. Perhaps, though, the best travel right now is a journey within ourselves. One where we can discover what really makes a great travel and life experience…