Whatever happened to the excitement of travel?
This must be the sneaky way time catches up with you, when you find yourself mentally evaluating all about trips that briefly seem to be wonderful, and then in the cold light of day the whole thing just sounds more trouble than it’s worth. This is when you have to remember the wisdom of measure twice, cut once. |
Every time my Dearly Beloved mentions the possibility of visiting a country that sounds wonderful I’ll sort of semi-agree, try to pull myself up by the bootstraps (what are those things, anyway?) and then sink back into a blue funk.
Different strokes
Then there’s another large group of us who dream of sun and surf, running around in sandals and brief clothing on sparsely populated beaches. Not bikinis, I hasten to add. Those just don’t hide enough on a well-matured body.
We used to go away to sunny, beautiful places every winter. No guided tours for us. We’d find the remotest islands, and depart without a thought or a care. One thing though, we’d always take out medical insurance before our far-ranging gadabout times. It didn’t cost much.
Once you got there it was fun. Lots of walking, sunshine, lovely people. Different cultures, beautiful warm nature scenes. We’d usually stay a month, maybe even three. By the time we returned Spring was in the air, and we were thankful to be in our lovely little home among familiar things.
But what if? The dreaded medical insurance...
Even a decade ago you travelled on a wing and a prayer. Folks who dislike air travel would say that’s still the case, but there’s a whole lot more to your planning these days. And as you got older suddenly your medical insurance increased fourfold! Now you have to almost bank on it being about one quarter of your trip!
Planes are deliberately crowded. You book online, you also can get your boarding pass online. Scared of doing this? The airlines have a tech savvy person to help you at one of those formidable machines. Just like the supermarkets, the number of airport self service machines become more and more obvious, leading to less and less people in your lives.
Twinkle, twinkle, you are one of the stars!
You’ll take off your shoes. That’s thanks to some weirdo who in 2001 tried to stuff a bomb into his shoes and failed to explode it. Now, even though he’s safely behind bars for the rest of his life you’re doomed to remove your shoes when the security officers check you out. This isn’t always as easy as it sounds, depending on your footwear and your agility.
People are bigger. Aircraft seats are smaller. Some really big people have to buy two seats. That’s come about with the fast food conglomerates putting all kinds of chemical stuff you’d never heard of into your convenience foods, and then spending millions on advertising technology so you’ll crave them. All kinds of ways Uber technology manages to get you.
Besides crowding you into ever tinier seats and space, airlines do the same with their planes in the sky. There are thousands of aircraft all somehow usually managing to avoid each other with the help of techie controllers.They show up to them like dots in a night sky. Mercifully our pilots make sure we don’t ever know how many there are all around us.
You, the person who has a major fear of heights,will make a leap of faith, and obediently strap yourself into a narrow metal cylinder with wings, then somehow calmly walk around in it at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Commercial jet aircraft cruise at about 400 – 500 knots (460 – 575 mph / 740 – 930 kph)mph. You’ll be propelled forward without protest until you get to your destination. That’s fast. And that’s brave.
Air B & B's everywhere
No longer can we afford to stay for a leisurely month where we’d like to. The reason is airbnb, the blessing for landlords, and the curse for folks like us, who want long term stays.
Everyone has got into the act - even in the most remote places! That”s how much the world has shrunk.You’d probably decide a stay in some wild Amazon forest would be interesting. Go online, and a bunch of Air B&B’s will show up. Somehow that really spoils things for me. Same with the Galápagos Islands. Surely some places should stay remote - inaccessible to all except David Attenborough? But no, even there the hordes of wealthy tourists can invade, travel, and shake up culture and nature. I disapprove.
That brings another whole issue to light. All of a sudden it seems you can go anywhere on earth because of amazing technology. ( actually, if you have enough moolah you can even go off earth and call it a once-in-a-lifetime experience)! No limits any more.
Too many people!
There are some great train trips all over the world. For the most part they’re slower paced, which sort of appeals to me. The accommodation is pretty small though. And if you pay the extra coin for a teeny washroom in your “suite” it’s a bit of a waste when the bed is lowered and covers the toilet at night. Also there’s the coin toss about who climbs up to the top bunk.
All these travel modes attract lots and lots of people, so you have to believe I’m in a minority situation here. It might be different if I had much more income to dispose of in the way that very rich people do. But that’s not going to happen for me.
It’s one of those situations where you pause and think, Do I really want to get away from it all?” Or should I scale down, knowing I can’t travel in the style I’d like to become accustomed?
Coming down to earth
You smile a little. You don’t have to pay $30 for a tiny checked bag, like you do on a plane now. You can take anything you want- fill up the back seat, and the trunk/ boot. You can pilot/drive it yourself. You don’t have to have a passport, or be accosted by a suspicious border official.
You’re going to explore your beautiful surroundings in Canada. You might not travel far. But you’ll find a nice beach, with treasures yet to be discovered. You’ll visit friends and look for things you feel would be interesting. You’ll stay in nice hotels for a week, and then you’ll travel back to the ferry. And on the other side you’ll find your little home, with all the things you thought you should get away from.
Sometimes, your fingers need to do the walking
Seniors of today need to start writing or recording their previous vacation and other. experiences for families and for society. They are walking histories from a slower, gentler time when they grew up, and this will one day be valued and amaze the techies of the future. Who knows, your words might have the power to bring future citizens closer?
Watch this, and understand, older folks have many opportunities to increase the historical knowledge of children and grandchildren. It is society’s precious gift. It’s a way to close the generational gap.
If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it. Lyndon B. Johnson