Rethinking Travel
June 6th, 2008
With what seems to be all the craziness in the world these days, I’ve been rethinking travel. The whole concept. The why I want or need to travel. The concept of how I move around the planet. The how can I make this easier without making it harder first aspect of travel.
I used to love to take road trips. Today I bought seven gallons and a few dribbles of gas for my car and my total in dollars was about thirty-two. It set me off to remembering the days when I lived down on the Central Coast, south of Big Sur, and I would go to San Francisco for the weekend with less than twenty bucks in my pocket. Usually something like ten. Seven of it would go in the gas tank. My how things have changed. As much as I’d like to take off next week for a cruise around the desert southwest, I can’t even consider a road trip these days.
Recently I’ve been packing my bags for a trip back down to The Yucatan. The clothes are in the bag, the medicine bag is packed. I check airline prices almost daily. I probably won’t go now until fall because of the summer heat, and hurricane season, but the idea of flying is daunting. Airlines are cutting back flights, prices are escalating … I’m considering taking off for a few months instead of a few weeks so that I can go from San Francisco to Tulum the old way - over land - just to avoid the hassles of air travel.
And then there is global warming and the carbon footprint of travel …
So, are the changes happening in the world making you rethink your travel plans? Are you packing differently? Timing your trips differently? Have you thought about just staying home? Are the changes in modes of transportation making you enjoy your trips less?
I’m just wondering …
June 12th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Yes to all the above! One of the reasons we wanted to do a road trip this summer, in fact, was to avoid traveling by plane - not just the hassles but also the carbon footprint part. And also because i like feeling the miles roll out beneath me as i go from place to place, so i have time to make the transition from one context to another. To be honest, if had my druthers, i would travel exclusively by train - but Amtrak is more expensive than flying! Which is really, really sad. One of the things i know i will miss the most about France is their awesome train system. America needs to make rail travel the norm again, like it was in those old black and white movies, Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in the sleeper car….