As I spend literally the bulk of each day now preparing for my upcoming move overseas, I’ve been thinking a lot about the journey itself – the lengthy flight, the jet lag, the five hours I’ll be hanging out at LAX. The act of travel itself is not exactly a blast – for me anyway. I wrote a post last week about how I sometimes wish I could take the travel out of traveling. The comments I received told me that, as I suspected, I am not alone.
They also told me that some other travelers wish the manual, labor-intensive act of traveling could be replaced by a futuristic mechanism which would beam us wherever we wish to go whenever we wish to go there. Candice Walsh wrote “If I could get somewhere instantly, say via teleportation, I’d be all over that.” Gray Cargill said “I’d be very happy if someone were to invent the transporter ala Star Trek.” Their comments reminded me of my sentiments during my very first trip overseas – a month traveling solo through Europe. The days of exploring were great, but some of the horrific accommodations where I ended up often made me wish for the invention of a particle-bursting, speed-of-light transportation device that I could step into and shoot myself back home at night, then get back into and blast off back across the pond the next morning.
Creative Commons photo by SanFranAnnie
As I’ve reflected on my shared desire for a method of compressing hours of travel into seconds, I’ve surprised myself a little. Perhaps the travails of the journey make travel all the more noteworthy, I’ve come to think. If people could just blip themselves from Podunksville onto Nile cruises, Nowheresville to dinners in Rome, and Yoville to holidays in Antigua, how exciting would that be? Not very. No anticipation, no preparation, no thrill. Just another ho-hum trip to Tokyo.
I’ve come to believe that the hours spent plotting our trips, the thought put into packing, the countdown as we finish last-minute tasks before getting in the car to drive to the airport, the anxiety-riddled checking and re-checking to ensure ourselves that yes, we do have our passport, even the long flight itself might just be a little exciting after all. Now when I think of stripping these acts away from traveling, when I think of just climbing into a tube from the future and shooting myself back and forth across continents, I believe I would be missing a lot of what travel is about.
I’ve always felt that long, slow journeys are bliss if the means of travel itself is enjoyable, like a cruise or a ferry trip. But now, when I think of subtracting the act of traveling from trips that I find arduous I have come to believe that perhaps without the burden of the journey, the end point would not be nearly so sweet.
What about you? If you could just beam yourself wherever you wish, would the world quickly bore you? Or would you be happy to delete lengthy journeys from your life?
Thumbnail rocket photo by m bahareth
what a timely read! i just finished researching flights from london home to melbourne with the cheapest being 36 hours and 2 stop overs – kill me now or teleport me HOME!!
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
June 21st, 2010 at 08:31
Ohhh, 36 is way too long. If you take the cheapest route, I hope you’ll have enough layover time to lie down and try to sleep.
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I don’t know, Sabina, I’m still all over that transporting thing.
Most of the fun I have planning for and anticipating a trip don’t have much (or anything) to do with how I’m going to get there, but what I’ll do once I’m there. I think it would still be pretty exciting to be in Paris, for instance, even if I could transport there instead of having to fly. Of course, it would put the airlines out of business, the trains, and possibly the lodging industry as well, or a good portion of it, causing millions to be unemployed. There’s always a downside to technological advances.
Gray´s last blog ..Norwegian Epic Inaugural Cruise (NY)
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
June 21st, 2010 at 08:33
There’s definitely always a downside. Perhaps that’s why teleportation has never gotten off the ground. The people behind it all see too many negatives.
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It depends. I want to teleport instantly to, say, France to avoid the 12 hour flight. But within France I would want to take train rides or simply walk around just to see the city and the countryside.
Instant travel would also be cool if I just wanted to indulge in foreign foods I can’t here or just things that taste awesome. Like I wish I could beam myself to Buenos Aires for dinner and come back home.
The Jetpacker´s last blog ..What’s On Your F***-It List?
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
June 21st, 2010 at 08:30
That’s a good point. There is always a middle-of-the-road method. Being able to go both at supersonic speed and in slow motion would be great.
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Ah, the crick in the neck from being skrunched in a ragdoll-sized seat, the massive dehydration and hangover, they’re all part of the experience. Enjoy !
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
June 21st, 2010 at 08:28
They really are, Mike.
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I’m with Jetpacker. I wouldn’t mind getting to my initial destination quickly, but once there I would want to travel the “old fashioned” way. Good post.
Nancie (Ladyexpat)´s last blog ..Friday’s Talking Photo # 16 — Pura Besakih –Bali’s Mother Temple
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
June 21st, 2010 at 08:33
Thanks, Nancie. I like Jetpacker’s idea too.
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