“With affordable global air travel, the internet and telecommunications..

…we are more connected than ever in the history of the world. Yet it seems that as residents of this planet, that we are also far more divided than ever before”. 

 Having had the privilege of working in the travel, tourism and transportation business for all my life it seems to me that more and more of us are now more fearful than ever to travel beyond our normal areas of comfort and perceived safety zones.  We are more nervous of different cultures, different places and increasingly prefer to stay in locations where things and people are more like home.

Fear is rife.  Isolation is in

 Too often, we convince ourselves that all of the outside world is a dangerous place to explore!

 The causes are broad and include, increasingly nationalist based politics in many countries, the ‘breaking news’ on TV and the internet which amplifies bad news and often implies that vast swathes of countries and places are simply too dangerous to visit.

 The way news is read now, often on social media, means that more and more often we only read what interests us and we are not exposed to the wider picture and thus are susceptible to sensational news stories.   We have to make a positive effort to make sure we are broadly informed.  That at least helps us regognize fake, false or exaggerated news.

The symptoms are easy to see, in recent times we have seen Brexit, arguments and threats over NAFTA, The United Nations, the Trans Pacific Partnership, Climate Institutions and many more.  The ironies are many too, the goal of withdrawal from institutions is a sort of ‘independence’.  Of course in reality we are globally connected and you’ll never tackle climate change, migration et al on your own as they are cross border matters.  ( I had a wry smile when 2 weeks after Brexit, (and freedom from Brussels!), the United Kingdom said it was looking to Beijing to help it build a new railway line!).

Drive By Tourism

 Perhaps too. we if we understood more about the background, history and culture we’d be more adventurous.  Instead, Instagram inspired ‘me too’ visits, rushed ‘drive by’ sightseeing tours and the superficial visits imposed by cruise schedules all lead to making it more difficult to appreciate and understand new destinations.

 The purpose of this travel blog is simply to excite, describe and hopefully give ideas for your travel and exploration.  The more we are familiar (and friendly!) with those people and places, different to us, the better and safer we will all be. Sit back and browse through some of the great places I have had the great good fortune to visit.