It’s been 50 years since I wrote the first guide Lonely Planet, so I am very clear about how much travel has changed in half a century. 50 years ago, we did not have the Internet, nor cheap airlines, nor the open door to a very large area of the world like China. But what about in 25 years? How much has travel changed since 1998, just before the new millennium? Here are seven big changes that have taken place during that time period. And I write these lines from Rhodes, in Greece, which fits perfectly into at least three of these categories: transportation, tourist saturation and climate change.
Transport
We have had it for 50 years jumbos, the large long-range airplanes that revolutionized long-distance travel. But low-cost airlines appeared in Europe just over 25 years ago, first Ryanair, and then easyJet and many more. Ryanair, led by its famous and always-quote-worthy director Michael O’Leary, remains the largest. As I have told you, I am writing from the Greek island of Rhodes, where a surprising number of arriving planes hover over my head and a surprising number of them are from Ryanair. Fortunately, now that the Flygskam movement—the shame of flying—is such a relevant travel concept, I’ve also managed to use many other modes of transportation this year: I’ve traveled by train in seven different European countries and four countries in other continents; I have taken ferries in Canada and from South Korea to Japan; I have even managed to walk 90 kilometers of the Thames Path, which follows the course of this river from its source to the sea, passing through London. In the last 25 years there has been a great deal of interest in these alternatives to flying and, in that time, the Camino de Santiago in Spain has become the most popular hiking route in the world.
Security
25 years ago, that is, long before the terrorist attacks of 9/11, we were hardly concerned about security at airports, and not only at airports, but anywhere else. Now it does concern us, and when everything goes without incident, as it sometimes does, there is no problem. But if we have to wait in line behind the X-ray machines, it can be a problem. Why, after 22 years, have we still not figured out how to make security controls work consistently, quickly and conveniently? Do we need to take out the laptops or not? Put small liquid containers in plastic bags? Should we take off our shoes or belts before going through the scanners? Each security line seems to be a new travel experience; There are no rules that always apply.
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More world
China, which at that time represented 20% of the world by population, began to open up to the outside world 40 years ago, so 25 years ago it was definitely part of our travel world (round trip). But, in that time period, many other places have opened or, unfortunately, closed. Africa is the center of openings and closings, but right now Russia is the place that has really closed. Except for a brief period that more or less coincided with the 2018 World Cup, Russia has never been easy to visit and right now it is definitely off the tourist map. Thank goodness I did the Trans-Siberian route back in 2013 and, sadly enough, thank goodness I visited Ukraine in 2016 and 2018, before Russia launched its terrible attack.
Internet and information
The Internet and all its travel benefits really started to emerge 25 years ago, but today we have many more. My phone carries a slew of travel apps that I simply couldn’t live without. In the last 12 months, airlines have canceled flights at the last minute on three occasions, and on all three occasions I was able to find another way to get to my destination; One of the times the cancellation was so last minute that I was already on my way to the airport. And again, when I showed up at the Seattle airport to catch a flight to Canada, I suddenly discovered that I needed an ETA, the Canadian equivalent of the American ESTA travel authorization. I had already been to Canada twice last year and hadn’t needed either. But it was because I had arrived by land and the rules are different if you take a plane. Luckily, the Canadian ETA app worked so well that I applied for it, paid the 5 euros, and my ETA was approved while I was in the baggage check-in line.
Pandemics
Of course, 25 years ago we didn’t know much about pandemics, although we had had a simulation of our Covid shutdown with the SARS outbreak in 2002, which also originated in China. Covid was a much bigger story and one that continues to endure in various curious ways. It also added multiple new layers of bureaucracy, paperwork, applications, and other interesting problems to the travel experience. Curiously, I was in Japan at the beginning of 2020 at a university conference when the Diamond Princess arrived in Yokohama and started the story of the pandemic. The meeting revolved around an issue that — at least for a couple of years — the pandemic completely settled: tourist saturation, which is the next topic.
Tourist overcrowding
50 years ago we did not use that expression, but 25 years ago it began to become a concern, although “tourist saturation” was not definitively incorporated into our colloquial speech until approximately 10 years ago. In Europe, Barcelona in Spain is often cited as one of the main places suffering from this disease, along with Venice and Amsterdam. Of course, it is not a problem that is limited to large cities; In many smaller places the influx of tourists can be overwhelming. A few months ago I visited Ketchikan, Alaska, a pretty town until four cruise ships dock there in one day and their passengers outnumber the residents, and then again around four in the afternoon, when everyone returns on board and the city empties. Right now, in Rhodes, at the beginning of September, the bustle of August is over and the numbers are back to balance. Fortunately, tourist saturation is not a problem everywhere. In 2019, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Ravenna, Italy, did not seem to have as many tourists as its wonderful mosaic-filled churches should attract. And a couple of months ago, ancient mosaics were also a good reason to visit Plovdiv (Bulgaria), another city that, fortunately, does not yet suffer from overtourism.
Climate change
Surely we were already talking about climate change 25 years ago, but in a very discreet way. Of course we can fix climate change; All we have to do is stay home, don’t travel anywhere, don’t make anything, and depending on the season, keep the air conditioning or heating off, and… Well, this isn’t going to happen, is it? Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom. We buy many more electric cars and generate more and more electricity through renewable energy, such as wind and solar. But right now it is something that is of great concern, and never more so than in 2023, when extreme weather events are being so frequent and so serious that you would have to be crazy to deny that the climate crisis is taking place and in a totally terrifying way. Once again, I write this from Rhodes, Greece, one of the many ground zeros for climate change in the world. In this case, the terrible forest fires and torrential rains that have occurred recently.
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