I must confess that I do enjoy reading about people's travels, and I really enjoy the variety of travel photoblogs we have here on Hive.
The rock of Gibraltar, near where we lived in Spain, when I was a teenager
That said, having traveled — and moved — extensively in my youth, I don't necessarily miss traveling, and feel quite content to live vicariously through other people's exploits.
The one thing that periodically gives me pause for thought is how people get funding to do all that traveling. I mean, it seems like they are in a new country virtually every week, and going all over the place... all at a time when virtually everything in life is in an upspiral of expense.
Perhaps my perspective is skewed by the fact that it is an actual consideration for us to visit somewhere 100 miles away even for a day trip, because the cost of filling the gas tank for the outing has to come from somewhere.
But current poverty aside, even when I was in my 20s, going somewhere on a trip often averaged out to easily $200 a day — all told, after airfare, food, lodging, etc. — and even with a regular job it was something to save up for and do maybe once a year.
Not every week.
View in Denmark, from my youth
But then again, I was never very social so I didn't have 47 friends I could stay with in every city I visited, and I generally chose not to spend my nights crashed on a park bench or a bench at the train station.
Which, perhaps, brings up the deeper considerations that come into play, in our lives.
I was never much of a collector of experiences. I was not driven by a great need for variety and change; "what already was" typically was quite adequate to keep me happily going about my life.
Much of the travel I did was "required" rather than voluntary, so calling it "fun" would be to apply a completely wrong label to it. Most of the time I was just waiting to get home again...
Rock formations in Joshua Tree National Park, California
People ask me whether we are going to travel a lot when we retire.
It's a question I'd normally answer a hard no to, both because it's unlikely we could afford to, but also because it's unlikely we'll actually ever be able to retire. We're going to likely have to keep working for as long as our minds and bodies are able... and after that? Not sure what will happen...
I know there's a lot of "enthusiastic optimism" in the world, pointing to a future in which everything becomes plentiful and inexpensive. I hate to say it, but we're actually seeing the exact opposite unfold. Life simply gets more and more expensive every year.
Which isn't anybody's fault, except maybe for an overall system that depends for it's very life on an eternal spiral of increasing consumption.
But — at least — I'll keep looking at the photos from other people's travels and think to myself "Well, isn't THAT a beautiful spot!"
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your week!
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Created at 2024.12.18 18:02 PST
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When I was a child, we didn't go to Disneyland. Vacations were for road trips to visit family. Not that I'm complaining.
As an adult, I have traveled little. It's been frankly discouraging at times to work as hard as I can to not even achieve subsistence at times. Chronic illness combined with an economic rollercoaster has gone poorly.
I do plan to travel in 2025. I'm planning to camp as much as I can, and I have stored food to supplement with fresh produce and such as I go, so gas will be my biggest worry. This will be the first trip I take without a deadline to be anywhere, and I hope to find out where I really want to live long-term next, because the cost of living on the WA/ID border is even more unsustainable than your side, I bet.
So.
Many.
Californians.
Housing costs have ballooned far beyond the official inflation rate, and we know in practical terms costs have roughly doubled in the last dozen years, but requests for higher wages are met with disdain and contempt.
The display of the images is quite good and beautiful, I like the natural views.
Growing up in the '60s, our family did some tent camping for vacations. Just once, my mother and we three sisters rode the train to visit her relatives two states away. I still don't know how my parents afforded that trip. I was able to travel in Europe a bit in the '70s. I had a Eurail pass, stayed in youth hostels, and ate a lot of sandwiches and fruit from grocery stores. There are a few places in Europe I'd like to see again, and a few more places I'd like to see for the first time, but the cost is ridiculous, and I don't think I still have what it takes to sit on a plane for that many hours, and possibly deal with missed flight connections while sleep deprived. I would gladly settle for a road trip right here in the USA, but I need someone else to do most of the driving, and my husband won't go anywhere at all. Haven't gotten that worked out yet!
In fact, I would have loved traveling (of course adventure is good) but the funding is the issue.
Well I understand that some people are richer than others. But then most of the people doing that are greedy politicians and those from their stocks. The expend the resources meant for everyone on worthless things.