15 September

I think of travel as a relationship, because that's what it is. A relationship with place, as opposed to just people. It takes time to build a relationship, a lot of time to 'get to know'. My criticism of travel isn't just about how much energy it uses, it's even more that we ignore the relationship thing. You don't 'experience the culture' of somewhere on a travel visit. It's speed dating at best. And with speed dating you at least have the opportunity to spend more time with the person, to get to know them. Not with travel, you don't live there, you're just a very-temporary visitor. Even in the very structured world of a workplace, it takes people months, even years, to really get to experience the 'workplace culture'. We know all of this, for relationships and work. We forget all of it, for travel. This is about basic respect. If you go into a relationship, you respect the other person by taking the time to get to know them. Same for respecting a new workplace. But we have absolutely zero respect for place, with travel. Zero. This is other people's homes, their most sacred spaces on Earth.