Why not travel a little less?

Photo by Kampus Production: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-posing-at-the-camera-6181092/

Everybody and their uncle is travelling these days. People travel for work, for business, for entertainment, sports and the heck of it. While I am all for travel, if it's absolutely necessary and for broadening one's mind and horizon, is it really sensible to take off for anywhere at the drop of a hat? After all is there anything in this digitally connected world that cannot be accessed without travelling far distances? You can consume all the information you want about anything under the sun thanks to the internet without having to ease yourself out of your armchair. 

Why you can supposedly even strike multi-billion dollar deals using your laptop or even phone! Or am I missing the wood for the trees? After all the whole point of travelling is to post a picture of you sitting in the plane, eating at a fancy restaurant, attending a rock concert by ageing and washed-out rock stars, watching a football match in an exotic city, even though you have never kicked one in your life and pretending to be river rafting when you can't even swim, on your various social media channels and wait for the appreciation to stream in?

Well, all of this comes at a cost. Incessant travelling is wrecking the environment along with our health. It is putting an unbearable burden on the fragile ecosystems of most tourist destinations, whether they be in the mountains, next to the sea, near the forests or in the desert. Why subject yourself to travelling to unfamiliar places far away from home, which may be too overcrowded to enjoy and where the pressure to visit the deemed necessary attractions becomes a cause of tension? How can you ever discover a place if you go like that? Have you really discovered your home town and what it offers you? You can do so at a leisurely pace and always return to the familiar comfort of your home and be richer for it (in experience, not money!)

Every place in the world has its history, its heritage, its park, its monuments, its waterbodies, its cuisine and its cultural centres. Why not spend a lot of time there and get to know your own city or town? That does not in any way diminish you at all. William Shakespeare never left the shores of England throughout his life. Does that make his plays any less profound? He wrote about ancient Rome, Denmark and distant lands, moving the readers with the sheer beauty of his words. Today, his writings are taught in universities around the world and nobody considers him a fool because he was not widely travelled.

We live on a sick planet, which needs healing. Our incessant travelling is not helping things. Aeroplanes pollute massively, as do automobiles. The hotel industry devastates the environment in multiple ways. Then there is the danger to the lives of travellers-from floods, landslides, accidents, crime and so on. Why put yourself through all that? If you have to travel, let it be like it was in the old days. Visit a relative in another town and spend a few days getting to know them.

 Alternatively, you could visit your hometown, if it s not where you live, for a well-earned vacation in the company of your loved ones. Breathe in the fresh air, eat some outstanding home-cooked food and relive your childhood. Visit the hills and seaside too, if these are easily accessible from where you live. You don't have to risk life and limb travelling half a world away for a view and some nice pictures to brag about.

You can get a fantastic view from the window of your apartment every day if you have the eye to discern beauty everywhere. A man or a woman does not need too much to get inspired and feel ecstatic. Dew drops on a flower or a radiant smile on a child's face can do that for you. It is the experience of life that counts and for that, you don't need to go around the globe, just so that you can get some bragging rights.