Flightless Travel
Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 4:22 PM by Lonely Planet
I want to confess something... I'm a travel junky. I can't live without the stuff.
I started young: the grand tour of Europe with my mum when I was seven. However, I quickly progressed to the harder stuff: backpacking, learning languages, living overseas... I even took to guidebook-writing to support my habit. But no matter how 'tough' and remote the destination, I could never shake the feeling that I was just a tourist. It all seemed too blithe. Too easy.
Then I had my epiphany. The problem was not the destination, it was the way I'd gotten there. Flying. Thanks to flight, there are few places you can't reach in 24 hours. Thanks to flight, modern travel is instant gratification; the consummation of desire without the dance of courtship. So I began to formulate a dream: to travel a long way, over land and sea, without the help of flight.
I'm thinking it will be time-consuming, expensive, full of frustration, boredom, occasional panic and a little serendipity. And I'm pretty sure it will be one of the most memorable trips of my life - at least as memorable as that first tour of Europe.
I'm interested to hear from anyone else who's shunned aeroplanes on a long-haul trip. When I Googled 'flightless travel', to my surprise the top-ranked site was that of my old mate and fellow Lonely Planet author Simon Sellars (love your work, Simon). Then I saw, quel coincidence, that Lonely Planet of all publishers has a new book due out next month: Flightless: Incredible journeys without leaving the ground.
So there you go peoples - I'm not very original, even around these parts. But am I at least part of a movement?
- Michael Day is a Lonely Planet author who is currently working inhouse
Labels: flightless travel, flights, plane travel, sustainable travel
Join the Discussion:
13 Comments:
Great blog - I agree completely. I love nothing more than being on the ground for getting about. In Kazakhstan we met the most wonderful family on our overnight ride in a communal sleeper compartment, trading stories and gifts (koalas from us, scarf from them) and arguing about whose country has the largest landmass (it's us). There's nothing like watching the landscape fly past on a train ride - I'm not sure if I could enjoy it any more if I got to stick my head out the window like a dog with my tongue hanging out. Also, I've been advised that this can lead to headless travel.
Have you checked out www.findacrew.net - this site could get you some of the legs by sea as they match boats with crew all over the world, both professionally and recreationaly. There are often positions available to just do a share expenses situation or sometimes free passage for boaties who need an extra pair of hands on board for a trip. I have been a member for 3 years, and have used it for some short holidays, but i have also seen quite a few crew profiles who are doing the world by bike and sea. Might be an alternative to flying!
Fair winds! Phoebe
That's a very interesting topic! I have always been fascinated by big trips overland. Like yourself I have done the Europe tour going through quite a few countries and for the last 7 years, living in the Middle East has provided me with even more opportunities to take the car and explore the unbeaten paths of Oman or UAE.
My biggest wish is that one day I will travel by car from Dubai to my home country Romania. However this proves to be a bit difficult at the moment considering some of the countries you would have to cross (Saudi Arabia in particular).
Find and read 'A fortune teller told me' by Tiziano Terzani, it chronicles his year of flightless travel from bangkok to Rome
After living in Britain for a while, I tried to get back to Australia without catching a plane. Unfortunately, I ran out of steam at the bottom of Africa an had to relent and catch a plane.
At least I tried!
We investigated driving from Ireland to Thailand but found it to be a bit dangerous and you'd be buying the car in an expensive country and selling it in a cheap country.
We went from Germany to Thailand by train instead. Epic time. Absolutely loved it. Ya feel a lot closer to a country going through it rather than flying over it.
This post reminds me of the book 'Dark Star Safari' by Paul Theroux who traveled from Cairo to Cape Town overland the whole way!
An excellent read and I would recommend it to anyone.
You seem to be a bit of an 'ubertraveller'. How brave of you. I find it hard to get out of my own backyard. I don't even have a passport. I'm not inspired by your post, should I be?
Trains... there are no better way to travel! So far my two longest ones where from Taiyuan to Chengdu (China) and from Amsterdam to Copenhagen. Apparently I was on the Blue train from Pretoria to Cape Town when I was 2 years old.... but yeah well, I was 2 years old. 3 weeks from now its Taiyuan to Vladivostok to Lisbon to London by rail!
[Thus the reason why your blog caught my eye]
oh definitely i agree - its more of a challenge and leads to a better sense of achievement when you finally reach your destination. In january last year i went to Morocco for some much needed sun and surfing but didnt want to simply fly from London to Agadir so i flew to Malaga in Spain (ok so i did fly part of the way sorry) and then made my way to the surfing town of Taghazout near Agadir via 9 different journeys involving taxi, bus, ferry and train which was a much more challenging experience than had i just got the plane. Waking up on the overnight train from Tangier to Marrakesh and watching the desert mountains and moroccan life roll past was so surreal and something ill never forget. Flightless travel is REAL travelling.
if u fly everywhere ur not a traveller...
overland ıs the only way! some of my best memorıes of travellıng are puttıng on my head phones and watchın the word go by.....wıth flyıng ıts not possıble
Mark H said...
After living in Britain for a while, I tried to get back to Australia without catching a plane. Unfortunately, I ran out of steam at the bottom of Africa an had to relent and catch a plane.
Mark,
you didn't run out of steam. You ran out of terra firma - you were going in the wrong direction!
I've met a lot of Eastern Europeans traveling in or to South East Asia by land. Cheaper, or so they said. One had worked without papers in England. Hitched across Europe until he could take cheap trains.
Post a Comment
« Read more on the blog homepage