A Bad Year Saved (Maybe)
Tom Swick: Contemplating and celebrating the world of travel
12.31.08 | 9:54 AM ET
Travelers in Corsica. REUTERS/Charles PlatiauTravel became a major casualty in 2008—of both the recession and terrorism—but also a potential beneficiary (of the presidential election). For Americans with passports, the hanging of a new calendar will be a warily hopeful act.
The economy continues to slide, threatening airlines as well as banks. We sit and wait to see who falls, and what those airlines left flying will find to charge us for next. (Jetway use? Armrest privileges?)
The price of a roundtrip ticket to Europe this summer shocked people who hadn’t flown trans-Atlantic for a few years. Speaking at the first annual Melbourne Festival of Travel Writing in July, Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler suggested that the “golden age of cheap travel” may be coming to an end. It was a sobering prospect. When you come of age under the weight of a backpack, it is painful to think of travel as a luxury.
The great American road trip—less a luxury than a birthright—also took a hit this summer as gas prices exceeded $4 a gallon. The quandary—spend your savings to fly or a small fortune to drive—produced a rash of “regional travel” and “weekend getaway” stories in publications dedicated to pulling people up off the sofa. The New York Times Travel section, which has excelled at scouring the globe and finding clubs reminiscent of those in Manhattan, started an occasional series on ethnic neighborhoods within the five boroughs.
Everyone, it seemed, took a page from Thoreau. It was the year of the “staycation”—a failure as a neologism as well as a concept. You saw it written but never heard it spoken except by the trend addicts on TV and radio. No one this fall told you what they did on their summer staycation.
The leaders of the three major American automakers flew their private jets to Washington to beg for bailouts. While Smart cars started popping up in neighborhoods like Easter eggs.
Train travel gained in popularity, attracting a growing number of people concerned about their carbon footprints and a smaller but no less wiser group drawn to the pleasures of “slow travel” (a form which Amtrak sometimes elevates to an art).
Paul Theroux returned to the tracks of The Great Railway Bazaar and came back with the equally excellent Ghost Train to the Eastern Star. Yet while the new book may have sparked an interest in trains, it failed to do the same—as its predecessor had done—for travel writing.
November gave us our first global president, the darling of travelers (and most of the world’s citizens). On Nov. 5th it suddenly became OK to be an American abroad.
We had less than a month to glory in our newfound popularity before terrorists stormed the city of Mumbai, targeting a train station and two luxury hotels. The original report, that they were singling out Americans and Brits, proved to be false, though they did attack a Jewish center. And like that, a new, strangely retro image (old occupation movies came to mind) was added to the phobias of queasy travelers: that of a gunman in the corridor going door-to-door.
Though some called it “India’s 9/11,” Le Monde didn’t proclaim “We are all tourists.” Travelers have been obvious targets since the day they hit the road. (The word “thug” comes from thuggee, the bands in India that preyed on caravans, robbing and killing their members.) It’s just that today weaponry is more sophisticated, tourism more common, news more ubiquitous.
Obama won’t be able to put an end to terrorism, but he can do a lot to repair our country’s reputation in the world. (Though no American traveler should automatically expect a warm reception based on nationality, especially since we thought it unfair when the same thing sometimes got us the opposite.)
Our president-elect has expressed a willingness to engage the leaders of countries recently seen as enemies, which could go a long way in diffusing tensions. There is hope that, sometime during his administration, Americans will be able to visit Cuba legally. (A recent poll showed that a majority of Cuban-Americans are in favor of ending the embargo.) The environment is likely to become a major concern (finally), which could mean needed funding for national parks as well as electric cars. If he is able to revive the economy, travel—among other things—will become accessible to more and more people.
It is like that moment before a journey, when feelings of trepidation are overtaken by often unrealistic expectations.
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Tom Swick is the author of two books: a travel memoir, Unquiet Days: At Home in Poland, and a collection of travel stories, A Way to See the World: From Texas to Transylvania with a Maverick Traveler. He was the travel editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for 19 years, and his work has been included in "The Best American Travel Writing" 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2008.
Enduring Wanderlust 12.31.08 | 11:00 AM ET
Great post, Tom. Lots to think about there.
I thought it was a pretty good year. Things are changing, but change is good. Lots of people are traveling and many of those people are joining in online travel communities to share their passion for travel.
Happy New Year.
Jason Halberstadt 12.31.08 | 12:33 PM ET
Some trends that this article didn’t cover are the fact that there are a lot of people laid off, and the job market isn’t so hot. So, it’s an excellent time to take longer-stay trips to cheap destinations. One long trip vs. several short trips also reduces greenhouse gas emissions (one flight instead of several) and one lives a more humble and cheaper lifestyle in a developing country.
Tony Wheeler suggesting that the “golden age of cheap travel” may be coming to an end, is LP speak for “we’re not going to serve the budget market anymore because there’s not as much money in it for LP as luxury travel.”
Antonia Malchik 12.31.08 | 6:33 PM ET
Beautiful writing, Tom, one of your most inspiring.
I love the line about “coming of age under the weight of a backpack.” Truth to tell, though, I think there are plenty of people, and always have been, who will never think of travel as a luxury, but as a drive, a thirst, a desire. If you’ve come of age with a rucksack bopping your rump, you’re one of those people. Travel might become more expensive, but never less addictive.
Marilyn Terrell 01.01.09 | 4:57 AM ET
Great post, but I disagree with the headline. 2008 coulda been worse. No major terrorist attack on US since 9/11, though we have to put up with shoeless security lines and random patdowns.
John M. Edwards 01.01.09 | 3:37 PM ET
Hi Tom:
I agree that 2008 sucked for the shoestring traveler: as the economy crumbled here in the US, prices nevertheless rose abroad for global cheapskates in search of epiphanies. What, the equivalent of ten bucks for an “English breakfast”!?
Your column is fantastic. We’ve needed an incisive spokesperson to cover issues for the “travel writer” as well as the traveler for some time now. How about an explicated list of all magazines (online and print) that accept freelance submissions, especially of narrative essays? Now that would be useful. Thanks to the Swickman, I have a bunch of new ideas for 2009!
John M. Edwards
Tim Patterson 01.01.09 | 9:21 PM ET
Agree with commentators who point out the silver linings. The world needed its necktie loosened, and hopefully the Bush Disaster won’t be repeated anytime soon.
Marie 01.03.09 | 8:06 PM ET
If all the “no vacanies” that I saw in the Keys this week are a positive indication of what is to come in 2009, then I think that travel is alive and well. So, let’s keep planning and remaining positive that we can still see all we want to, even if we are on a budget. Happy New Year. Keep the articles coming and keep sharing your findings with all of us.
Marie