What’s travel ever done for us? For me, I can safely say that, without quenching my thirst for travel, I wouldn’t have my family, I’d not be in world-wide mapping, and generally life would be worse! Travel at work and play has left me richer in life, poorer in the pocket but happier in general. But can our yearning for travel fulfilment ever be truly guilt-free?
It’s great for the economy! ABTA (the Association of British Tourism Agencies) say the industry of getting us to far-off places contributes an amazing £37bn to our economy! That’s nearly 2% of GDP! Innovative map businesses and your end destination should benefit too.
Our approach to travel comes at a cost. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) claim that air transport contributes to almost 5 per cent of human-caused climate change.
So, more than ever, our drive to explore needs to balance with our travel purpose and choices. Here’s what we discovered when seeking more guilt-free travel fulfilment.
The Destinations show at London’s Olympia was a beautiful, compact and focussed way to dig a little deeper. Inspirational people walked the aisles and strode the stage. The industry, on hundreds of brightly coloured stands, basked in the natural sunlight that pours through Olympia’s Victorian glass roof.
Standfords had worked magic in the depths of Olympia, creating their Travel Writer stage of comfy sofas and upturned boats, rustic bookshelves and tropical plants. It was an oasis among the bustle of the stands. From a growth of shaggy ginger, Sean Conway chatted with Phoebe Smith about swimming the British coastline and wild sleeping under the stars when I arrived. Oh yes, I’d base myself here.
I met Lloyd Figgins, travel safety expert, ahead of his well-attended talk on getting smart and staying safe. Lloyd tempered his experience of combating risks and the dangers with stats that compounded travel safety and the wider benefits of travel. “Travel brings us together,” he explained. He’s right of course, but key take-homes – found in his book “The Travel Survival Guide”- were:
All this taken on-board, I bought the book, enjoyed an economy lunch, donned my mappy waistcoat and proceeded with renewed confidence.
Dan Starkel’s 1970’s tale, “Paddle to the Amazon” is still the longest recorded canoe trip ever. It tells how Dan and his sons completed a 12,000-mile journey from Winnipeg to the heart of the Brazilian rain forests. It’s always given me huge respect for those who take to the oars.
But carrying out a rowing challenge in one of the worst conflict zones on the planet adds a new dimension. Silly perhaps to paddle from Somaliland to Yemen? For most yes. But for someone familiar with conflict who wants to draw attention to the atrocity of war on a nation’s children, where could be better?
I met Jordan Wiley, one of the team from Channel 4’s “Hunted” reality show, ex-soldier and serial conflict charity supporter. Square-jawed and mid-trained for his next feat, Jordan paused for photos and a bit of map chat.
His next challenge is across the notorious Bab El Mandeb strait to round Perim island, just off the coast of war-torn Yemen. “We’re raising money for the kids displaced by conflict”, he said. In fact, this has been the focus of a number of “Running Dangerously” challenges for Jordan in recent years. This time as he is “Rowing Dangerously”. Having great sea-proof charts of this area is essential to stay out of harm’s way. SplashMaps will provide maps and charts!
Travelling alone can seem amazingly daunting, but it’s often the best way if you are bucket-list adventuring. Particularly in countries that are often seen as “higher risk”. In our family my inspirational 75+-year-old mother-in-law still backpacks independently, having ticked Iran, Syria and Ethiopia off her bucket list in recent years.
It’s great to see companies now catering to these unique people. Wild frontiers specifically arrange trips to countries on the “at risk” list of the Foreign Office. Recognising the demand they help in all aspects of travel to these destinations, including the difficult insurance negotiations. Likewise, independent local travel guides like Earthbound expeditions, are now ABTA approved. This gives the assurance needed for many people to take the plunge with more adventurous travel options.
Never the less it was great to see one woman taking the risks head-on. Sarah Begum, beautifully attired for her appearances on stage, stepped out of the travel authors section and demonstrated kick-boxing in stilettos on the Thailand stand. Sarah, like Lloyd, Jordan and I, was another fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and a solo traveller/vlogger to boot. “Martial arts are essential” she explained to me later, “for a woman travelling alone, I get to use my skills quite a lot” she added.
So, we can learn from inspirational travellers and we can help and support them too (just following some of those linked to this article is a great start). But the long-distance transport element – unless you can put 6 months of training to row the oceans – is still likely to end our civilisation as we know it.
The travel industry does offer overland options and railways continue to develop and improve in much of the rest of the world. The Passenger in seat 61 travel search tools means that most destinations in the world can be found via public surface travel. I can get to my meeting in Greece in 4 days!
Almost by coincidence, most of the people featured in this article, like myself, are Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society. Fellows’ projects reach far beyond travel fulfilment. They improve our collective understanding of the world so that to attend one of their events leaves you rich with inspiration and positive about your potential impact on the world. There’s a huge array of purposes to choose and so much potential to travel beyond your own self-improvement. Start now, as fellow RGS member James Borrel suggests, by picking ANY animal from the Edge of Existence list and make it your mission to save it. Start now!
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