We Should Travel More

I am ready to take the barrage of abuse and attacks on my irresponsibility that are likely to go with what I’m about to say. Today I am talking about travel during coronavirus, and my opinion is that we should be travelling more during coronavirus. Just let that sink in. Don’t switch off. You can keep listening. I mean, at least listen to what I’ve got to say, even if you don’t agree with it.

See, I’ve travelled for 13 years now, working and travelling as I go. And I want more people to keep travelling during COVID-19. And whenever I say to someone, “Oh, we should travel more. We should be travelling now. Why, why are we not travelling?” I get absolutely taken apart, for being a privileged, white millennial male, recklessly endangering lives, destroying communities.

Travel Has Always Been Good And Bad

Can I just not stop? Can I just stop being selfish, stay in one place just for once? And the thing is, travel is a really easy scapegoat and it’s so easy to blame off. Coronavirus, it’s the fault of these people travelling. And of course it’s got some logic — if nobody left the house ever, then perhaps there would be no coronavirus.

You know, throughout history travel has always been good and bad. I mean, think of the Silk Road. The old Silk Road that now is remembered brilliantly for silk, and trading paper, tea and rice, and bronze and porcelain, stained glass and jade, and everything between East and West. The silk road of Marco Polo’s tales. It’s also the route that brought the plague from East to West, smallpox as well, but that’s not really remembered anymore.

Also where the idea of quarantine was invented — actually in Persia. It was a Persian polymath, Ibn Sina, who said how we need a 30 day isolation period to prevent the spread of contagious disease among our trading routes.

Travellers Are Being Incredibly Responsible

So their approach back in the 11th century was quite forward-thinking, because they said, “Look, we need to keep travelling. We need things to keep travelling, but we need some safety precautions.”

And what I’m finding now is when I say I’m travelling during coronavirus, the abuse I get is this, “It’s your fault. You’re spreading it.” As if, for one, I’m spreading a disease in a place where the disease already exists — as if, two, the place I’m going to would not have coronavirus if I didn’t go there. I mean, it’s already there. Why is it making a difference if I go there? And most importantly, the assumption that people who travel are irresponsible.

You know, right now, when I travel, I take coronavirus tests. Before I travel, I take coronavirus tests regularly. I take them when they arrive, I follow all the restrictions, all the precautions, just like I am sure you take all the precautions when you’re at home, wearing a face mask, keeping your distance and doing all the things that have been asked of us around the world to suppress this virus.

But when I say I’m going to travel, people say, “Oh, you’re so irresponsible.” And the implication is we’re seeing that — travellers are just considered irresponsible and they become the scapegoats.

Irresponsible people spread coronavirus — whether they live next door to you, live in your city, whether they are close to you, or whether they’re on the other side of the world. It’s not that travellers are different from people. I mean, travellers are just people. And they are being incredibly responsible in understanding that there is a risk associated with their travel. So what can we do? Or what can I do to prevent that risk?

Why We Must Open This Conversation

And for me, it’s really important that we open this conversation, because without addressing this issue now, we’re not going to have travel ever again.

I mean, let’s take one argument to its conclusion. Let’s say, okay, now, because of coronavirus, we’re going to stop all travel. You know, that’s the extension of the argument. That’s the end of the argument. We’re not going to have any travel. So what we’ll do is, we won’t move. We’ll be depressed, but that’s okay. We’ll be suppressing the virus. And then when the virus is gone, we’ll start to travel again.

Now the problem with that is, the virus isn’t going to be gone everywhere at the same time. So are you allowed to travel? I mean, when does it restart? Because we know it’s going to be around in some place or in some form, or there’s going to be another contagious disease coming. So when it does restart, and then there’s still a bit of coronavirus in that country, but not that other country, and we’ve got these inconsistencies around the world, how is travel going to be safe? How can travel be safe when it restarts? And it’s not possible for it to be safe because the whole time people haven’t been travelling. People haven’t been figuring out what to do to be responsible.

For me, the more people that travel now, the safer we make travel now, the safer we make travel in the future, and the sooner we’re able to return to the opportunity to travel.

Travel Can Happen Now

And of course, when we travel, we don’t just move. We don’t just explore. We connect, we share, we spread our wealth and with all the restrictions, we don’t spread coronavirus. I mean, how can I spread coronavirus in a country? If I arrive with a negative test, if I’m already arrived and approved, I haven’t got the virus.

And I think what’s really important for me right now is to realize that look, it’s not absolutely safe anywhere. You know, it’s the same disease everywhere. And there’s a chance that you will catch coronavirus when you walk down your street or go to your local shop, just like there’s a chance you’ll catch coronavirus on the other side of the world.

But whether you’re at home or whether you’re abroad, doesn’t make you irresponsible. Travellers are responsible. And I think it’s really important that we spread this message that travel is responsible. Travel can happen now, and travel will be safer, the sooner we travel more.

If you disagree with me, please tell me. Write in, tell me how you feel. Tell me, without the expletives, that you don’t agree and let’s have a discussion. Let’s open the discussion. Let’s talk more about this rather than closing it down and saying that travel is bad.

Of course I am your host at Kated travel podcasts, so I want people to travel more. But it’s not a business reason that I’m putting this message out to you. This is purely my belief that this is how we can travel again sooner.