Conventional wisdom says evolution is inherently for the better. While a dictionary defines evolution as simply a process of formation or growth, it’s generally assumed that growth is positive, whether overcoming limitations, coping with changes, or enabling new capabilities.
Pan Am’s iconic Flying Boat, the Boeing 314 Clipper.
After reading an article on Pan Am’s Clipper Service, flying passengers across the seas in the huge Boeing 314 Flying Boats, I thought, “My, how times have changed.” Travel has changed. The industry has “evolved.” But has it all been for the better?
Once upon a time, travel was a necessarily slow process and, because it was such a daunting task, people tended to stay for weeks or months, sometimes even years at a time. Tourism, as word and as we know it, didn’t exist before the 1800s. Even into the 1900s, there was no hopping a plane to Paris for the weekend. Once you arrived at your destination, after a lengthy voyage by ship, train or new-fangled motor coach, you unpacked and settled in. By necessity, you learned about the city you were in; where the grocer is, where the doctor’s at, not just what attractions and diversions were nearby. You knew your hosts, their neighbors and, eventually, the regulars around town. You became a temporary citizen of sorts.
No such thing as Far Away – Pan Am’s Clipper service made distant lands accessible, playing a pivotal role in developing the tourism industry.
By mid-century, tourism was coming of age. Pan Am’s glorious birds circumnavigated the globe and it became possible (for the wealthy, at least) to reach another continent in a day. And, because it was faster and easier to travel, we found ourselves doing it more. Space age travel made it possible to visit places previous generations wouldn’t have dreamt of, come back home, and then jet off someplace new. Always someplace new.
Our term of temporary citizenship was reduced to weeks, maybe days. In some cases, mere hours. We didn’t see much beyond the Must See sights and, perhaps, friends and family. We had no time to really learn about the people and culture of the pinpoints stuck in our maps. Cultural historian Paul Fussell said it well: Exploration belongs to the Renaissance, travel to the bourgeois age, tourism to our proletarian moment.
Travel has evolved. For the better? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
If you wanted to visit Hawaii in the 1700s, this is how you got there! Captain Cook’s ships Resolution and Discovery on the 2nd Voyage to Hawaii
The article that started this train of thought is here: A Boeing Classic Airliner and the Good Ol’ Days of Flying
Image of The Resolution and Discovery Off Hawaii, by John Clevely the Younger, in the Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons, and used in the book The Explorations of Captain James Cook in the Pacific
Featured image is the relief sculpture Spirit of Transportation by Karl Bitter, on display in the passenger lounge at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station.
On the one hand, I suppose it’s nice that traveling is easier than ever. More people can do it than ever, as opposed to just the wealthiest back in the day. On the other hand, though, there is the whole idea that by being forced to stay in one place for so long, you had no choice but to learn more about your surroundings, and probably got to learn more about the real nature of a place. That aspect definitely appeals to me!
I often dream of “slow travel” – staying a month or so in a locale to really see everything, get to know the people and their culture, make a few friends in far flung places to keep in touch with. But then work reels me back in. Come on, Mr. Lottery!! 😉
Thanks for visiting, Stephanie!
A thought provoking post. The summary is indeed true, but the by definition the majority of us are in the proletariat category. Without the scale of modern day travel possibilities, we would be unable to travel…except for emigration because we’re poor. Despite the limitations of short stay travel we still learn from our experiences incl how alike we humans wherever we live. And some of us get the bug and keep travelling over decades, even if only for weeks at a time….somehow we have to replenish the $$$ stocks. I for one wouldn’t reverse the trend as the world is a smaller, more familiar place now. But I’d LOVED to have flown in that clipper, being a plane freak! Oops got carried away here. Pauleen http://www.troppont.wordpress.com
My post today is F for Fannie Bay Flying
I would have LOVED to take a Clipper to the South Pacific! It seems so very Humphrey Bogart. 😉 The entire quote by Fussell goes on to lament how tourism differs from travel, essentially that it’s “dumbed down” for the masses and only the highlights are hit. But, I think the most important part is that at least there is some exposure to the “outside world,” which can only be good.
Meanwhile, I really enjoyed your posts for E and F. Great stuff – nice bits of local history for someone far, far away. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!