Are you just flying, or already travelling?

I think I have mentioned a few times already that I don't really like flying. However am I still looking forward to the next time I can spend above the clouds. Sure, flying takes too long and is usually too uncomfortable, but it still has a great appeal that I can't completely escape, at least not all the time.

The thought of being able to float so high above all the action and be transported to the other side of the world in a relatively short time is still quite fascinating to me, even in the fast-moving 21st century. Around a hundred years ago, when modern aviation first opened up to ordinary people, this idea and this fascination must have been even stronger. By now, we might have gotten used to the fact that nowadays you can be taken by plane to almost any country on our planet. And if you look around and ask people, you quickly realize that most of us have probably flown somewhere by plane at least once in our lives. And why not!

Especially when embarking on a new adventure, in new regions that are still unknown to you, the excitement is at its greatest. What might there be to discover and see that you haven't yet seen in one of the many YouTube videos by other travelers. Thanks to modern media, the whole wide world is no longer so big and so far, and just a mouse click away. Computers, tablets and smartphones bring even the most hidden regions into our living rooms, where we can watch them from the safety of our sofas. For some people, traveling is no longer necessary as the world now comes to their homes and they no longer need to put themselves through all the hardships that a trip to the other side of the world would entail.

Some people therefore only travel virtually and imagine that they have already seen everything in the world. YouTube, Tiktok and Instagram are the tour guides that are supposedly able to tell you everything and bring you closer to our world. Our own experiences seem to count less and less and are considered overrated. People would rather hand themselves over to the next influencer who is supposed to explain the universe to them. And who may never have ventured outside their own comfort zone at all. Again, it's all more illusion than reality, just like so much of our lives today.

Unfortunately, I'm not really able to go on long-distance trips these days, because when I do get back on the plane, it's always in the same direction. It's back home, where I'll meet exactly the same people as last time. To be honest, there's no reason to complain, as I feel very comfortable there with these very people which I have missed for so long.

But I would also like to set off once again into unknown realms and face the next adventure. There are still so many regions on our planet that are foreign to me, at least as far as paying a personal visit there is concerned. And YouTube videos don't help either, because nothing beats your own individual experience, which is something you can only do in person and on-site.

Let's see when I will get another chance to do this again. The next flight is likely to go in the direction I just mentioned, but I'm very much looking forward to it. Maybe not necessarily the flight itself, but everything that will come up during that travel. And I'm sure that we'll have plenty of experiences waiting for us that I'll be able to talk about in the future....