The Golden Age of Travel: You’re Living It
I quickly got online and searched for a flight. My doctor had given me the go ahead. I was healthy and got damn, I was happy. It was time to hit the road again.
After five months of borderline depression and hours upon hours of rehab, my knee had recovered. While spending time with family was fun, a man urges for adventure after a few months.
My search showed a flight from Kansas City to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for $220 USD – in 9 days! I booked it ASAP.
It only took a little more than a week, and I was staring at the waves as dinner was being cooked by a sexy chef in the kitchen of my oceanfront apartment that cost $27 a night.
In that moment, I knew it. There was no doubt in my mind. We were living in the Golden Age of Travel.
The Supposed “Golden Age of Travel”
Many consider traveling by plane in the 1950s to be the Golden Age of Travel. Air travel was new and exciting during this time. People romanticize the notion.
From sexy stewardesses to smoke-filled airplanes to businessmen downing whiskey in their three-piece suits – the era fascinates many.
Only the wealthy could fly by jet back in the day. As such, the vibe of the airplane was much different. The atmosphere was festive, almost like a huge party thousands of feet in the air.
Yet, flying during this supposed Golden Age of Travel had a variety of drawbacks…
First, it was damn expensive. According to John Brownlee, “A ticket on TWA in 1955 from Chicago to Phoenix, for example, cost $138 round-trip. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $1,168.” (1)
Unless you were upper class, you weren’t flying back in the day. There were no budget airlines that would take you from Miami to Bogota for under $200. You couldn’t get from Boston to Iceland for $99.
Not only was it costly to fly back then, but it was dangerous. Crashes were common. Planes would often collide while in midair.
Engines would occasionally fall out of aircrafts. Turbulence could lead to people breaking their necks due to a lack of proper seat belts and preparation.
And these are just a few of the problems before you actually land…
Once you’re on the ground, you have safety issues, transportation, accommodation, tourism activities, and more to worry about.
There wasn’t a Lonely Planet Guidebook back in the day. You didn’t have the Internet to help alleviate any fears of travel. Often, there was no way to know if you were venturing into a dangerous place or not.
Why Right Now is the Golden Age of Travel
Nowadays, people bitch about everything. From the locals suffering from “gringo fatigue” to the difficulties of finding an undiscovered spot these days to dreary weather.
Dudes just keep bitching. But they fail to realize…
We’re living in the Golden Age of Travel.
Travelers today have more opportunities than any generations that have come before. Think about it. Just 100 or so years ago cars had barely been invented.
Dudes were literally crossing the Atlantic Ocean for weeks on end. To get from St. Louis to California could take months, and there was a decent chance someone would die during the journey.
Nowadays, you throw some clothes in a backpack and grab an Uber to the airport. You hop on a plane. Then you arrive at you destination within hours. Not days. Not weeks.Certainly not months.
Once you arrive, things get even easier. You grab a SIM card and pop it into your unlocked smartphone.
Then you order another Uber. You type the address of your Airbnb apartment into the app and a driver shows up to take you directly there in under five minutes.
You message the landlord of your new apartment on What’s App. You’ll be arriving soon. She replies that she’s waiting for you to show up. Perfect.
The Uber drops you off. You make small talk with the landlord as she shows you around the apartment. Then she leaves you be.
It took five hours. You were at home just five or so hours ago. Now, you’re in a foreign country. You have your own apartment. You’re free to do as you please. It’s time to explore. It’s time to interact with the locals.
You shoot a message to a cute local girl you met on Tinder while back home. She eagerly replies.
You agree to meet with her in an hour. There’s a cool bar right next to your apartment in that colonial neighborhood you wanted to stay in. Cool. You shower up and head off.
Just eight hours ago you were at home. Now, you’re holding hands with an exotic beauty as you talk and walk around a charming area in a city you know nothing about.
You’re both tipsy. She keeps looking up at you with those big brown eyes. Your shit jokes continually make her giggle. She can’t stop staring at you.
It might be the romantic colonial charm of the neighborhood. Or she wants you. Or both. You don’t really care.
You know where this is going…
The next morning you wake up feeling refreshed. You brew a pot of coffee and crack open the laptop.
Your Airbnb apartment comes with high-speed Internet and it’s time to get to work. Digital nomads don’t have the luxury of taking days off until they “make” it.
5 Reasons Travel Today is So Easy
The advent of technology has made traveling easier than ever. While some speculate easier isn’t necessarily better, it’s hard to complain when you can move between countries and cultures easier than ever before.
Here are just five of the many reasons why traveling is easier than ever before:
A Smaller World
You can find international flights to just about everywhere these days. Our world is more connected than ever. As more and more budget airlines pop up, these flights continue to drop in price.
For example, in Latin America, you can find flights from the United States to a number of countries for $100-200 one way. Round trips can easily be found for under $300 to countries like the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Peru.
Airbnb Apartments
Once you land, you have more accommodation options than ever before. You’re no longer forced to stay in an expensive or shit hotel. You no longer have to eat out every single meal.
Nowadays, you can rent full apartments on Airbnb. Whether you want a luxury penthouse or a shit studio, you can find what you want in nearly every city on the planet.
Renting apartments offers travelers a number of benefits, including extra privacy, creature comforts, and the ability to cook. While some old-school travelers still like hotels and many youngers backpackers like hostels, there’s no denying the vast benefits of Airbnb for digital nomads.
Using Uber
Many dangerous countries like Colombia or Brazil used to present more issues for travelers. Taxi drivers in these places were notorious for setting foreigners up for robbery in the past.
Now, we have no worries. Uber completely eliminated the need to work with shady taxi drivers.
Just open the app on your phone and your private driver shows up within 5-10 minutes at the front door of your hotel or apartment.
There’s no risk. Uber tracks the ride and collects all the driver’s information. If you get robbed, the driver can get arrested.
And through all my years of traveling, I’ve yet to hear of a foreigner gettings robbed or scammed in an Uber.
Traveling & Tinder
While I personally have stopped using Tinder, there’s no denying that the dating app has made living and loving on the road easier than ever. Now, you don’t even have to be in the city you’re in to connect with sexy locals.
You just throw up a few photos, swipe away, and start chatting. While Tinder certainly helps from the extracurricular standpoint, the app is also good for finding local tour guides.
A cute chick from Tinder will be able to show you a unique side of her city. You’ll have an experience other foreigners won’t find in the guide books. For short trips, Tinder is definitely a Godsend.
Abundant Information & Opportunity
As digital nomads, we work online. All we need is a laptop and an Internet connection. We make money while we travel.
Want to start making money online? Click here to learn how today.
There’s no need for vacation time. We don’t have to take a sabbatical. Our life is one big vacation.
We plan our travels through research. We know what areas of the city to stay in. We know which cities to visit. We can predict if a country is dangerous or not.
While the lack of guesswork can get frustrating and may remove a little of the adventurous side of things, there’s no denying it makes travel so much easier than before.
Stop Bitching, Start Living!
We’re truly living in the Golden Age of Travel. If you don’t believe it, book a flight and find out for yourself. It’s never been easier to see the world, interact with locals, and go on adventures. Stop bitching about there being too many travelers and start living your life.
