As I write this, I'm preparing to head to the US for a couple of weeks. As you read this, I will already be there. That's the way publishing works, at least print publishing — you're always planning at the very least a few days in advance. In this case, a whole week.
I'm a big fan of being in places that are different to the places that I usually am. I'm just not a big fan of getting there. Sure, modern travel is a whole lot more convenient that it ever has been, but it's still difficult, expensive and stressful. It also involves a whole lot of stuff that is mind-numbingly boring.
Waiting in queues at the airport is boring. Waiting for your flight is boring. Sitting on an aeroplane for a 20-hour flight is boring. Going through customs and immigration is boring. Waiting at baggage claim is boring. I'm getting a stomach ache just thinking about it.
That being said, I am looking forward to my trip. I have not real reason to complain. There are all sorts of things that I have access to — or that are genetic or circumstantial advantages I have — that allow me the luxury to travel overseas basically whenever I can afford it. There are billions of people who would love to have those advantages, and I try to remember that whenever I have to wait five extra minutes to board an aeroplane.
One of the problems of living in the modern world and being at or above a certain social or economic class is that you start taking for granted all of the amazing things that modern technology has to offer. You start thinking of things like smart phones and air travel and air conditioning and automobiles as things that are your right — not just that, they're things you convince yourself that you couldn't live without.
But there are a lot of people in the world who can't even imagine having those kinds of things. There are millions of people in the world without adequate health care. They don't have clean drinking water or proper sanitation. They might never be inoculated against diseases that are basically wiped out in the developed world. There are people that actually starve to death. Imagine that. In 2015, there are people so poor that they literally starve to death.
I often think about things like this as I sit in my air conditioned living room, watching my flat screen TV, checking my email on my phone after eating a big dinner. I think it's good to remember people who have less than we do, and to empathise with their struggles as much as we're able.
That being said, I'm still really not looking forward to that 19 hour flight to LA this week.
Sean Vale
Editor
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