The aftermath of a world trip affected my future travel goals as well. Before leaving on a world trip in 2017 my ideal holiday would last for 3 weeks and involve flying as main mode of transportation. My travel goals did mostly start with a flight: Fly to Portugal, fly to South America, etc.
A changed ideal of a good journey
I know the next paragraphs might sound hypocrite at first, but to me flying has lost a main part of it’s attraction. Using a plane stays one of the most amazing, fastest and convenient ways of moving between locations but I see 2 major drawbacks when using a plane:
- A flight won’t give you the experience of changing your environment gradually. This is not wrong per se, but there is a special feeling to witness the change of nature, people and culture as a part of any journey. The word journey holds most of this idea in it’s meaning. A few days into the world trip I lost the need for haste and urgency that I experienced on previous occasions and started a true journey. Things went nice and slow. I wouldn’t say a flight is generally a bad way to start a journey but I think the alternatives would give you more time for changing realities.
- Choosing a flight over other modes of transportation will result in the biggest carbon footprint available. When I learned to dive during my world trip, being underwater gave me a new sense for the delicacy of the ecosystem we call earth. Again this might sound overly naive: but witnessing sealife and colorful corals in Central America has shown me how a working ecosystem might look. The worlds found in our seas are wonderful and fragile at the same time. I want to make an effort for it’s preservation. Flying around the world seems not a good way to do so.
How travelling includes responsibilities
So where does that leave me? On one hand I explore new modes of travel already and would like to encourage others to fly more consciously. If you have to board a plane, do it. But do it with awareness of the privilege that flying represents. I believe the world is suffering from the waste of CO². I would like to invite you to learn about how I compensate for the greenhouse gases emitted while flying: I donate an amount with Atmosfair. Even though this will not be sufficient at all I have done so for all of the flights on my world trip:
| From – To | Amount of CO² generated |
|---|---|
| FRA – BKK | 2.760 kg CO₂ |
| BKK – HKT | 197 kg CO₂ |
| BKK – MDL | 189 kg CO₂ |
| RGN – HAN | 352 kg CO₂ |
| SGN – BKK | 115 kg CO₂ |
| HKT – NAY | 1.023 kg CO₂ |
| NAY – ICN | 296 kg CO₂ |
| ICN – HNL | 1.952 kg CO₂ |
| HNL – YVR | 1.057 kg CO₂ |
| YYZ – CUN | 600 kg CO₂ |
| GUA – CUN | 102 kg CO₂ |
| CUN – FRA | 2.307 kg CO₂ |
Isn’t it disturbing how high these numbers are? Even more so if you assume 2,3 tonnes climate compatible annual emmissions budget as a reference. I have overspent my budget in 2017 almost 6 times. Acknowledge this and you might get a sense of why my travel goals changed…
How the world trip affected my future travel goals
I guess both thoughts affected my future travel goals in a way that I’m trying to find other modes of transportation: My next journey will consist of a longer cycling trip starting from Stuttgart (more on this soon). Another one of my big travel goals is to return to Bangkok to see my friends at the Yard. But where does the aforementioned ideas leave me? Did you know there is an (almost) direct train connection between Stuttgart and Bangkok?
- Train from Stuttgart to Berlin – approx. 5 hrs.
- Train from Berlin to Moscow – approx. 22 hrs.
- Train from Moscow to Peking – approx. 130 hrs. (that is 6 days)
- Train from Peking to Hanoi – approx. 38 hrs.
- Train from Hanoi to Saigon – approx. 34 hrs
- Bus from Saigon to Pnomh Penh – approx. 6 hrs (no trains yet)
- Train from Pnomh Penh to Poipet – approx. 15 hrs
- Train from Poipet to Bangkok – approx. 6 hrs
- All times and more details can be found on the awesome site Seat 61
This means in just 11 days of constant rickety rack you could be in the middle of South-East Asia. Sounds weird? But wouldn’t this trip stretched over a course of 2 or 3 months include all that you could ask for in a journey?
The blueprint for a future journey
- Visit the capitals of 6 countries, I have never been to Moscow before
- Take a stop in Mongolia while travelling the Trans-Siberian
- Countless encounters of people and situations, let alone food
- Good opportunity for a photographic project
- Strolling through the Hutongs of Beijing at night?
- Finally have a warm visit and a good time in Bangkok
Sounds like a good journey to me and certainly something to aim for in the future. Travelling by train also comes with the benefit of a largely reduced carbon footprint. Alternative ways of travel are available and I will start to consider them more. Having access to cheap flights doesn’t give me the right to use them without thinking further even when I’m able to compensate them partially. Staying closer to ones home country or embarking a train or bus is not a social stigma. Travelling to more exotic locations with the right set of parameters seems also possible. Unfortunately I first had to learn about journeys to find out about what should have been obvious in the first place.