The Truth About Travel
Over the course of time, we have seen that going on a vacation is a healthy way for people to enjoy themselves and to escape their busy lives at home. It helps relieve stress and anxiety and overall, going on a vacation and travelling relaxes the mind and the body as shown in the Stages of Travel. However, it is obvious that travelling and going on a vacation also leads to some risks and other negative effects. Traveling in moderation is healthy, but it when we travel constantly in a short period of time is then these negative effects take hold.
When someone travels through multiple time zones in one flight, they experience what is called “Travel Fatigue.” An article titled, “The Stresses of Travel” by J Waterhouse, T Reilly, and B Edwards explains this. Travel fatigue can be caused by multiple factors. according to the article, Travel Fatigue is “Long-distance travel is associated with a group of transient negative effects, collectively referred to as ‘travel fatigue,’ which result from anxiety about the journey, the change to an individual’s daily routine, and dehydration due to time spent in the dry air of the aircraft cabin.”
For many people, travel is an escape from their daily routines and to enjoy themselves. When we travel, we feel exhilarated and excited to get to our destination. This positive disruptive change in our routine is healthy and benefits our mental health. It helps us escape the stress and anxiety of our regular lives. Going on a vacation and anticipating it blocks out many of the negatives of travel including Travel fatigue and others fears.
Many people also experience Jet Lag when crossing over many time zones. This impacts sleep because time is different across time zones. Jet Lag makes traveler sleep deprived since they cannot get enough sleep. People’s sleep schedules are messed up because of the time zone changes. In this sense, travelling constantly and crossing many different time zones wears down the body and the mind. Most of the time, travelling increases happiness and lowers anxiety and depression since they are escaping from all they hardships they are facing. Yeah, people may be always on the move and getting less than they are used to, but the benefits of travel outweigh even the slightest of negatives. Traveling is essential to both physical and mental health.
Another viewpoint that someone may take concerning travel is the rising chance of terrorism. Traveling anywhere in the world has its risks. An Article titled, “Tourism and the Globalization of Fear: Analyzing the Politics of Risk and (in)Security in Global Travel” written by Raoul Bianchi in 2006 expands upon this idea even further. Bianchi is a senior research fellow in the at the International Institute of Culture Terrorism and Development at London Metropolitan University. ” When people travel to places either nationally or internationally, there is chance of risks in security and terrorist attacks. In the article, Bianchi adds,” Tourists have increasingly become the specific target of ‘terrorist violence’”. This statement leads to the idea that travelling does in fact lead to more violence because terrorists in foreign nations are constantly targeting tourists from the United States and Europe as well. In these scenarios, it is safe to say that not being travel deprived increases violence but by terrorist groups not by the tourists themselves. It would be foolish to live in fear of violence for the rest of our lives. Violence will be a part of society forever and there is no real way around it. Travel benefits all and it makes people visit cool places to escape the stresses of their lives.
Lockdowns have made us anxious and unrestricted travel makes us fearful because of potential terrorist attacks. This is seen during the Covid Pandemic. We are anxious and depressed because we were not allowed to travel due to travel restrictions. As the time went on with the restrictions still in place, society shifted the blame towards others such as their governments and people. When we are deprived of something, we feel trapped and seek a way forward. The January 6th riots at the United States capital and the shootings of Asian Americans in Atlanta are the most recent examples. Americans at the capital stormed the building to overturn Joe Biden’s presidency. They felt threatened by Biden winning the election. Americans are targeting Asian Americans to blame China for the spread of the Coronavirus and other events. Those two events are the most damaging events we have seen due to governments depriving people their right to travel or go on a vacation. It is dangerous forcing people to stay home. From this past year, we have seen that slowing down travel has damaging effects on society. The benefit of allowing travel outweighs all dangers. Allowing travel runs the risk of getting killed or seriously injured in potential terrorist attacks. But not allowing people to travel sparks revolutions and even more violence. Placing limits does not make sense and is unreasonable.
- Bianchi, R. (2006). Tourism and the globalization of fear: Analyzing the politics of risk AND (IN)SECURITY in global travel – RAOUL Bianchi, 2006. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1057/palgrave.thr.6050028
- Ettema, D., & Timmermans, H. (2006, October 27). Costs of travel time uncertainty and benefits of travel time information: Conceptual model and numerical examples. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0968090X06000684
- Waterhouse, J., Reilly, T., & Edwards, B. (2011). The stress of travel. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640410400000264