Living in more beautiful, more harmonious and more relaxing places would reduce the urge to get away..

Overseas travel used to be a privilege only enjoyed by a wealthy elite.  But all that has changed and nowadays we travel overseas at the drop of a hat – often just for weekend “staycations”.  Courtesy of RyanAir and EasyJet, aircraft travel in Europe has become very cheap – especially for those (like me) who have the flexibility to travel in the off-season, and on off-peak days.  

 Jet aircraft are massive carbon-emitters arguably emitting more than if we drove all the way to our destinations

The purchase of “2nd homes” (often 3rd or 4th homes) is shockingly wasteful and, especially if kept exclusively for the owners use and left closed-up most of the year, creates soul-less townships of unoccupied properties.   Coastlines are ruined by vast stretches of apartment blocks, “urbanisations”, and “villa townships”.   It also drives up property-prices forcing locals out, as in Cornwall for example.    As a result the exotic-ness of the place – the original reason for wanting to go there – disappears.  

And please don’t get me started on bloody “golf-estates”..!  

PITY THE POOR DONKEYS CARRYING THESE LUMPS OF LARD

And the embarrassment of witnessing how some of our “ambassadors” dress and comport themselves and generally mis-behave, most of whom could probably not even pinpoint their holiday destination on a map.   I am certainly not one to spend my foreign days in dusty museums, but the crass ignorance that so many display about the history and culture of the countries they are visiting should force one to question the wisdom of a tourist industry geared to the mindless masses..  

Some of our youthful cultural “ambassadors” in Spain 

TESTS FOR TOURISTS

I am ashamed at the number of people (myself included) who visit a country knowing virtually nothing about it and not even bothering to learn a few words of their language, like basic greetings and other social pleasantries.   In an ideal world ALL countries should require ALL visitors to pass a simple entry quiz.  Whilst en-plane to the said country, every passenger is given a small booklet of 101 essential facts (and basic greetings) about the country.  On arrival every passenger goes into a booth and does a quick computerised test (with multiple-choice answers) consisting of 10 questions chosen randomly from those 101 facts.  This would only take a minute or two. Anyone who answers all 10 correctly gets free entry (and a nice gift) but every wrong answer attracts a “visa fee” of $10..!   Of course, nothing this sensible is ever going to happen but it could be a lot of fun, and what better incentive to bone up on the country one is visiting..?

There is also a case against travel.  You may dismiss some of these arguments as contrarian posturing, but try shifting the object of your thought from your own travel to that of others.  Many of us tend to avoid and even sneer at “touristy” activities. “Tourism” is what we call travelling when other people are doing it.   Unless we have been to the same places, and thus can compare notes, few of us enjoy listening to other people talking about their travels. 

I will never understand why anyone could get excited at the prospect of a “weekend break” in Paris or Barcelona, for example.   The rushed last-minute packing, the stressing about departure deadlines or forgetting one’s passport or other important documents, the stressful drive thru Friday evening rush-hour traffic, finding the airport parking, the long and tiring check-in queue, the hectic security check, the passport-stamping queue, the often very long trek to the departure gate..etc, etc.  And that’s just the Friday outward leg – and just 2 or 3 days later having to repeat the entire performance in reverse – I am getting exhausted just thinking about it.  Why would anyone want to go to all this stress and bother unless they lived in a dull and ugly place..?  Its hard to believe that their typical daily commuting routine is more stressful..!

The tranquillity and beauty of the “Domain” nature zones that will girdle every OA-city habitat and impart the sensation of being on holiday whilst being easily accessible to all, which is not usually the case with parks and gardens in conventional cities.   

IF WE LIVED IN BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS then maybe, instead of rushing off to distant shores, we might decide to avoid the tiresome airport and transfer hassles and stay at home more often.   This would mean big financial savings, big energy savings and big reductions in Carbon Emissions.  

OA-cities would not completely kill the desire for overseas travel, but it could substantially reduce the demand..!

An indoor sub-tropical beach in Germany – something similar could be incorporated into an OA-City