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Published: June 29th 2018
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In my last article, I teased this one a little bit by saying that I wanted to write about possible trends in traveling over the next year or two.
To tell you the truth, I don't even know if trends is the correct word. Maybe observations? Hopes? Who knows. It's my responsibility to write, and yours to judge.
The problem arose that there's only one trend that made me want to write this. So what should I title this article/blog? Whatever title you read, I promise that I didn't put it in the box until the very end. A little insight into the writer's mind for a moment: we get too cute for our own good sometimes. I'm about to spend half of this article discussing the marketing genius of a cartoon mouse, and the second half discussing why mass hysteria is the driving force behind my one travel trend/observation/hope. Then I'll use that and tie it into the title. Will it work? Is it going to be too cute for my own good? I don't know.
The Mad Marketing Of Mickey Mouse I suppose I should begin with why I'm writing this. It occurred to me as I surfed the Interwebs that there is a huge desire to travel, but not many people get out and do it. Sure, they might drive from Columbia, SC to Charleston, but how many weekends do we spend in our social bubbles? We say that we can't afford to travel, but have no problem staying home and dropping a hundred bucks at the club on a weekend. Personally, I'd prefer to think that the people on this blog would rather save that money and take a mini-trip once a month. Who knows, though? Again, I'm the writer, you're the judge and jury.
A lot of people take yearly trips. These extravaganzas can cost anywhere from $500 bucks to a few thousand dollars and tend to cover the road more traveled. Disney has made a killing by convincing everyone that they are doing a disservice to themselves if they don't visit Orlando once a year. Los Angeles is another hotspot for these trips (seriously, Disney is good. The mouse knows what he's doing). London, Paris, and Tokyo are the yearly trips for the 1%!B(MISSING)ernie wants you to know about.
I might be crazy for this, but I'm betting against the mouse. Mickey is just gonna have to deal with it.
I don't think as many people are satisfied with these trips anymore. Enough are happy to keep the amusement parks and tourist spots with name keychains satisfied, but there's a shift coming. Strangely enough, I came to this conclusion while pondering the mass hysteria over 2012. Allow me to explain.
It's The End Of The World As We Know It Since the beginning of time, people have had a sense that everything is going to come crashing down. There's a good reason for this. 6,000 years ago, a giant storm or flood could wipe out an entire village of people. While it's not the end of the world per se, to those poor people it was the end of everything. The great flood story, in which the entire world flooded and Noah built an ark, actually predates the Bible. The
Epic of Gilgamesh, written in ancient Babylon, is the first instance of the "great flood". The Babylonians never copyrighted it, however, and thus missed out on a lot of royalty fees.
There probably was a flood, but it didn't cover the world. It covered the lower Mesopotamia region. To those poor souls, it was the end. Crops failed, there would have been mass starvation, and countless people died. The flood had such a lasting impact that it was later copied into the Bible but transposed on a global scale.
Revelations foretells the end, only on a much larger scale. Then there was Nostradamus and his end of the world predictions.
The great disappointment, Y2K, 2012, WW3, Lebron's free agency...you get the point.
People are fascinated by the idea that the end of everything is right around the corner. They always have been. Our self-awareness as a species is one of our greatest strengths and weaknesses.
My Travel Prediction What does this have to do with
travel trends?
It's my belief that we're in another period where mass hysteria will take hold. It's already beginning to take shape. Fears over North Korea, Syria, Russia, Trump, climate change and countless other problems have everyone on edge.
I think these fears are gonna speed up the desire to check off items on the bucket list. We're gonna see more travel to exotic locations. People are going to take that trip to Vietnam or Argentina to see the sites that could be gone soon. If the end is nigh, seeing everything the world has to offer is a limited time deal, right?
Plus, travel is comforting. It makes us feel connected to the world in a way that we didn't before. It broadens the mind because it inspires us. In times of fear, we could all use a little inspiration.
So what's my travel prediction? Everyone is gonna get out of their comfort zone. Frankly, that's a good thing.
I have a bonus prediction for you as well: everything is gonna be okay. It might not seem like it right now, but don't worry. We're a pretty resistant species.
Thanks for reading,
Gabe.
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