Traveling or running away

They say traveling enhances the soul.
That it builds bridges between communities, between nations.
That it helps us understand each other better—become more open, more human.

A beautiful thought.
Romantic, even.

But just look at the world today.
Does it feel more connected?
Does it look like we’ve become more compassionate, more awake to each other’s realities?

Yesterday I joined a Zoom session. One of those glossy sales pitches.
A man was promoting the idea of becoming a travel agent.
For a fee, of course.

“You’ll earn money. You’ll travel more!”
He beamed.
“I used to travel twice a year.
Now I travel seven, eight times. For business, too.
And my friends and family? They travel so much more now—and on better rates!”

The promise was clear:
Travel more. Make money. Live the dream.
This is what humanity needs now, right?
More movement. More flights. More selfies in faraway places.
And that, apparently, will somehow heal us all.

Will it?
I don’t think it will.
I don’t think it has.

Because with mass tourism came a new wave—of investors.
And no, not the local families selling fruit on the corner.
The investors are from the Western world.
They come, build their hotel chains, their mega-resorts, their polished compounds.
They bring in money—and extract far more.

What remains behind?
Low-paid jobs. Strained resources. A staged version of culture for the benefit of the foreign eye.

And for what?
So people can crash out for a week in a place they barely see?
So they can say they've “done” Thailand, or Morocco, or Romania,
without knowing anything about those places beyond the breakfast buffet or the cocktail list?

And let’s not ignore the irony.
Many of the same people flying endlessly, posting endlessly, consuming endlessly—
are the ones chanting “Save the planet.”
“Go vegan.”
“Be kind.”

They don’t even see the hypocrisy.
But it’s there.
So obvious. So bold.

So I ask again—
Why are you traveling?

Not how often.
Not how cheaply.
But why?

In older times, people traveled with purpose.
To explore, to learn, to encounter the unfamiliar with humility.
It took effort. Time. Risk.
Now? It’s a few taps on a screen. A photo. A filter. A checkmark.
And the soul? Still untouched.

And let’s think about this—
In the last 30 or 40 years, travel has gone through the roof.
We’ve never moved so much, flown so far, packed so many suitcases.
Is the world any better for it?

Is it kinder?
More understanding of each other’s differences?
More eager to learn about new cultures?
To embrace the other as an equal?

Far from it.

People return from trips with more judgments, not less.
They critique how others eat, how they dress, what they drink or don’t.
They measure other ways of life through the narrow lens of the visitor.

Sometimes they even mention, oh-so-casually,
how they gave money to a child,
or smiled at a local woman—
but it’s laced with that old colonial tone.
That rich white savior gaze.

As we Romanians say:
"Te duci ca un bou și te întorci ca o vacă."
You go like an ox, and come back like a cow.
No wiser. No deeper.
Just... heavier with the weight of illusions.

So again, I leave you with this—
not many questions. Just one:

Why are you traveling?

And more importantly—
what is it that you’re not facing by traveling so much?

Until next time, be well!

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