Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. Gustave Flaubert
To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live. Hans Christian Andersen, The Fairy Tale of My Life: An Autobiography
I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation – a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every state I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move. John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America
Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. Miriam Beard
One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more. Thomas Jefferson
I depart,
Whither I know not; but the hour’s gone by
When Albion’s lessening shores could grieve or glad mine eye. Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage III:1
In travelling
I shape myself betimes to idleness
And take fools’ pleasure. George Eliot, The Spanish Gypsy
One who journeying
Along a way he knows not, having crossed
A place of drear extent, before him sees
A river rushing swiftly toward the deep,
And all its tossing current white with foam,
And stops and turns, and measures back his way. Homer, The Iliad V:749
I have wandered all my life, and I have also travelled; the difference between the two being this, that we wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfilment. Hilaire Belloc
From Wynyards Gap the livelong day,
The livelong day,
We beat afoot the northward way
We had travelled times before.
The sun-blaze burning on our backs,
Our shoulders sticking to our packs,
By fosseway, fields, and turnpike tracks
We skirted sad Sege-Moor … Thomas Hardy, A Trampwoman’s Tragedy
The Progresses form a vital part of Elizabeth’s Queenship. Ian Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England II: The Rich, BBC 2013
Tonight: overcrowded trains, traffic jams, commuter chaos, just how bad is travelling in Britain? And what’s the cost to us all? … Then there’s the human cost. Tonight: Travel Chaos: The True Cost, ITV 2018
The average person in the UK travels just under 16,000 miles a year most of the time with relative ease. But sometimes things go badly wrong. And now we’re catching the horrors on camera like never before. When Cruises Go Horribly Wrong & Other Travel Nightmares aka Terrifying Travel Nightmares, Channel 5 2019
Every day people have been forced to journey into hell and back. ibid.
A luxury trip on the ocean turns into a catastrophic cruise fights for his life to escape an earthquake … The storm gathered pace with waves 26 feet high crashing into the ship … On the Viking Sky all four of them [engine] had shut down, which meant no power and no stabilisers … They were hoisted off the ship … Dozens of passengers requiring hospital treatment. ibid.
A student on an island adventure fights for his life to escape an earthquake … Josh and his sister found themselves in a [Indonesian] disaster zone. ibid.
A young family gets stuck deep beneath the English channel, battle their way through service tunnels and endure horrific conditions. ibid.
A train full of frozen commuters fear for their lives … The conditions on the train became dire … and made their way on foot. ibid.
‘An airliner with 118 passengers on board has crashed.’ ibid. BBC News
Punch-ups at 36,000 feet. ibid.
Travel insurance companies however are reported to have paid out £70,000,000 in relation to the ash cloud chaos. ibid.
At £8,000 a night for the most expensive suite it offers elite travellers the most exclusive holiday at sea … The Seven Seas Explorer is the world’s most expensive cruise ship: with its sumptuous suites and all inclusive holiday could cost you more than £60,000. The World’s Most Expensive Cruise Ship s1e1, Channel 5 2019
Its 550 staff are getting ready to welcome over 700 new guests. ibid.
An exclusive wine-tasting event showcasing the range of vintages on board. The World’s Most Expensive Cruise Ship s1e2
The 88 chefs are hard at work. ibid.
Overnight this ship doesn’t clean itself: it’s time for the night crew. ibid.
It’s embarkation day in Southampton for the world’s most expensive cruise ship. Expectant guests are boarding to set sail on a twelve-day cruise around the Baltic Sea, Scandinavia and Russia. But the British weather isn’t playing ball. For guests paying thousands of pounds for their stay, the miserable weather is not a good start. Cruise director John is doing his utmost to keep spirits high. And he’s going on a charm offensive. But with it raining on the top deck and the suites not ready, everyone is stuck inside. The pressure is on all the staff to keep the new guests happy. The World’s Most Expensive Cruise Ship s1e3
‘It’s the way people treat you.’ ibid. cruiser
They are able to choose from over 360 gourmet dinner options: anything from lobster to fillet steak and foie-gras dim sun. It’s all washed down with some of the 2,000 bottles of wine on board. ibid.
In the boutique Andre is after a big sale. ibid.
It’s penultimate destination – St Petersburg in Russia. The World’s Most Expensive Cruise Ship s1e4
Another highlight in store: those who have spent over seventy-five nights on Regent’s ships are being treated to an exclusive caviar buffet: they’ll be able to tuck into thousands of pounds’ worth of caviar, and enjoy over three hundred decadent canapés. ibid.
If you spend around £1,500 a night, you can stay in a suite that comes with the luxury of its very own butler. There are twelve butlers on board The Explorer covering almost one hundred cabins between them and they are on call 24/7. ibid.
With guests paying up to £50,000 for a twelve-day holiday, the evening entertainment has to be fit for royalty. ibid.
Bruce Chatwin was a legendary adventurer and writer who died in 1989. Filmmaker Werner Herzog collaborated with Chatwin in the last years of his life. This film follows Herzog on a series of encounters inspired by Chatwin’s travels. Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin, Werner Herzog, captions, BBC 2019
1977: In Patagonia … ‘The Brontosaurus, I learned, was an animal that had drowned in the flood, being too big for Noah to ship aboard the Ark.’ ibid. Chatwin
Llanthony Priory, Wales: The landscape around here became one of the essential locations where he would find his inner balance. ibid.
The Queen Mary: built to rule the north Atlantic in style … A true survivor, she faced down formidable foes. And went on to win the hearts of two nations. This is the Queen Mary: for the past fifty years this legendary British ship has been winning hearts and minds in Long Beach, California. Rob Bell, Great British Ships s2e2: The Queen Mary: Britain’s First Super Liner, Channel 5 2018
One of the biggest and fastest liners ever built … She’s nearly twice the weight of the Titanic. ibid.
Her three steam whistles weigh a ton each. ibid.
The first ever passenger ship to make the crossing in less than four days. ibid.
Rob: What do we know about the rogue wave that struck the Queen Mary? ibid.
Dominic Hudson: They think it was about thirty metres high. And I think she rolled the ship to an angle of about fifty degrees. ibid.
The Queen Mary is put up for auction. ibid.
I wasn’t thinking about nothing but the idea of going to England. That’s all I’m thinking about. ’Cause I like to travel. One place bores me too long. Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child
Tourism is the great soporific. It’s a huge confidence trick, and gives people the dangerous idea that there’s something interesting in their lives. It’s musical chairs in reverse ... All the upgrades in existence lead to the same airports and resort hotels, the same pina colada bullshit. The tourists smile at their tans and their shiny teeth and think they’re happy. But the suntans hide who they really are – salary slaves, with heads full of American rubbish. Travel is the last fantasy the 20th Century left us, the delusion that going somewhere helps you reinvent yourself. J G Ballard, Millennium People