Chap­ter 3 – Con­trast­ed Trav­el­ling con­trasts the mean­ing­ful and immer­sive trav­el expe­ri­ences of the past with the super­fi­cial nature of mod­ern trav­el. Fifty years ago, a trip abroad was a rare, sig­nif­i­cant event that required care­ful plan­ning and prepa­ra­tion. Trav­el­ers would seek advice from experts, read exten­sive­ly, and even make wills before embark­ing on their jour­ney. Upon reach­ing their des­ti­na­tions, they would write long let­ters home, shar­ing the details of their adven­tures with friends and fam­i­ly, often keep­ing jour­nals that chron­i­cled their trav­els for pos­ter­i­ty. These detailed accounts serve as a nos­tal­gic reminder of a time when trav­el was not just about reach­ing a des­ti­na­tion, but about immers­ing one­self in the jour­ney and form­ing last­ing con­nec­tions along the way. One such account describes a mem­o­rable voy­age across the Atlantic on an Amer­i­can clip­per, where pas­sen­gers forged life­long friend­ships despite the cramped quar­ters of the ship. This expe­ri­ence reflects the gen­uine curios­i­ty and eager­ness to learn that char­ac­ter­ized trav­el in the past.

The chap­ter mourns the loss of this inti­mate and per­son­al approach to trav­el, high­light­ing how it has been replaced by a more rushed and trans­ac­tion­al form of tourism in the mod­ern age. Today, jour­neys are often marked by a check­list mentality—visiting land­marks and cross­ing off items on a to-do list, with lit­tle atten­tion paid to the deep­er cul­tur­al and per­son­al con­nec­tions that once made trav­el so enrich­ing. The thrill of dis­cov­ery and the joy of learn­ing about new places and peo­ple have been over­shad­owed by a desire for social val­i­da­tion, with trav­el­ers more focused on show­cas­ing their expe­ri­ences on social media than tru­ly engag­ing with the cul­tures they encounter. Mod­ern advance­ments in trans­porta­tion, which have made trav­el faster and more com­fort­able, iron­i­cal­ly con­tribute to a dimin­ish­ing sense of won­der. The ease of trav­el has made it less of an adven­ture and more of a rou­tine, trans­form­ing what was once a trans­for­ma­tive expe­ri­ence into a mere check­list of sights and activ­i­ties. This shift has stripped inter­na­tion­al trav­el of its soul and pur­pose, reduc­ing it to a com­mod­i­fied form of enter­tain­ment or social cur­ren­cy.

The chap­ter empha­sizes that, despite the con­ve­niences offered by mod­ern trav­el, there has been a sig­nif­i­cant loss of the deep­er val­ue that trav­el once held. Pre­vi­ous­ly, the slow and delib­er­ate pace of a jour­ney allowed for more pro­found engage­ment with the local cul­ture and a true sense of immer­sion. Trav­el­ers would take the time to absorb not just the sights but the peo­ple, the food, the lan­guage, and the his­to­ry of a place. These expe­ri­ences were trans­for­ma­tive, enrich­ing both the mind and the soul. Today, how­ev­er, the allure of for­eign des­ti­na­tions has been dilut­ed by the speed and con­ve­nience of mod­ern trav­el, which often focus­es on reach­ing des­ti­na­tions as quick­ly as pos­si­ble, with­out giv­ing trav­el­ers the time or space to con­nect mean­ing­ful­ly with their sur­round­ings. The sense of awe and won­der that once accom­pa­nied dis­cov­er­ing new lands has been replaced by the pres­sures of fit­ting in as many sights as pos­si­ble dur­ing a short vaca­tion, lead­ing to a shal­low­er, more dis­joint­ed expe­ri­ence.

In reflect­ing on the evo­lu­tion of trav­el, the author urges a return to the mind­set of ear­li­er trav­el­ers, who approached each jour­ney as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to grow, learn, and make last­ing mem­o­ries. The chap­ter sug­gests that the essence of trav­el lies not in the speed with which we move from one place to anoth­er, but in the depth of the expe­ri­ences we have along the way. It calls for a shift in the way we approach trav­el, encour­ag­ing indi­vid­u­als to slow down and take the time to engage mean­ing­ful­ly with the cul­tures and peo­ple they encounter. Trav­el, the author argues, should be about more than just sightseeing—it should be about per­son­al trans­for­ma­tion, cul­tur­al exchange, and gen­uine con­nec­tion. Only by return­ing to the soul of trav­el can we redis­cov­er its true pow­er and poten­tial, cre­at­ing expe­ri­ences that not only broad­en our hori­zons but also enrich our lives on a deep­er lev­el.

This cri­tique of mod­ern trav­el high­lights a broad­er soci­etal shift away from depth and mean­ing towards con­ve­nience and sur­face-lev­el engage­ment. Research on trav­el psy­chol­o­gy sup­ports this view, show­ing that mean­ing­ful trav­el experiences—those that involve learn­ing, cul­tur­al immer­sion, and per­son­al growth—lead to greater long-term hap­pi­ness and ful­fill­ment. On the oth­er hand, super­fi­cial trav­el, dri­ven by the desire for social media val­i­da­tion or check­ing off a list of land­marks, often leaves trav­el­ers feel­ing emp­ty and unsat­is­fied. The chapter’s reflec­tion encour­ages read­ers to recon­sid­er how they approach trav­el, advo­cat­ing for a return to the immer­sive, enrich­ing expe­ri­ences that once defined explo­ration. Through deep­er engage­ment and a slow­er, more thought­ful approach, trav­el can once again become a tool for per­son­al growth and cul­tur­al under­stand­ing, rather than a mere pas­time or sta­tus sym­bol.