Travel

Aldous Huxley referred to travel as a vice, “…imperious, demanding its victim's time, money, energy and the sacrifice of comfort.” That is true enough, but like all vices it also provides a gratification that makes the adversity seem somehow worth putting up with, at least in retrospect.

The “delights” of modern air travel are considerable: the sleepless night before, the rush to get to the airport in time, the fear that one has forgotten something (passport, e-ticket, toothbrush), the endless zigzagging queues, the need to half-undress at the security counter with a line of people waiting on you (removing the belt from your trousers becoming a herculean task). And then there is the cramped seating space, the unpalatable airline food, screaming children in the seat in front and the seat behind, the sleep-forsaken night, and finally more endless zigzagging queues, the need to half-undress yet again, and the long wait for one's suitcases that are invariably the last to appear. And in the back of our minds, the thought is hovering ominously; in a fortnight or so we will have to go through the whole process once again. Enough to discourage any would-be traveller you might think. And yet thousands board planes every day, brace themselves, and go through these experiences with varying degrees of patience, acceptance, and annoyance.

It might ease our doubts about whether it is worthwhile making the effort, if we compare present-day travel to the experiences of the medieval traveller going by ship to the Holy Land. Instead of several hours, their trip took several weeks each way, and they travelled under conditions that we would regard not only as intolerably uncomfortable, but categorically provoking fate. Instead of the occasional frightful moments of turbulence that we occasionally experience, travellers by ship not infrequently encountered terrifying storms that would last for hours or days. In size, medieval ships were closer to modern river ferries than today's ocean liners, and the monstrous superliners, those floating hotels that even today stun us for their enormity, could not have been imagined. But the small vessels were crowded, with up to a thousand travellers, passengers, and crew.