Reflection 1 on Traveling

Agnessa Elman
12 September 2017
Writing the essay one
Reflection on Travel Writing

To me, I find it extremely fascinating how easy it is to access ways to travel. After hearing on the news about hurricane Irma coming to the Florida coast, I called my family back home and talked to them about their plan to deal with the storm. My mom decided to just buy a ticket to New York and hop on a plane. The easy solution for these types of problems has definitely evolved since 1130BC. Hurricane Irma caused an urgency for evacuation. Even at such a late notice, over 5 million people were informed about evacuating and took action quickly to leave the state. Flight prices dropping and cars that were backed up on the highway with traffic might have lead to someone having an adventure or journey through that stressful process. Opportunities to travel have not always been so simple, and the growth of technology with today’s society has allowed many people to experience their own adventures in a way, even if they are extremely planned out and safer than a spontaneous long trip that was traditional for.
Reading the evolution of travel throughout this story gave me perspective on many ideas that I could relate traveling to. I think technology has shifted the definition of a traveler and has opened the idea that anyone can become a traveler. Travelers started out specifically just for people on a search. Soon subcategories of travelers, “explorers, soldiers, sailors, surveyors, missionaries, merchants, scientists, colonial administrators, diplomats, journalists, artists and many others besides” (page 52) expanded the idea of a traveler. Even as technology improved, the social norms of women also became more flexible, which allowed them to test out traveling and be inspired to feel like a traveler.
I think the importance of technology improving also became empowering in a way because people were able to learn more culturally, emotionally and intellectually and infuse it into their own lives. With new ways to travel, the amount of time needed to get to a place was significantly less than original ways. Time became a useful tool when planning journey’s and it started to focus less on the idea of accomplishments and more on self-discovery and new places.
Small businesses, like hotels, airb&b’s, and landmarks have made traveling a lot more productive. Using technology to substitute writing, has made travel writing continue to motivate many. I think that social media, blogging, videos, and pictures have all allowed the travel writing to live and not be dead.
I think it is important to recognize how technology has played an import role on traveling and travel writing. I feel like I can relate to the impact of technology on travel and society because of hurricane Irma, but also how I write about my experiences of travel on social media. This text made me reflect on travels accessibility and allowed me to question what else there could be in store.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *