This is the problem with 95% of "traveling" in our era. It almost all involves moving at inhumanly fast speeds.

I am not being hyperbolic when I say that the only travel that doesn't ultimately leave the traveler worse off is long-distance walking and cycling.

Shipping the body around like a piece of cargo comes at an immense cost to one's sanity unless it is only done very occasionally and in very short stints. I speak from far too much experience when I say that extended bouts of modern high-speed travel quite literally make you crazy.

Where it appears to be enriching or edifying, it is a dangerous dupe -- like an Ayhuasca trip or a steamy tryst. Feels profound in the moment, but is in fact only a high-speed sprint into madness.

If you must travel for the sake of pure leisure, learning, pilgrimage, etc -- walk, canoe, bike. And if you cannot bear that idea, save yourself the money and madness and stay comfortably seated on your front porch.

I am not joking in the slightest, I really mean this.