Travel in an age of thrift?

Is travel a luxury irrelevant in tough times?

Travel is a fraught topic in today's newly born carbon-conscious and thrifty world. Whether because it suddenly got expensive again when fuel prices spiked last summer, or because we're all busy measuring our carbon footprint online while we blast our air conditioners, or our savings was lost in the stock market or due to a layoff, the concept of flying half way around the world seems a bit more questionable than it did before. Lots of people don't like traveling, haven't had the opportunity, or haven't tried. But these days, people who've gotten hooked on it are wondering how to keep doing it, and how to justify doing it during these trying times that only seem to be getting worse.

This is where I write about my mother-in-law.  Like many of us, my husband grew up with stories about the Great Depression.  "The only things they can't take away from you are education and travel."  That you've already completed or at least undertaken.  This is what they learned from their mothers stories growing up.  My mother-in-law learned this first hand, when her own mother lost her husband to illness and business to the depression and the siblings had to split up and live with other relatives.  So those were both priorities above all else for my mother-in-law and her sibblings, and were instilled in my husband and his sister growing up as well.

Fewer can afford to travel right now, or will put off long planned journeys, but I hope that as we reconstruct our lives and our economy in a new (and as the president calls for, better) form, we remember these lessons.  We are emerging from an era of things, when storage space ads are still on TV, and many are getting a few pennies on the dollar spent for some of their excess stuff on ebay Craiglist or elsewhere.  I hope that will will invest as nations, and as individuals, in education, and in travel as an important component of education.  I hope we invest in high speed rail, and bring back the ports and passenger ships, and give American workers back credit for their gains in productivity by giving them back some of their time and the healthcare security young (and older) people need to take time when they can afford it to pursue things other than the rat race.

If you want some great tips and reflections on money saving and sanity survival tips for the recession, check out EconoWhiner.  Start with their recent travel post:
http://www.econowhiner.com/2009/02/22/have-imagination-will-travel/