3 ms·

I'd say the golden age of travel (if you mean independent individual adventure travel) was the hippie trail era in the 60s. You could overland through places l

I'd say the golden age of travel (if you mean independent individual adventure travel) was the hippie trail era in the 60s. You could overland through places like Iran and Afghanistan that would be unthinkable today. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie_trail https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie_trail That and mass tourism in general has drastically altered most of the places that remain open.

Grimburger 4y ago
Why can't you overland in Iran today? Seems to be quite a popular tourist destination with many hardcore traveller types. I really wanted to visit when I was in the region but it ruins the US ESTA waiver for the rest of your life so puts some people in an annoying situation. Even worse is Iraq, which despite being a western ally sets off the same loss of waiver. At least Iran makes sense and can accept that.
- United857 4y ago
  It depends on your nationality. US, UK, Canada must be part of a approved tour group and accompanied by a guide which by definition isn't independent travel. https://en.m.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Iran https://en.m.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Iran
netsharc 4y ago
There was a discussion of Kevin Kelly's (the founder of Wired) travels in Asia in the 70's [1]/[2], this part grabbed me: > I remember taking an overnight bus from India to Kathmandu. That bus was probably not more than $5. I remember that morning, after traveling all night, rolling down the Kathmandu Valley and seeing the Himalayas, and a whole city with zero cars. Sadly the modern world has infected the whole planet that we can't enjoy places like these any more. Kathmandu is a jungle of concrete buildings and traffic nowadays, as a quick YouTube search shows (is it good or bad that we can just look up on YouTube what a city looks like?) [1] https://www.perceptivetravel.com/issues/1218/kelly.html https://www.perceptivetravel.com/issues/1218/kelly.html [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31518605 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31518605

Grimburger 4y ago

Why can't you overland in Iran today? Seems to be quite a popular tourist destination with many hardcore traveller types. I really wanted to visit when I was in the region but it ruins the US ESTA waiver for the rest of your life so puts some people in an annoying situation. Even worse is Iraq, which despite being a western ally sets off the same loss of waiver. At least Iran makes sense and can accept that.

United857 4y ago
It depends on your nationality. US, UK, Canada must be part of a approved tour group and accompanied by a guide which by definition isn't independent travel. https://en.m.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Iran https://en.m.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Iran

netsharc 4y ago

There was a discussion of Kevin Kelly's (the founder of Wired) travels in Asia in the 70's [1]/[2], this part grabbed me: > I remember taking an overnight bus from India to Kathmandu. That bus was probably not more than $5. I remember that morning, after traveling all night, rolling down the Kathmandu Valley and seeing the Himalayas, and a whole city with zero cars. Sadly the modern world has infected the whole planet that we can't enjoy places like these any more. Kathmandu is a jungle of concrete buildings and traffic nowadays, as a quick YouTube search shows (is it good or bad that we can just look up on YouTube what a city looks like?) [1] https://www.perceptivetravel.com/issues/1218/kelly.html https://www.perceptivetravel.com/issues/1218/kelly.html [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31518605 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31518605