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We have gone backwards in this regard, there was a time when you could get the train from the UK to Egypt or even to Iraq, with railway posters advertising such

We have gone backwards in this regard, there was a time when you could get the train from the UK to Egypt or even to Iraq, with railway posters advertising such services. Check out retours.eu for some classy posters from a time when railways ruled along with ocean liners. You really could get to places that we have subsequently deemed to be too war-torn for travel. Even in America you had 'broadway' tracks (four tracks, for slow and fast services in each direction) racing across the country, with competing operators, each with their own 'broadway' tracks. Interestingly, in the UK, train services have not got quicker, necessarily. There were also the Beeching cuts that decimated the amount of services.

inglor_cz 1y ago
Ease of traveling is indirectly correlated with political diversity. If one power (the Mongols, the Romans, the Inca, the Russians, the Chinese, the British) undisputedly controls some territory, it is easier to travel across it than when there are two, three ... twenty smaller powers along the way.
- jvanderbot 1y ago
  Having trouble squaring that with a zoomed out view. It's never been easier to travel the world than the last 20ish years.
  - inglor_cz 1y ago
    I think we should separate technical and legal aspects of traveling. As for the technical ones, obviously. Cicero could not take a plane to Alexandria. But when it comes to legal aspects of traveling, crossing boundaries of major entities (the EU, USA) has become a good opportunity to harass and randomly reject people depending on what passport they carry. Even here on HN people now discuss that they started avoiding the US because of unfriendly border checks and a risk of detention. The EU isn't as harsh as the US, but still, if you are a North African and want to visit the other side of the Mediterranean, you will have to satisfy a lot more bureaucratic conditions than when North Africa was part of the Roman Empire. Even Australians and Canadians visiting the UK now face more (although not massively more) immigration-related hurdles than when their countries were part of the defunct British Empire. If you are an American, you may not feel this development, but if you are, say, Syrian or Lebanese who wants to travel (not to mention Gazan), you would be better off being a Roman citizen than wielding the passport of your now-independent country in 2025.

inglor_cz 1y ago

Ease of traveling is indirectly correlated with political diversity. If one power (the Mongols, the Romans, the Inca, the Russians, the Chinese, the British) undisputedly controls some territory, it is easier to travel across it than when there are two, three ... twenty smaller powers along the way.

jvanderbot 1y ago
Having trouble squaring that with a zoomed out view. It's never been easier to travel the world than the last 20ish years.
- inglor_cz 1y ago
  I think we should separate technical and legal aspects of traveling. As for the technical ones, obviously. Cicero could not take a plane to Alexandria. But when it comes to legal aspects of traveling, crossing boundaries of major entities (the EU, USA) has become a good opportunity to harass and randomly reject people depending on what passport they carry. Even here on HN people now discuss that they started avoiding the US because of unfriendly border checks and a risk of detention. The EU isn't as harsh as the US, but still, if you are a North African and want to visit the other side of the Mediterranean, you will have to satisfy a lot more bureaucratic conditions than when North Africa was part of the Roman Empire. Even Australians and Canadians visiting the UK now face more (although not massively more) immigration-related hurdles than when their countries were part of the defunct British Empire. If you are an American, you may not feel this development, but if you are, say, Syrian or Lebanese who wants to travel (not to mention Gazan), you would be better off being a Roman citizen than wielding the passport of your now-independent country in 2025.