The end of travel is nigh

The end of travel is nigh. It seems like a bit of a doomsday phrase, doesn't; something a soapbox preacher, frothing at the mouth would yell to an indifferent crowd? But high-end travel is becoming commercially unsustainable. The costs are increasing well out of reach of the everyday employed woman or man. Some of you reading this article might know that already but still think it a bit implausible, but hold on. Put on your thinking caps. We are very near a post-global era, an era where travel between continents and hemispheres will eventually become an option only to the very wealthy; the signs of which are already apparent.

Let's take a look at the events of the last two decades: global warming; air pollution; sky-rocketing oil prices and oil spills; the attack on the World Trade Centre; and the recent recession. All of these occurrences have had astounding effects on the way we live our daily lives. They've determined how we travel and how much it costs us. With the net result that it's getting more and more expensive to travel anywhere. It comes down to the cost of petrol and diesel and, obviously, jet fuel. The heady days of the 1980s, where the average man could jump on a plane for a business meeting are long over. Besides which, there are easier methods to contact people these days. Instant messaging, particularly Skype, allows you to arrange quick video conferences with your foreign clients or chat with family members for very little expense.

After the twin towers collapsed in New York security at airports quadrupled. Every commercial airport in the world is ready for an invasion or explosion. You can't even whisper the word bomb without being detained. This level of security costs money, which airlines have to recoup from somewhere. Then there is the recession, which has caused a host of airlines to close and file for bankruptcy.

Strangely, climate change has prompted a rise in new travel markets, such as "global warming" tourism. People from across the globe are travelling to see things like the arctic ice floes melt, or the emergence of land masses, such as the Warming Island, an island that had previously been stuck in glacial ice off the coast of Greenland. To some people there's a strange unreality about the very real changes global warming is bringing to our planet. It's impossible to tell whether places like the Warming Island are viewed as a spectacle or if those interested are simply lamenting witnesses to a once-in-a-million year occurrence. It's probably a little of both.

Air travel is one of the major culprits when it comes to global warming, which is increasingly tangible. Air travel is responsible for 2% of total human carbon emissions. Some academics have even gone so far as to say that the air pollution from jet fuel is emitted at such a high altitude that it triples the amount of damage that would have been caused had the carbon been released nearer the earth's surface.

Ahead of us is the steady decline of commercial air travel. Or at least in the form that we know it, i.e. the enormous flying fortresses like the Airbus and the Boeings. Many people foresee smaller aircraft becoming more viable for travel, shorter distances being travelled and alternative fuels being used. We need to make travel friendlier to our planet and those that live on it, not to mention easier on our pockets. All of which will be no easy task.