For the previous twenty years, we’ve journeyed throughout the globe, embracing the idea that “journey is deadly to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” as Mark Twain so eloquently said. We’ve shared our adventures, our pictures, and our experiences in several cultures, believing that by showcasing the fantastic thing about the world, we might assist folks see past borders and variations.
However instances have modified. The world we’re touring in now’s not nearly sharing stunning photos—it’s extra complicated, extra divided, and extra fragile than ever earlier than.
Journey Used to Unite Us. Now, It Feels Totally different.
After we first began touring, every part was new. Social media was in its infancy, and other people have been being launched to locations that they had by no means seen earlier than. Journey felt like a software for connection—a method to expertise totally different cultures, break down obstacles, and open minds to new potentialities.
However now, we see a world that’s not solely extra divided but additionally extra cynical. Journey has been commodified, diminished to an Instagram backdrop fairly than a possibility for studying. As a substitute of sparking curiosity and empathy, it usually fuels comparability, competitors, and apathy. As a substitute of uniting us, journey content material generally reinforces the divide between those that can discover freely and those that are struggling simply to outlive.
And whereas the world scrolls previous one other excellent sundown, too many individuals are preventing simply to dwell.
The Actuality We Can No Longer Ignore
Conflicts are raging throughout locations we’ve visited.
- Sudan is within the grip of a devastating civil battle, displacing hundreds of thousands.
- Ukraine remains to be underneath assault, with civilians struggling each day.
- Myanmar’s folks stay underneath the management of a brutal army junta.
- In Gaza, whole households have been worn out, and harmless lives proceed to be misplaced
- In Yemen, Haiti, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and so many others stay in turmoil.
And these are simply the conflicts that make headlines.
The World Is Burning—Actually
We can also’t ignore one other disaster unfolding in entrance of our eyes: Local weather Change.
The locations we’ve visited—the glaciers of Patagonia, the seashores of the Maldives, the rainforests of the Amazon—are altering, and never for the higher.
- Wildfires have ravaged Greece, Canada, Australia, and California, displacing folks and devastating landscapes.
- Floods have swallowed whole villages in Pakistan, Libya, and Germany, leaving destruction of their wake.
- Coral reefs that we as soon as marveled at whereas diving are bleaching and dying at an alarming fee.
- The Arctic ice we as soon as stood on is disappearing, and island nations like Tuvalu and the Maldives are actually sinking.
We’ve witnessed these adjustments firsthand. We’ve spoken to locals who’ve misplaced their houses. We’ve walked by landscapes that not exist. And we’ve realized—we can’t simply hold sharing fairly photos whereas pretending every part is okay.
We Can’t Keep Silent Anymore
We will’t proceed to stroll round considering every part is a dream anymore. We will’t sit in a spa, pretending all is nicely, ready for another person to say one thing or climb mountains for our personal private acquire.
Now we have to talk up.
We have to discuss politics, poverty, and human rights abuses within the locations we go to. We have to discuss how tourism impacts native communities and whether or not it helps or harms them. We have to discuss local weather change, in regards to the industries destroying our planet, and about what we, as vacationers, can do to make an actual distinction.
We need to face up in opposition to fascism, authoritarianism, and oppression—and assist others rise up as nicely.
We Don’t Blame Anybody for Staying Silent—However We Can’t Anymore
We don’t blame anybody who chooses to not converse out. That is our selection alone.
For folks with jobs, households, and even our fellow journey bloggers and vloggers who’ve partnerships, talking out might imply dropping every part—contracts, alternatives, and even their whole livelihoods. We perceive why many keep quiet.
However we’re able the place we can take that threat. And when the danger is talking out in opposition to cruelty, corruption, and fascism—we predict it’s price it.
For almost 20 years, The Planet D has stood for discovery—the journey of exploring the world. However transferring ahead, we wish it to face for one thing larger:
1. Decency – As a result of human rights ought to by no means be up for debate.
2. Democracy – As a result of freedom isn’t assured; it have to be defended.
3. Willpower – As a result of change doesn’t occur with out motion.
What’s Subsequent for The Planet D
We’re not saying goodbye to journey. We’re nonetheless going to discover, nonetheless going to share guides and itineraries, and nonetheless going that will help you uncover the world. However we’re additionally going to inform the entire story.
We’ll nonetheless showcase unimaginable locations, however we’ll additionally expose what’s taking place behind the gorgeous photos. We’ll speak in regards to the folks preventing for justice, the communities on the entrance strains of local weather change, and the vacationers and locals making an actual distinction.
As a result of, identical to that hammam therapeutic massage expertise we as soon as advised you about—there’s all the time extra to the story. And it’s time we begin telling it.
A New Journey, Collectively
We all know this shift may really feel surprising, nevertheless it’s the best one. Journey has all the time been about discovery—and generally, meaning going through uncomfortable truths.
Thanks for being a part of this journey with us. It received’t all the time be straightforward, however it will likely be price it.
Dave & Deb