In a Peanuts cartoon from the 1950s, Lucy hears that the world is getting smaller. Charlie Brown later explains to her that the world is not literally getting smaller, but that it seems smaller because of advancing travel technology.  As someone who is still amazed at being able to travel to the other side of the planet in about 12 hours, I would argue that the world is still quite big, and travel technology potential does not mitigate that.  Most travel takes longer than we expect it to.  Delays and wait times add up.  Unconsidered variables come into play no matter how close your destination may seem.  

We tend to think of remote locations as uninhabited islands in the middle of the ocean, or mountain villages accessible only by steep footpaths.  But even cities in developed countries can be remote and difficult to travel to.  My father lives in a city with no train station, no bus station, and no airport, and it has become increasingly challenging over the years to travel to this town at any time of the year.  Mechanical issues abound with any airline I might choose to fly on, luggage and TSA screenings take longer every time I fly, and rental car and rideshare prices continue to soar.  If my flight to the nearest airport only takes the 3 hours promised on my ticket, I consider myself lucky.  I have flown to Europe and East Asia several times with greater reliability than to my father’s part of the country, and traveling to see my father almost always seems to take the same amount of time as flying to these destinations would.      

If you travel with someone who perceives time differently from you, try to communicate your perspective to them before traveling if you value the relationship.  When Maria and I fly together from Tampa, the usual routine is for me to drop Maria off at the terminal with the luggage (let me point out that it’s her choice to do this if we have any luggage at all)  and to go park the car in the economy garage, which is quite far from the terminals.  On one trip to Atlanta, she underestimated how long it would take us to get to the airport in Tampa traffic on a Friday afternoon, and how long it would  take me to park the car in the garage, get to the elevator, go down the elevator, take the moving walkway to another elevator, take that elevator up to a train, take the train to the terminal, get off the train, get to the other train that takes me to TSA, go through TSA, and get to the gate.  Everything took longer than expected, and I arrived at the gate barefoot and unbelted with seconds to spare before they closed the plane door, which she found hilarious and cinematic.  It was only after following me back to the garage on our return trip that she understood through physical demonstration just how long it usually takes to get from the garage to the terminal.  I love you, baby!

The world is still a big place even with improved transportation.  The Bronx and Brooklyn are part of New York City, but it can take about 3 hours to get from the northern Riverdale area of the Bronx to Coney Island by subway.  Miami and Key West are both in South Florida, but it’s about a 3-hour drive between them if there is minimal traffic.  All of this is information you can find out by looking at the map.