For the previous twenty years, we’ve journeyed throughout the globe, embracing the assumption that “journey is deadly to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” as Mark Twain so eloquently said. We’ve shared our adventures, our photographs, and our experiences in several cultures, believing that by showcasing the great thing about the world, we may assist folks see past borders and variations.
However occasions have modified. The world we’re touring in now’s now not nearly sharing lovely 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, the whole lot was new. Social media was in its infancy, and other people had been being launched to locations they’d by no means seen earlier than. Journey felt like a software for connection—a approach 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 in addition extra cynical. Journey has been commodified, lowered to an Instagram backdrop relatively than a possibility for studying. As an alternative of sparking curiosity and empathy, it typically fuels comparability, competitors, and apathy. As an alternative 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 good sundown, too many individuals are preventing simply to reside.
The Actuality We Can No Longer Ignore
Conflicts are raging throughout locations we’ve visited.
- Sudan is within the grip of a devastating civil struggle, displacing tens of millions.
- Ukraine continues to be underneath assault, with civilians struggling every day.
- Myanmar’s folks stay underneath the management of a brutal army junta.
- In Gaza, complete 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 have now 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 complete 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 means of landscapes that now not exist. And we’ve realized—we can’t simply preserve sharing fairly photos whereas pretending the whole lot is ok.
We Can’t Keep Silent Anymore
We will’t proceed to stroll round considering the whole lot is a dream anymore. We will’t sit in a spa, pretending all is properly, ready for another person to say one thing or climb mountains for our personal private acquire.
We’ve got to talk up.
We have to speak about politics, poverty, and human rights abuses within the locations we go to. We have to speak about how tourism impacts native communities and whether or not it helps or harms them. We have to speak about 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 get up as properly.
We Don’t Blame Anybody for Staying Silent—However We Can’t Anymore
We don’t blame anybody who chooses to not communicate out. That is our alternative alone.
For folks with jobs, households, and even our fellow journey bloggers and vloggers who’ve partnerships, talking out may imply shedding the whole lot—contracts, alternatives, and even their complete livelihoods. We perceive why many keep quiet.
However we’re ready the place we can take that threat. And when the chance is talking out in opposition to cruelty, corruption, and fascism—we expect it’s price it.
For practically 20 years, The Planet D has stood for discovery—the journey of exploring the world. However shifting ahead, we would like it to face for one thing higher:
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. Dedication – 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 can assist 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 traces of local weather change, and the vacationers and locals making an actual distinction.
As a result of, similar to that hammam therapeutic massage expertise we as soon as informed 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 gained’t all the time be straightforward, however it will likely be price it.
Dave & Deb