It’s hard to write a news column, even one specifically about travel news, without acknowledging last week’s Big Event. It greatly overshadows most other events, and to ignore it would be to have a very large elephant in the room.
I don’t, however, want to rehash any political issues and I don’t think many others do either at the moment. The presidential election is over. The tension that builds towards that major turning point every four years is dispersed. We have a brief reprieve from the political battles that have gripped the nation all year. We can take a breath, get some good RnR, and get ready for whatever comes next. One matter in which there may be some consensus in this proverbially divided nation is that it’s a relief that that’s over. All year that date on the calendar loomed over our heads with uncertainty. Now most of us need a rest from those battles.
To those who supported Trump, I congratulate you on your win. I hope it goes well for you. To those who fear a Trump 2.0 administration, I sympathize. I fear for my country and for the world. But for just a moment I want to forget the political issues and see if I can find any common ground.
Any discussion now of these events is no longer a political discussion. The political choices have been made, for the moment. It’s time now only for pragmatically assessing the situation and preparing for what will be coming down the pike that might affect your business or your life. There’s not much of anything that won’t be affected by the results of this election. And not much happens in the world that does not affect travel. Certainly, this will have powerful effects on the travel industry.
But what will they be? That’s a hard question. National politics and government comprise a highly complex system. Any change in any part of it can have unexpected repercussions in other areas. It’s highly mercurial and can change in a moment. Some of it is relatively predictable, a lot of it is not.
Much of how a second Trump administration will behave is well known to us from having lived through his first administration, and been in a world that seems to have been dominated by him ever since, even when he was not the president. But, of course, he’s always full of surprises. So the next chapter of the Trump Era will surely bring us a great deal of novelty. The only thing we know for sure now is that we don’t know what will happen.
I laid low most of the week after the election. I had returned from Europe on Wednesday after election day, after the results were mostly determined. It was strange to return to a country that had been so transformed since I left 12 days before. I was not a Trump supporter, so I was one of the happy ones. There had to have been people who were celebrating, but I didn’t run into any of them. On Sunday, several days after the election, I was starting to find my footing in the new world, adjusting to the new reality, but when I went out to the store I was reminded. Things were different. The women I saw in passing all seemed troubled, concerned, not as friendly as usual. It was different from before. There was a new cloud over people. It wasn’t just the women I saw on the way to the store. The feeling of shock, bewilderment and disappointment descended on roughly half of America.
From the standpoint of the travel industry, there is one thing that seems clear to me. People need the magic elixir of travel more than ever. People are tired and weary, even the winners, I suspect. It’s been a rough period. When people are stressed out by events, art, music and all the “good things” in life are more important than ever to replenish our souls.
Travel is one of those “good things in life,” and particularly so because it encompasses all the other good things of life. It packages them all together. When you take a trip and go to a new environment, everything is new and refreshing, even the ordinary things of life, like a grocery store shelf. It’s different in a different country, so even shopping in a grocery store can be a novel, fascinating learning experience.
Travel packages are usually constructed to be rich in all those good things: painting, architecture, music, cuisine, crafts, history, etc. all things that enrich and replenish the weary soul. Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to bigotry,” and that one thing should be enough to enshrine travel as one of the greatest things in the world. Travel expands the individual, and extends understanding in the world at large. Travel is good medicine. It helps produce happy, healthy people. And happy people tend to be peaceful people.
Travel brings people together. People who have been in their separate cubicles of life, absorbing streams of information targeted to them with the intention of molding their thinking along the lines of one ideology or another, may find that some of those ideas dissolve when brought into conversation with other people. I suspect that people from “red” or “blue” states actually have a great deal in common, maybe more than they suspect, when they find some reason to have an actual in-person conversation.
I think a lot of our famous “division” in America is manufactured, manipulated by people who benefit from having us at each other’s throats. In the infamous insurrection of January 6, 2021, both sides believed they were standing for democracy. Very different ideas of democracy, perhaps, but still, that is common ground. When you strip away the conflict that is superimposed over the situation, there is that one thing, one very important thing that both sides share, even as they fight. Both sides believe in “democracy” as they understand it. That should be some cause for optimism.
I wish you all the best for the Holiday Season, and for a Happy New Year.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
