HOW MIGHT TRAVEL IN THE FUTURE BE DIFFERENT 1

ABSTRACT

The continuous growth and development of travel and vehicles are unstoppable and

inevitable. Consequently, it might bring positive and negative impacts on the whole society in

the future. Research has shown that insufficiency of support for travel before, has paved the

way for people to create an instrument that now is used to help travel and make it productive,

efficient and, effective. This study aims to determine how might travel in the future will be

different in past and to this present. Improving and developing new vehicles to form a new

image of traveling, it asks: To what does travel in the future will look like, and what impact on

people and the environment would it bring? In this context, traveling is defined as

unconcealment of everything such as impossible things, in which people feel they are going

beyond the box or exploring a new world.

Based on a review of the literature on how travel is different in the future, online

research was distributed to this paper. Analysis of the improvement and development in the

way how people travel was associated with a high percentage of growth over time. The results

indicate that travel in the future would have a significant impact and effects than past and

present due to Science and Technology, in which it acts as one of the great catalysts. On the

basis, it is recommended that vehicle industries and governments should use the question of

“what will be the impacts or effects?” as a critical factor before designing and innovating their

projects. Further research is needed to identify other factors that could strengthen the

effectiveness of these projects.

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Introduction

The word travel is commonly defined as movement from one place to another with the

use of the foot, cars, trains, ships, airplanes called vehicles. A vehicle is a machine that

transports people or cargo (Wikipedia, n.d.). Vehicles are just one of the significant ingredients

of travel. However, travel happens not only in transportation but also in communication. Travel

happens when people chat, call, and text their friends and family, in which the information

inside the communication travel through the use of electromagnetic waves. Traveling is

attached to everyone’s life, wherein traveling happens every day and everywhere. For example,

The Air Transport Action Group (2015), released “Aviation Benefits Beyond Borders, a

detailed report on the aviation industry, in April 2014. The report shows that there are 37.4

million flights globally scheduled in 2014. That is up 2.7% from 2013”. So, it means an average

of One hundred two thousand four hundred sixty-five trips per day (Gunnar Garfors, 2014).

Thus, this results in more innovation and improvement of transport-vehicles to support the

endless needs and wants of people in traveling from place to place.

Travel correlates vehicles. This day, traveling can be hard if without the use of

transport-vehicles. Almost every person uses vehicles to travel every day. They move with the

help of either public utility vehicles or private vehicles when they go to work, school, malls,

even going out of town. However, traveling in the future will not be the same as people saw

today due to the advancement of science and technology. Wherein it might bring some good

and bad effects.

On the other hand, traveling can also happen in their self. According to Shaifali Verma

(2016), “travel is not just about experience, meeting new people, exploring different cultures
HOW MIGHT TRAVEL IN THE FUTURE BE DIFFERENT 3

but is also about exploring the self.” So, this proves that traveling not only happens externally

but also internally of their self.

The continuing growth and development of transport-vehicles are unstoppable and

inevitable to fulfill everyone’s travel satisfaction and experience. The essence of transport-

vehicles is to help people to travel. In the past years, people commonly used animals such as

horse, camels to travel, but now the most they often use are vehicles such as planes, ships, and

cars. It is surprising to see how fast the transition of change that every people saw before, now,

and they will see in the future. Also, in traveling, people always learned something. Traveling

shows ideally and teaches the beauty of other cultures and attitudes. It can open their mind and

heart to different ways of living and thinking. If they open their mind and spirit, they will

become a more tolerant and a more rounded/complete person (Bob Heywood, 2016). Travel

teaches people to have empathy and respect. Traveling is an extraordinary experience of going

beyond the box. It opens them a whole new world and reveals their inner self.

THE EMERGENCE TO A NEW FORM OF TRAVEL

In the past, people often used foot, so it was a hindrance to prevent people from

traveling fast. So, because of this, people have figured out how to solve it, so they have created

a way of using animals as tools to speed up the process of traveling in one place. Examples are

horse made of chariot, camel, and buffalo. The top speed on a chariot is a mere 35-40 miles an

hour (Brandon Kier, 2014). So, this gives way for people to travel faster in different places.

They also built watercrafts such as boats and rafts to help people travel across the ocean.

However, not everyone can travel before. For example, during the Greek and Roman periods,

travel and tourism was a privilege. Confined almost exclusively to the wealthy noble classes

as the upper classes of these societies prided themselves on artistic, scientific and philosophical
HOW MIGHT TRAVEL IN THE FUTURE BE DIFFERENT 4

pursuits. Traveling abroad was considered a method of expanding this search into other cultures

and potentially provide additional enlightenment and learning opportunities (Hula Travel,

2017). So, this means that the concept of traveling before is considered as a great opportunity

because it was only available for wealthy and rich people.

And to this day, the experience of poor people in Greece and Rome in the past continues

today, as not all people today are afforded to travel as far away as other countries. And not

everyone is afforded to buy a vehicle. According to an analysis done by the US Department of

Energy (n.d.), “the number of registered vehicles globally was around 1.15 billion by 2013”.

Roughly estimating it is safe to assume a low estimate of 1.2 billion in 2015 of registered and

unregistered vehicles. Assuming at least one driver per vehicle: there are 1.2 billion drivers.

According to a quick search, the world population is around 7.3 billion. Quick math: 1.2 / 7.3

* 100 = around 16.4%. It is safe to assume that at least 16.4 percent of people are drivers (Taha

Ahmad, 2015).

THE IMPACT OF VEHICLES IN TRAVEL FROM PAST TO PRESENT AND

FUTURE

The transition of how the transport-vehicles are improving and developing is rapid.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk (2017), said that “in a decade most new cars would be built with full

autonomy.” Tesla’s cars are already being produced with a sensor system that Musk says can

enable full autonomy (Cadie Thompson, 2017). These new developments proved that

impossible things could be possible. In which, people are just started only from horses, camels.

However, now they have transport-vehicles such as automobiles, airplanes, and large ships as

well as electric-vehicles with autopilot. In which, they can travel without holding on the
HOW MIGHT TRAVEL IN THE FUTURE BE DIFFERENT 5

steering wheel and car pedals. However, the negative side about this thing is, not all people

cannot keep up those improvements as well as developments.

Because some people cannot afford to buy a vehicle to travel through various areas in a fast

and hassle-free manner, for example, a low-wage earner has earned only two thirds or less of

the national median gross hourly earnings (Eurostat, 2016). Therefore, it will be hard for them

to buy vehicles such as automobiles. Another example is people in provinces that still use

animals such as horse and buffalo to travel and deliver goods to different places. In which some

of them cannot replace their horses and buffalos to a new form of transport-vehicles as quickly

as possible; it is because of the high cost of transport-vehicles and its maintenance. According

to Consumer Expenditures (2017), released in September 2018 by the U.S. Department of

Labor’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “the average vehicle costs $9,576 per year to own and

operate. The breakdown of the figure comes to $4,054 for purchasing the vehicle, $1,968 in

gasoline and motor oil expenses, and $3,554 in other vehicle-related costs”.

Vehicles consume much energy before they ever make it to the open road. Automotive

production leaves a giant footprint because materials like steel, rubber, glass, plastics, paints,

and many more must be created before a new ride is ready to roll (National Geographic, 2019).

The invention of cars has brought more positive and negative effects. The cars have changed

the way people live all over the world. In which, they make people depending on it. For

example, instead of walking going to the nearest point, some people still prefer to ride a vehicle,

like riding on a taxi or using Grab and Uber transportation app.

On the other hand, positive things are to make their travel more comfortable and faster.

The advancement of vehicles over time has directly affected the progress of society as a whole

(Leisure Life, 2019). Vehicles have influenced every aspect of society in many ways and have

changed to keep up with the times. Also, this advancement of vehicles has brought a lot of
HOW MIGHT TRAVEL IN THE FUTURE BE DIFFERENT 6

positive impacts that continuously helps in building social relationships, discovering new

cultures, opportunities, self, and others.

THE REAL ESSENCE OF TRAVEL AND ITS INGREDIENTS IS GRADUALLY

FORGOTTEN

The problem with traveling before has become an instrument in the creation of

something called a vehicle to solve the problem. However, now the vehicles have given way

to a new problem. Due to the continuous production, development, and growth of vehicles and

demand for people, this has led to the endless use of our environment, for example, the use of

large quantities of iron, plastic, fuel, and rubber. Moreover, vehicles pollutants cause

immediate and long-term effects on the environment. Vehicles exhaust and emit a wide range

of gases and solid matter; this has resulted in pollution in our world. Fuel and other sources

produce carbon dioxide, which is the primary reason for global warming and climate changes.

Also, this proves that some excess is harmful. Still, all that is lacking is also harmful. According

to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (2016) mentioned that “over

70 million cars passenger cars were produced in a single year”.

On the other hand, not all excess is harmful and not all the effects of the problem are

adverse, as it also causes and unconcealed good things such as electric vehicles that we have

now, and others are powered by solar panels to reduce and replace the use of fuels that causes

air pollution. Besides, we also now have vehicles that have autopilot to help people to feel more

comfortable when traveling. However, with the increasing number of vehicles in the world, it

caused traffic congestion. The primary cause leading to traffic congestion is the high number

of vehicles, which was caused by the population and the development of the economy (Prayas

Shrestha, 2017). So, it means that our road is no longer proportionally balanced by the volume

of vehicles, in which we cannot always use the potential speed of our vehicles.
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The last mark of travel is its essence. The real essence of travel is gradually forgotten,

in which case, other people are pointing out that their perspective about travel is real than

others, without knowing its true purpose and essence. For example, if someone’s goal is to go

to a place, take a selfie and post it on Instagram, then someone thinks that his selfie and post is

not the essence of travel then so be it. It is about their happiness and feeling of fulfillment (The

Rustic Nomad, 2017). Also, the real purpose and essence of travel are having empathy and

respect on different perspectives and definition of people about travel because everyone is the

author of their travel.

THE JOURNEY TO A POSSIBLE FUTURE SOLUTION

In traveling, people have faced many problems and becoming more serious day after

day. To solve this problem, first, the government should encourage automotive, aircraft, and

watercrafts industry to make their vehicles environment-friendly. For example, replacing cars

powered by fuel into electric cars or cars powered by a solar panel. Moreover, because of this,

it will lessen the contribution to pollution.

Second, the government should encourage people to use public transport or vehicles

with small size such as bicycles or make tax on private cars. In some Asia countries such as

Viet Nam, the local authorities passed a law restricting to the number of vehicles for each

family (Prayas Shrestha, 2017). Moreover, also, some countries such as the Philippines has a

code that when buying a new car, they need to present any evidence that they have a parking

lot. As Senator Sherwin Gatchalian (2019), says his proposed measure “Senate Bill No. 201,

also known as the Proof-of-Parking Space Act. That will help ease traffic congestion in the

country.”

Third, having cars with a program that will no longer need to buy a new one. Instead,

by just upgrading the system and software it will automatically make it new and fresh one, just
HOW MIGHT TRAVEL IN THE FUTURE BE DIFFERENT 8

like how our Windows and Mac OS in computer works. Because adding more production of

vehicles will not help to make our travel faster and easier. Thus, it will require more use of our

nature to provide raw materials that are needed in production.

Lastly, vehicles help people to get into their destination. It is a beneficial and convenient

way to travel, and it made people’s life easy, efficient, and useful. So, another solution is the

improvement of public utility vehicles with an affordable rate fee. Because a high percentage

of the world’s population depends on it, as UITP Statistics (n.d.) points out, that during 2015,

“243 billion public transport journeys were made in 39 countries around the world. Twenty-

four of the 39 countries involved in the study experienced an increase or at least maintained a

stable rate of public transport use (journeys per capita) over the past 15 years. It shows the

growing role that public transport plays on the world stage” (p.1). Besides, the reuse of the old

car parts such as old plastics, steel frames, wheels of cars to create another vehicle is also a

good idea. As a result, it will lessen the scrap, and at the same time, it will help a lot for nature

to recover.

CONCLUSION

The essence of traveling is when travel opens them a whole new world in which they

will experience going beyond the box and reveals their inner self. The researchers found out

that travel is not only happening outer self but also in the inner self. Travel teaches people a

great lesson, and that is having empathy and respect. On the other hand, travel has one

significant ingredient called vehicles. Because of the relationship between these two essential

things which are travel and vehicles, it dramatically impacts on everyday life and experience

of people. Thus, travel affects the vehicles, and the vehicle affects travel. Wherein it positively

makes the lives of people more comfortable, efficient, effective, and productive. However,

sometimes it brings negative impacts on people and nature such as overusing of nature,
HOW MIGHT TRAVEL IN THE FUTURE BE DIFFERENT 9

contributing to the pollution, climate changes, global warming, and stress for people due to

heavy traffic congestion.

Traveling in the future will not be the same as we saw from the past and to this day.

Because it is unpredictable and impossible to know what the future of travel will look like

exactly. Besides, traveling in the future may open the door for some new positive, and some

are negative things. It is exciting yet scary to see what travel in the future will become because

everything impossible can now be possible. Travel is the mirror of every person’s lives from

past, to present and future and will never be changed forever. Every life has been formed and

shaped because of travel. So yet, travel is so powerful, in which it paved the way for building

up social relationships and connection to every people.

Lastly, people should be ready in the upcoming new form of travel in the future, because

travel is vast where it has many branches that soon will have its outcomes such as new high-

tech innovation of vehicles and transportation that will bring harm or good in the future of

travel.
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