News & Blog

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“To boldly go where no one has gone before!” Science Fiction and Travel

August 2018 “To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilisations. To boldly go where no one has gone before!”[1] These famous opening lines from the iconic television series Star Trek outline one of the central themes of the show: exploration, or travel into the unknown in search of new knowledge. […]

Freedom to travel: A brief history of the passport

July 2018 A passport is, in modern days, an indispensable object for foreign travel. To some it symbolises freedom, but the passport can also be a tool of control and restriction. In a world where having the ‘right’ passport can mean the difference between life and death, or the hope of safety and prosperity, this […]

Marchetti’s Constant and Travel Time Budgets: One hour’s travel a day?

June 2018 The location of villages in Greece, the average daily commute, and the size of cities – what do these seemingly unrelated things have in common? According to the Italian systems analyst Cesare Marchetti (who turned 90 last year), they can all be related to the finding that humans spend on average one hour […]

Loneliness and Travel

May 2018 Loneliness has been declared “the public health challenge of our age,” and is claimed by the Royal College of GPs to be as damaging to our health as long-term illness or smoking 15 cigarettes a day.[1] A recent study by The Co-op and the British Red Cross found that in the UK more […]

In the hands of the gods: Deities, saints and spirits of travel

April 2018 In Japan, before embarking on a journey travellers may purchase, or be given by a loved one, a ‘bujikaeru,’ a small model or plush toy of a green frog, to carry with them to bring safety on their travels.[1] In Catholic countries people may be more likely to carry a silver Saint Christopher […]

‘Border’ wins Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year

March 2018 The Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year prize for 2018 was awarded recently to Kapka Kassabova for her book Border: A journey to the edge of Europe (Granta). The prize is one of those offered in the annual Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, which includes prizes for adventure travel books as well […]