To be pissed off at people who constantly say we need to fly less?

[lockdowncockdown]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this but here goes. Am I being unreasonable to be annoyed by the people who constantly say 'well, we need to fly less anyway'. Well, yes that's ok for you to say at 40/50 years old after you've spent the last 20 years flying all over the world and brandishing yourself as ' well travelled' and cultured. What about those of us in our early twenties like me who has been abroad four times in my whole life, not even to anywhere particularly exciting and I'm just about to finish university and was hoping to finally be able to travel a bit? It's ok to spout nonsense about flying less when you've been lucky and already had your experiences but I find it very hypocritical to want to deny others the same experiences that you were lucky enough to have.

www.savetherhino.org/thorny-issues/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-rhinos/

I agree with less business flights. I have another job now but at my old workplace my last few were completely pointless and the same result could have been achieved with conference calls etc 90% of the time.
Holidays though I won't be giving up or cutting down. I've definitely been using my car much less and will carry on with that.

Why can't you go on a train with kids? I do. Long journeys all the time. And abroad. I took a 3 and a 1 year old from London to Milan and back by train a couple of years ago. Brilliant holiday.

I’ve said train journeys when going into Europe are possible - once you get out of Europe it doesn’t really become possible.

Granted, unless you have lots of time. I only ever imagined taking my kids to Europe. So much there. And saving long train travel for my retirement!

There are pros and cons to growing up in every generation. Admittedly the boomer generation appear to have had a pretty sweet ride, but you probably wouldn't have enjoyed the war, or rationing before that, with little travel either. As time goes on things change and humans have to adapt. I'm thankful for the chances I've had so far to travel, but in future will limit trips much more. I don't think you need to never travel, but you need to be more mindful, as we all do. At your age you may find you have more flexibility to go to places for a bit longer - why not go and spend some time living and working abroad if you are keen to see the world. Rather than endless cheap short haul flights. You have your whole lifetime ahead of you to see things, it's not limited to doing it in your twenties, and hopefully technology will catch up to solve the problem of massive pollution from jet engines before too much longer.

Travel as much as you like. Nobody will say anything, why should you care anyway?

For short haul yes - I’ve said that. But we aren’t getting a train to New York.
@emz771 we haven't suggested an outright ban on flying. Just rationing it. So a newly-wed couple could go to the Caribbean for their honeymoon, then they'd take their four-year-old to Disney, followed by taking their nine-year-old to Africa, their fourteen-year-old to Australia before flying off to Canada while the nineteen-year-old looks after the cat.

In the intervening years there are plenty of things to do in the UK and Europe, easily accessible by train.

It won’t work.

I don't see what the war has got to do with this whatsoever

You said, OP, that the younger generation is paying for a mess which the older generation caused

I was suggesting that you view what some of the older generation has given to your world - rather than whinging about that generation because you feel you might not be able to fly as often as you would like

I don't think anyone is saying to never travel again but maybe to fly once every 1-2 years rather then 4-5 times a year that I have seen some people do

I'm the same age as you OP and fully intend to still travel lots of the world, just while avoiding flying. I'll cycle, train trains, sail, rent a van if fuel efficient and get around that way. If anything, it seems way more of an adventure doing it this way then just hopping on a plane and not seeing any of the countries in between!

@lovepickledlimes my dh takes about 20 flights per year...he has too...in order to do his job. There's no two ways about that unfortunately. Some are long haul and most are short haul...but it has to happen.

I suppose it depends on the job. A relative sometimes has to travel abroad to perform surgery as he is quite specialised - so something that can’t be done via zoom.

In the intervening years there are plenty of things to do in the UK and Europe, easily accessible by train.

I've just counted it. 2 night trip to Paris by train (incl public transport) at the end of June is nearly £200! In all tickets. So much hassle too. Getting to my train station here, from there to London, there find my way to St Pancras, find train, Paris. With easyJet it's £80 + public transport so about £90. There just can't be any surprise people rather fly. It's not just the money, it's also the time and hassle.
Not everyone lives in London to just hop on Eurostar🤷🏻

I’m sure flights won’t stop globally it brings in too much money. I’m sure once everything has settled down you can travel to places you would like OP.

It's just the way it is, OP. Climate change isn't influenced by 'fairness.' I'm 70, and I have flown about 8 times in my life, six for business, two to visit my brother and his family in Australia - something I don't think I will be able to do again. The business flights wouldn't happen now - it's all done online. Holidays I've always done by ferry and train, which is a lovely way to travel in Europe. A friend of mine, years ago, worked her way round the world via boat, bus, and walking, and had an amazing time.

There just can't be any surprise people rather fly. It's not just the money, it's also the time and hassle.

It was just as much hassle 30 years ago, only difference was flights were more expensive, so people didn't expect that much convenience unless they were well off.

"So a newly-wed couple could go to the Caribbean for their honeymoon, then they'd take their four-year-old to Disney, followed by taking their nine-year-old to Africa, their fourteen-year-old to Australia before flying off to Canada while the nineteen-year-old looks after the cat."

The price already does this though doesn't it? How many people go on inter-continental holidays every year? As others have pointed out, much of the far-flung travel is business people anyway.

"there are plenty of things to do in the UK and Europe, easily accessible by train."

Yes, and we need to subsidise train travel so that it isn't more expensive than flying.

I'm not sorry about the demise of air travel. Not sure what you're angry about, OP. It's not older people's fault, it's a virus. You need to get that massive chip off your shoulder because it's not going to do you any good to be angry about this.

While I agree there is plenty to do in Europe - there are still some amazing things that you will quite simply never be able to do in Europe.

Once this situation has "normalised" somewhat (not returned to what we used to call normal, by normalised I mean, we've come to terms, rationalised it, worked out how we're going to deal with it [which might include a vaccine, but I wouldn't pin my hopes on it just yet], and put whatever measures in place we can), then trains, ferries, bikes, horses, carts, and other modes of transport, suitably socially distanced/disinfected/priced/masked may well take the place of the plane - that's how I've travelled most of my life, with the exception of really long-haul.

Cheap package holidays and cheap flights have only really been available for the last 25 years or so. I have a list of places I always wanted to see and it's now highly unlikely I ever will so I'm going to have to be more selective and plan better.

We're all going to have to get used to a slower pace of life; our ludicrously fast pace of life was not sustainable in the long run anyway.

Our way of life, for the foreseeable future, has been well and truly shelved. You could see this as a bit of a rehearsal for climate change, which is not going to go away any day soon.

Namechange what are you on about? I wasn't even just talking about corona virus, I was talking about people saying we should be flying less in general.

The bad news is that climate change isn't just about 'the planet'; it's about us as we live on it and rely on it for water, food and shelter. So although yanbu emotionally (it's natural to feel jealous and annoyed about stuff) yabu in a wider sense because no, flying a lot is not sustainable.
But the good news is that travelling does not have to involve any, or much, flying. It takes a bit of research but train travel can be way more fun and a great way of immersing yourself properly in a culture. Same with buses or shared taxis... There are all sorts of slightly crazy ways of getting about the world where you can certainly cut down on flying even if not giving it up completely

Yes, and we need to subsidise train travel so that it isn't more expensive than flying.

This would be a good idea. I live on the continent and while I can easily take the train to London, even though it takes longer, it still is much more expensive than flying.