I had a preview of travel in the future more than 60 years ago.
The occasion was the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair. The Vatican had a pavilion with a unique exhibit. For the first time in its history – since 1499 — Michelangelo’s Pieta was carefully packaged, taken from the Vatican, shipped to the fair and put on view. Carved in Carrara marble, the Pieta reveals the body of Christ, held by his mother, after His death on the cross. It was seen by thousands and thousands of people.
The Pieta wasn’t the preview of the future. How you saw it was.
To see the sculpture, you stood in a long line and slowly shuffled to a curtained space, stepped up a short staircase and found yourself on a moving conveyor belt. The sculpture itself was about 20 feet away, bathed in white light against a black background in an otherwise darkened room.
Dramatic, yes. But also weird. Before you could blink the conveyer belt had taken you across the room. The view of the Pieta was gone. Done in about a minute.
The reason for this? Crowds. The designers of the pavilion anticipated that thousands of people would be coming, day after day, to see the exhibit. How could they let as many people as possible see, protect the sculpture, and make sure viewers didn’t linger?
The practical, but unpleasant, answer was a darkened room and a conveyor belt. It was the only way to deal with the crowd. And crowds were the future.
That was then. This is now.
In 2019 I was in Paris for the first time in decades. I was with my brother Doug. Some readers will remember him as The Zen Reacher. We went to visit the Louvre. We waited in long lines to get in. Then we watched a huge crowd of visitors head off to see the Mona Lisa.
We opted for a different drummer. We went to the many huge open spaces reserved for sculpture. After that we toured the apartments of Napoleon III.
No crowds. No lines.
More recently, in 2024, we walked the Camino Frances, a 770-kilometer trek over the Pyrenees from St. Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago in Spain. It turned out to be two different caminos. Yes, the first 670 kilometers were busy. But there was plenty of solitude, too.
The last 100 kilometers from Sarria to Santiago, however, were an overcrowded carnival.
Why the difference? Two reasons. You only need to walk the last 100 kilometers to get a certificate. And most people don’t have the time (about 35 days) to walk the full distance. Even if they have the energy. So the last 100 kilometers are crowded.
Note that I haven’t yet mentioned the other problem. Getting there: Actual travel.
A Problem of Abundance and Economic Success
It could be said that this is a great problem to have. I mean, don’t you just hate it when someone says the Piazza Navona was swarmed? That Heathrow airport was unbearable? That Machu Picchu was overrun?
But that’s what we face. Today, all over the world, millions of people have enough discretionary income to travel where they want, when they want. Their sheer numbers change how we experience travel.
The New Rules of Travel?
Many readers have far more travel experience than I have, although I’ve done more than most.
So here are a few “new basics” – changes we need to make to protect our health and sanity while traveling. (Please feel free to tell me what you’re doing to make travel more pleasant and rewarding.)
- Nonstop Flights. Whatever the question about getting there, the answer is nonstop flights. With airlines canceling flights, likely shortages of jet fuel long into the future and constant changes in the time of flights, nonstop flights remove most of the mishap of travel. That’s good news if you live in Dallas. But not so good if you live in Abilene. The same goes for any major hub and any secondary city, e.g., Boston and Springfield in Massachusetts or Chicago and Naperville in Illinois.
- Resolve to Spend More. There will always be people who love hardship travel. Like the people who detour to Iceland to save $50, but spend many hours more in transit. But the practical response is that spending more is a quick way to reduce crowding. It’s also a great excuse to eat better meals.
- Don’t Put It Off. Unless the world goes into a deep economic funk, traveling today is a better bet than traveling tomorrow. The number of affluent people continues to increase as does the number of eager travelers. While lots of people feel threatened, insecure or left behind, the statistical reality is that relatively affluent households are growing faster than relatively poor households. That makes today a better day to travel than tomorrow.
- Be an Independent Traveler. Organized tours can make you feel safe and coddled. But they add a level of expense. They also foreclose opportunities to research and do things on your own. You’ll enjoy the time spent in anticipation more. Just traveling in a “shoulder” or “off” season can make an enormous difference in both costs and what you experience.
- Forget Your Loyalties. We’ve all spent years as slaves to credit card points. But the Airlines, even Southwest, have declared that they are in it for whoever spends the most. So start with a blank page. Search for what interests you most first.
Related columns:
Scott Burns, “The Zen Reacher,” 1/28/2024: https://scottburns.com/the-zen-reacher/
Scott Burns, “Smiles at 85,” 11/16/2025: https://scottburns.com/smiles-at-85/
Sources and References:
www.worldsfairphotos.com: https://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/vatican.htm
The Louvre website on the apartment of Napoleon III: https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/the-splendour-of-the-second-empire
Ben Smithson, “Devaluations are coming thick and fast right now – here’s what you need to know about how to protect yourself,” 5/01/2026: https://thepointsguy.com/travel/points-miles-devaluations-how-to-protect-yourself/
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Photo: Scott Burns, 10/2/2019, A milling crowd awaiting entry to the Lourve in October…
(c) Scott Burns, 2026