For the previous 20 years, we’ve journeyed throughout the globe, embracing the assumption that “journey is deadly to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” as Mark Twain so eloquently acknowledged. We’ve shared our adventures, our images, and our experiences in numerous cultures, believing that by showcasing the great thing about the world, we may assist folks see past borders and variations.

However occasions have modified. The world we’re touring in now could be not nearly sharing stunning photos—it’s extra complicated, extra divided, and extra fragile than ever earlier than.

Journey Used to Unite Us. Now, It Feels Completely different.

Once we first began touring, every little thing was new. Social media was in its infancy, and folks had been being launched to locations that they had by no means seen earlier than. Journey felt like a device for connection—a strategy to expertise completely different cultures, break down limitations, and open minds to new potentialities.

However now, we see a world that’s not solely extra divided but in addition extra cynical. Journey has been commodified, decreased to an Instagram backdrop quite than a possibility for studying. As an alternative of sparking curiosity and empathy, it usually fuels comparability, competitors, and apathy. As an alternative of uniting us, journey content material typically reinforces the divide between those that can discover freely and people who are struggling simply to outlive.

And whereas the world scrolls previous one other excellent sundown, too many individuals are preventing simply to reside.

The Actuality We Can No Longer Ignore

Conflicts are raging throughout locations we’ve visited.

• Sudan is within the grip of a devastating civil struggle, displacing hundreds of thousands.
• In Yemen, an ongoing humanitarian disaster has left folks ravenous.
• Ukraine remains to be underneath assault, with civilians struggling day by day.
• Myanmar’s folks stay underneath the management of a brutal navy junta.
• In Gaza, whole households have been worn out, and harmless lives proceed to be misplaced.
• Ethiopia, Haiti, Afghanistan, and so many others stay in turmoil.

And these are simply the conflicts that make headlines.

The World Is Burning—Actually

We can also’t ignore one other disaster unfolding in entrance of our eyes: Local weather Change.

The locations we’ve got visited—the glaciers of Patagonia, the seashores of the Maldives, the rainforests of the Amazon—are altering, and never for the higher.

• Wildfires have ravaged Greece, Canada, Australia, and California, displacing folks and devastating landscapes.
• Floods have swallowed whole villages in Pakistan, Libya, and Germany, leaving destruction of their wake.
• Coral reefs that we as soon as marveled at whereas diving are bleaching and dying at an alarming fee.
• The Arctic ice we as soon as stood on is disappearing, and island nations like Tuvalu and the Maldives are actually sinking.

We’ve witnessed these adjustments firsthand. We’ve spoken to locals who’ve misplaced their houses. We’ve walked by means of landscapes that not exist. And we’ve realized—we can’t simply maintain sharing fairly photos whereas pretending every little thing is okay.

We Can’t Keep Silent Anymore

We will’t proceed to stroll round considering every little thing is a dream anymore. We will’t sit in a spa, pretending all is effectively, ready for another person to say one thing.

Now we have to talk up.

We have to speak about politics, poverty, and human rights abuses within the locations we go to. We have to speak about how tourism impacts native communities and whether or not it helps or harms them. We have to speak about local weather change, in regards to the industries destroying our planet, and about what we, as vacationers, can do to make an actual distinction.

We need to face up towards fascism, authoritarianism, and oppression—and assist others rise up as effectively.

We Don’t Blame Anybody for Staying Silent—However We Can’t Anymore

We don’t blame anybody who chooses to not communicate out. That is our alternative alone.

For folks with jobs, households, and even our fellow journey bloggers and vloggers who’ve partnerships, talking out may imply dropping every little thing—contracts, alternatives, and even their whole livelihoods. We perceive why many keep quiet.

However we’re able the place we can take that danger. And when the chance is talking out towards cruelty, corruption, and fascism—we predict it’s value it.

For almost 20 years, The Planet D has stood for discovery—the journey of exploring the world. However transferring ahead, we wish it to face for one thing even better:

1. Decency – As a result of human rights ought to by no means be up for debate.
2. Democracy – As a result of freedom is just not assured; it should be defended.
3. Willpower – As a result of change doesn’t occur with out motion.

What’s Subsequent for The Planet D

We’re not saying goodbye to journey. We’re nonetheless going to discover, nonetheless going to share guides and itineraries, and nonetheless going that will help you uncover the world. However we’re additionally going to inform the entire story.

We’ll nonetheless showcase unbelievable locations, however we’ll additionally expose what’s taking place behind the gorgeous photos. We’ll speak in regards to the folks preventing for justice, the communities on the entrance traces of local weather change, and the vacationers and locals making an actual distinction.

As a result of identical to that hammam therapeutic massage expertise we as soon as informed you about—there’s at all times extra to the story. And it’s time we begin telling it.

A New Journey, Collectively

We all know this shift would possibly really feel sudden, however it’s the best one. Journey has at all times been about discovery—and typically, meaning dealing with uncomfortable truths.

Thanks for being a part of this journey with us. It received’t at all times be straightforward, however it will likely be value it.

Dave & Deb