For the previous twenty 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 said. We’ve shared our adventures, our photographs, and our experiences in several cultures, believing that by showcasing the fantastic thing about the world, we might assist folks see past borders and variations.

However instances have modified. The world we’re touring in now’s now not nearly sharing lovely footage—it’s extra complicated, extra divided, and extra fragile than ever earlier than.

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

Once we first began touring, every little thing was new. Social media was in its infancy, and folks have been being launched to locations they’d by no means seen earlier than. Journey felt like a instrument for connection—a approach to expertise completely different cultures, break down boundaries, and open minds to new prospects.

However now, we see a world that’s not solely extra divided but in addition extra cynical. Journey has been commodified, diminished to an Instagram backdrop fairly than a possibility for studying. As an alternative of sparking curiosity and empathy, it typically 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 those that are struggling simply to outlive.

And whereas the world scrolls previous one other good 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 thousands and thousands.
• Ukraine remains to be beneath assault, with civilians struggling day by day.
• Myanmar’s folks stay beneath the management of a brutal navy junta.
• In Gaza, whole households have been worn out, and harmless lives proceed to be misplaced
• In Yemen, Haiti, Afghanistan, Ethiopia 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 now we have 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 price.
• 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 modifications firsthand. We’ve spoken to locals who’ve misplaced their properties. We’ve walked by landscapes that now not exist. And we’ve realized—we can’t simply maintain sharing fairly footage whereas pretending every little thing is ok.

We Can’t Keep Silent Anymore

We are able to’t proceed to stroll round considering every little thing is a dream anymore. We are able to’t sit in a spa, pretending all is effectively, ready for another person to say one thing or climb mountains for our personal private achieve.

We have now 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 in opposition to 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 selection alone.

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

However we’re ready the place we can take that threat. And when the chance is talking out in opposition to cruelty, corruption, and fascism—we expect it’s price it.

For almost 20 years, The Planet D has stood for discovery—the journey of exploring the world. However shifting ahead, we wish it to face for one thing 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 isn’t 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 can assist 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 beautiful footage. We’ll discuss in regards to the folks preventing for justice, the communities on the entrance strains of local weather change, and the vacationers and locals making an actual distinction.

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

A New Journey, Collectively

We all know this shift may really feel surprising, but it surely’s the correct one. Journey has all the time been about discovery—and typically, which means going through uncomfortable truths.

Thanks for being a part of this journey with us. It gained’t all the time be straightforward, however it will likely be price it.

Dave & Deb