Travel is fundamental. We need it, literally. As a species we wouldn’t exist without an inherent ability to seek out new territory. From time immemorial, we stood atop ridgelines gazing across vistas with families by our sides pointing to the places we would make camp, grow food and find water. One can imagine Og and Oola, bedecked in saber-toothed-tiger shawls, motioning into the distance while little Junior beats on the new rock toys he’d found along the journey.
Flash forward several millennia.
Bob and Betty are now standing on that ridge, though they arrived via rental car. Junior is still playing, though now on a tablet. The big difference, of course, is that the journey to discover a new land has been reduced from six months to six hours. Instead of navigating by the stars, today we use GPS and thumb through apps. And the need to move camps is less about physical survival and more about mental recalibration.
But, make no mistake. We are still primal. Regardless of the epoch or era, travel knows no boundaries. It knows no gender, race or religion. People want to see the yet unseen. They want to fall in love on a sailboat. They want to smell skewers sizzling on a curbside food cart while trams bustle between locals lounging in the sun at terrace cafes. Adventurers want to sleep in mountain huts in the Alps. They want to order exotic cocktails in Bali. They want to discover secret festivals in the town just down the road.
From this premise, we at Paste launch this new Travel Section. We’ve opened the cage. Hell, we’ve opened the window. We’re letting the bird fly about room and into the fresh air. She’s spreading her wings and perching wherever she damn well pleases. We’re letting her sing with the same right-friggin’-now voice readers have grown to expect from Paste. There are many other birds out there singing a million different tunes. Our little bird (I mean how long can this guy go on with this metaphor?) will fill the air with solid travel service, industry news, trip ideas, itineraries, gear suggestions, essays, wanderlust exuberance and, when appropriate, candid irreverence.
Our writers bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and a standard of steadfast accuracy to the section. The goal is for readers—both intrepid vagabonds and La-Z-Boy adventurers—to be entertained while being informed. We hope to inspire you to take that bucket-list vacation and then come back to Paste ready for more.
We encourage comments, story ideas and suggestions. We look forward to crossing paths with you somewhere along the trail.
Alex is Paste Magazine’s travel editor. He splits time between Europe and the United States.