What does travel mean to us these days? Escape? Liberation? The lure of the open road? Times were, you could look up at the sky at migrating geese squawking overhead and feel something stir in your soul. You could escape from those repressive middle-class social norms that were keeping you down, and find yourself. In Zen Buddhism. Not meaning to come down too hard on the kids, but it seems to me that there are now more people off the beaten track than on it.

Travel, they say, broadens the mind. Or so many enlightened Europeans said. During the Enlightenment, three hundred years ago. They also said things like; these people are a bit backward and rubbish, they probably don't really like all this gold and spice. And so, broadened minds and broadened coffers. Everyone's a winner.

In the Fifties and Sixties travel was a form of rebellion. The traveller was a loner, escaping from the world. Jack Kerouac's On the Road is the literary touchstone of this tendency. Yet so often readers highlight Kerouac's humanity, his love of the world and everything in it. It seems that back when travel was a relatively rare pursuit, the province of the rich or the adventurous, the traveller could develop his love for his fellow man by defining himself in a specific role apart from him.

But what are we to do now? With the rise and rise of the gap year, package holidays and the advent of cheap flights, more and more of the population are annually decamping. My porter has just cycled across the States. I do not mean to be little his achievement. Good on him. But fifty-year old men in sweat-soaked lycra is not my image of rebellion.

These days the further you get from home the more likely it seems you are to meet a fat Englishman waiting for you. Probably already drunk.

And so holidays are getting weirder and weirder, further and further away from the norm in an attempt to rediscover the concept of individuality at the heart of our ideas about travel. Take a trip around the Axis of Evil, why not? Into space, anyone?

Until recently the affordable equivalent of extreme travel involved a tour of the former Communist bloc, with its heady air of potential danger. Now, however, you can fly with Ryanair to Bratislava or Balaton for £35. Really though, as socially conscious and self-righteous students and graduands, you should be shying away from pumping the atmosphere full of carbon and InterRailing instead. A “global” pass will set under-25s back £292 for a month’s travel across thirty countries. Alternatively, you could opt for the Eurail Hungary-Croatia-Slovenia Pass. For £85, it allows five days-worth of travel within two months.

Take advantage of these offers. It may not be too long before many of these culturally-rich countries are trampled beneath the feet of sandal-clad lads checking out the cheap booze and birds. Remember, Hungary’s legal age of consent is fourteen.

I do not want to sound like a snob. Travel does belong to the masses. But mass holidays cannot co-exist with notions of rebellious escape. Already certain Spanish coastlines are becoming more English than Castilian. I visited Paris last summer and found myself repeatedly sighing as my Montmartre dreams were slowly drowned under waves of American voices.

Spending long periods of time in a limited number of locations feels oppressive. Who has not benefited from the refreshing effect of working in the Divinity Faculty instead of the UL? It is important to get away,especially from this tiny town. But as we spend May Week sunning ourselves and looking forward to our summer trips to Italy or wherever, let's not be so soulful about it. Travel is no longer a romantic escape. But it is still a wonderful experience and one that should be enjoyed for what it is.

James Everest and Guy Kiddey

www.interrail.net
www.eurail.com