THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS

BATTERSEA

TRAVEL

By Dipa

2 THE PLANNER AND THE WANDERER

1 TO GO OR NOT TO GO

Four colleagues, Anita, Cassie, Joe and Martin attend a travel and tourism fair organised at their workplace.

Anita picks up a brochure advertising a two-week discounted trip to Japan and starts excitedly discussing how long it would take her to save for it. Cassie glances at the price and looks shocked. Joe, meanwhile, has just tried a virtual-reality tour of the Grand Canyon at one of the stalls. Martin walks around the fair looking disinterested.

Afterwards, they sit down for coffee and start talking about their different views on travel.

Anita: “I would love to visit Japan – it looks amazing from these brochures. I come back from every vacation with fresh energy for work and ready to take on life again. Planning my next vacation and looking back at my old trip photos are what keep me going.”

Cassie:“Have you checked the Japan trip cost? You could go to so many luxury spas and expensive dinners in London for that amount of money. A nice weekend retreat somewhere nearby would leave me just as refreshed, at a fraction of the cost”

Joe:“I like travelling, but I feel there’s a hidden cost. When I come back, my work piles up and I have to work twice as hard to catch up. Also, these days I can watch virtual tours and YouTube travel videos for any place I want to visit, so I can enjoy travel second-hand without leaving my sofa.”

Martin:“Honestly, I just don’t get why people are so obsessed with travelling. There’s that line often attributed to Samuel Butler:

‘The less people have to say, the more they travel.’

It’s harsh but I kind of see his point. Ralph Waldo Emerson called travel ‘a fool’s paradise’.

In other words, going somewhere new doesn’t mean you can leave your problems behind permanently. I’m perfectly happy staying where I am. I don’t think I need to travel all over the world to have an interesting life.”

Anita:“You can keep your spas and virtual tours and anti-travel quotes. I’m still going to Japan one day.”

They laugh and get back to work, each still convinced that their own idea of a good break makes the most sense.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

Which of the four perspectives do you most agree with, and why?
What do we really seek when we travel?
Can someone live a rich and fulfilling life without ever travelling beyond the place where they live?
Can virtual tours, travel videos or books provide the same level of enjoyment as travelling to a destination in person?
Would travel feel different if there was no way to photograph it, post about it, or share it with others?
How much of the appeal of travel comes from anticipating it rather than experiencing it?

By Dipa, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member

2 THE PLANNER AND THE WANDERER

Two friends, Neeta and Amanda, plan to take a week-long trip to Spain together.

Before the trip, Neeta spends weeks reading guidebooks, watching travel vlogs, comparing reviews, and booking hotels and tours. She creates a detailed day-by-day itinerary so they can make the most of their time.

Amanda, on the other hand, hasn't thought much about the trip. She's simply excited to have a whole week to enjoy Spain with her friend and go wherever the mood takes them.

On their first morning in Seville, they learn from the hotel’s travel desk that an annual local festival is happening that week at a beautiful coastal town nearby. Amanda immediately suggests changing their plans for the next day and taking a bus to explore the town and experience the festival. Neeta does not want to go because she has already paid for their guided tour of Seville and the tickets are non-refundable.

That evening, the two friends find themselves disagreeing about how to spend the rest of their holiday.

Neeta: "We spent a lot of money on flights and hotels. Let’s see as many top sights as we can rather than spend our time wandering around without a plan."

Amanda: "I don't like following checklists when I travel. It starts to feel too much like work. I like talking to locals and discovering places that aren't on the usual tourist routes. Some of the most memorable sights I've seen while travelling weren't part of any tour."

Neeta: "But what if that town turns out to be disappointing? We could end up wasting a whole day. Also, who knows if we'll ever come back to Spain? I prefer visiting a new place every year. There are so many places in the world and only so much time."

Amanda: "Maybe. But I don't mind revisiting places. Sometimes going back lets me experience the same country in a completely different way."

They both fall silent, unable to come to a common decision.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

Which travel style appeals to you more, and why: having a detailed travel itinerary or being spontaneous when travelling?
When you are travelling, is it more important to fit in as many experiences as possible or to remain open to surprises?
Do we regret disappointing experiences more, or the experiences we never chose to have?
Can the best experiences in life be planned, or do they have to be discovered?

By Dipa, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member

3 MORE THAN A DESTINATION

Two families meet at a gathering of mutual friends and begin discussing their recent summer holidays.

Mr. Jones: "We loved our two-week holiday in Hungary. We tried to experience as much of the local culture as possible. We ate traditional Hungarian food, attended folk dance performances, and our daughter went to a workshop to learn how to make traditional handicrafts. Our wonderful guide invited us to his home for a traditional dinner cooked by his mother. We sat around a crowded family table, tried dishes we had never heard of, and spent the evening talking, laughing, and communicating partly through gestures. It was one of the highlights of the trip."

Mrs. Simpson: "That sounds lovely, but that's not how we travel. We usually stick to what we know. We eat the same things we would eat at home. We prefer relaxing at the hotel by the pool, with maybe the occasional guided tour."

Mr. Jones: “I find travel most rewarding when we experience the culture and talk to local people. We all came back from Hungary feeling that we understood a little about their history, customs, and everyday life. That made us feel connected to the place and its warm people.”

Mrs. Simpson: “We spend most of the year working in London and dealing with responsibilities. When we travel, I don’t feel I need to experience a country's culture or way of life to have a meaningful trip. Sometimes simply being somewhere different, seeing a new place, and spending time together is enough.”

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

Can two people visit the same destination and come away having completely different experiences?
What makes a place memorable: the sights we see, the people we meet, or the experiences we have there?
Is it possible to truly experience another country without engaging with its local customs and people?
How much of another culture can we realistically understand during a short holiday?

By Dipa, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member.

THE AUTHOR OF TONIGHT’S THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS

Dipa is a London-based portfolio strategy professional with 18 years of global experience across banking and tech - which mostly means she is very good at making complicated things sound simple on a slide and simple things sound complicated in a meeting. Creative writing is Dipa's escape from her daily world of roadmaps, dashboards and strategy decks. Having lived in four countries for work, travelled to 17 more countries, and read countless books, Dipa has collected plenty of stories and experiences as souvenirs along the way. TEiP is the perfect space that allows her to weave these insights into creative thought experiments that spark lingering discussions. Dipa has authored scenarios on four themes so far and is already planning more.