Uss Enterprise
It won't be long before we can travel closer to the stars, thanks to Sir Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic spaceships. However, astral travel or astral projection is a different matter entirely. You don't have to pony up the £100,000 or so astronomical price for a space flight with Virgin Galactic if you merely want to do a bit of astral travelling. Some people believe we are all capable of astral travel - leaving our bodies during sleep or meditation. Now there's a great idea - sign me up! I've tried to do it but so far haven't managed to wake up on a beach in Hawaii as was planned. Oh well. Wouldn't it be nice if we never again had to deal with airport parking, lost luggage, or security chaos and hassle! No packing to worry about - you could leave your luggage (emotional or otherwise) at home. Just have a nice mug of cocoa, go to bed, and wake up in your dream destination!
If you haven't been able to master the art of astral travel, out of body experiences, lucid dreaming, or time travel - then virtual travel may be the next best thing. Just log onto your computer and, like Captain Kirk on the USS Enterprise, fill in your own captain's log as you go. You can visit the exotic and interesting places you've always wanted to see - and for a fraction of the price. You could be at the Taj Mahal one minute and the Coliseum in Rome the next - and all without leaving your armchair and comfort of your own home.
Ticketless travel is becoming the new way to do things, as computers take over from the old labour-intensive paper ticketing - but you're still stuck with all the downsides of travel. With virtual travel, you don't have to worry about minor annoyances like getting your seat assignment or boarding pass, getting stuck in the screaming-baby section, or queuing for the only toilet that isn't bunged up.
Scientists may one day succeed with the perfect recipe that will enable us to teletransport - scramble our bodies and reassemble them in another location - just like the crew of the Enterprise. It could be useful for many reasons - just think about the possibilities...! Harry Potter had an Invisibility Cloak, which would be great for those times when you commit a social faux pas and wish the earth would open and swallow you up - or maybe when the taxman or auditor comes a callin'. Scientists are working on invisibility cloak technology - which could come in handy for politicians who feel compelled to make public apologies for their indiscretions - or the annoying ones who constantly dodge the tricky questions.
Some surgical patients have claimed to remember leaving their bodies whilst under anaesthesia during operations. Unfortunately, none of them have got any further than the ceiling or corner of the room - where they witness the gory goings-on involving their body. If only we could whistle for a celestial taxi from that corner in the ceiling and go off to an exotic beach. We could leave our swollen and bruised bodies to the painful recovery process in the care of professionals and return when all is well and functioning again. Sort of like taking the car in for a service and using a courtesy car to go off for lunch and a spot of shopping with a friend. Well, who knows what might be possible in the future. We didn't know electricity existed before someone discovered it - and it had been there all the time!
Not so long ago no one would have believed it possible for ordinary people (albeit those with plenty of cash) to climb aboard a rocket ship and blast themselves into zero gravity. Technology has raced ahead in the last few decades at breathtaking speed. Those lucky enough to be able to afford a trip with Virgin Galactic will have a taste of an 'out of body experience' of a kind - at least a few minutes of weightlessness - when they can forget that they are still trapped in their bodies.
We have a virtual world readily available at our fingertips these days with computer technology. Just a few taps on the keyboard and we can travel with Google Earth or observe the heavens with Google Sky. We can be virtual tourists on a virtual earth, have a virtual relationship, or stay at home in a virtual garden with our virtual pet!
Coming back to reality, if you have to make do with your annual earthly holiday in Spain and get there and back on the budget airlines then, hey, we shouldn't take for granted how easy air travel has become. Until we learn how to master astral travel - or Dr. Who-style time travel becomes a reality - we are stuck with the reality and annoyances of modern-day air travel. Maybe in our future we will need travel insurance to cover time warps. In the meantime, if getting to our dream destinations means crowded airports, delays and long queues - at least we have travel insurance to cover most mortal mishaps!
Jean Andrews is a freelance writer living in the UK. She regularly contributes articles for TIA Ltd who offer travel insurance that is out of this world at great prices online.
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