The Problem with the 'Against Travel' Essay

The irony wasn’t lost on me; Agnes Callard’s quasi-viral New Yorker essay on the ills of traveling was published when I was in London, on the final leg of an excursion that was purely for pleasure. The sharpest rebuttals to Callard came from Christian Lorentzen and Freddie DeBoer. I agree with what they have written, and Christian’s travel reminiscences are particularly enjoyable. As with other projects, I had meant to publish my own rebuttal much sooner, but travel, the holiday, and final edits on this magazine story got in the way.