It’s no secret that humans have been obsessed with the future for a very long time. Since forever, we’be been trying to predict what will happen to us and the world surrounding us. We’ve consulted the gods about this and we’ve made movies about whatever could happen but in sum, getting it right is quite the tricky business. Because after all, much depends on what we as a species will do between now and then, making any predictions almost impossible. Yet nonetheless, airway company EasyJet has now made an attempt at predicting how we’ll travel fifty years from now.
The Future Travel Report, as the research has been called, combines predictions and opinions from some of Euope’s most renowned futurists. Professor Birgitte Andersen of Birkbeck (University of London and CEO of Big Innovation Centre), Dr Melissa Sterry (design scientist and complex systems theorist), Shivvy Jervis, Dr Patrick Dixon, Professor Graham Braithwaite (Director of Transport Systems at Cranfield University) and Nikhil Sachdev (Principal for aerospace and defence and sustainable aviation at consultancy Roland Berger) have all contributed to the report, resulting in a pretty futuristic image of our upcoming travel habits. We’ll list their most remarkable findings, the whole report can be read online.
As far as the travel experience in itself goes, technology will play an ever more important role. Heartbeat and biometric passports will for example replace the traditional passport, meaning passport control as we know it will be over once and for all. Thanks to material improvements, things such as plane seats will very probably get more comfortable and more adapted to our personal body shapes while optoelectronic devices will allow us to watch inflight entertainment directly in front of our eyes.
And if you thought that was revolutionary already, think again. Once we’ve reached our destination, we’ll be able to 3D print any food we’ll want, whenever we want it. Rooms will be completely made-to-measure to every guest’s taste and thanks to 3D printers – again – we won’t need to take suitcases with us any longer as we’ll be able to print a completely adapted travel wardrobe once we’ve arrived. There’ll even be human powered hotels which harvest energy from their guests’ footsteps in order to generate power.
The one thing we look forward to the most, however, might be ‘time-travelling’ holiday experiences. According to the report, “tomorrow’s travellers will be able to holiday in the past by wearing haptic suits at historical sites that enable them to immerse themselves in live historical surroundings marvelling wonders of the ancient world like the Colossus of Rhodes during a stroll in Rhodes Town, or cheering among the crowds of the original Olympic Games in Ancient Greece.”
We don’t know about you, but we’re starting to get very excited about the future, even though we’re hoping a good old, classic holiday will still be possible too.
