[TheCoreh]

Intercontinental travel was once like this, too. Take several months to make a horrible journey that could very well kill you. Now you can do it in under a day, safely, for a very reasonable price, with just a mild discomfort.

I think the point of these pieces is to make us think about the possibility that some day technology will have advanced so much that this is possible. Maybe we'll get there faster, or we'll develop a way to live longer so it won't matter.

[gervase]

Or maybe not - the Grand Tour[1] was historically restricted a wealthy elite, after all. I guess it depends on the time scale of the perspective.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour

[theothermkn]

> Intercontinental travel was once like this, too. Take several months to make a horrible journey that could very well kill you.

Which is why there aren't travel posters for those journeys in that era.

> I think the point of these pieces is to make us think about the possibility that some day technology will have advanced so much that this is possible.

I agree. But my point is twofold. One, these journeys will never be possible in that way. (The energy requirements alone for that kind of fast travel is an insurmountable barrier, just due to the square term in .5mv^2, and anything of non-negligible mass that is moving that fast is an interplanetary doomsday weapon.) Two, these pieces draw a false parallel between the romance of steamer travel or early train/air travel and the harsh realities of space travel.

And, to forestall a cliche by doubling down, I'm siding with the people who say "it will never happen."