Having just returned from an international trip, Zahra Sethna shares her reflections on this week’s Collapse Life podcast.
On the surface, everything functioned. Flights ran on time, shops were open, restaurants and pubs were full of people. But on closer inspection, a few things began to come into view:
Travel gatekeeping through electronic travel authorization requiring a phone app and face scan.
New homes that restrict wood stoves in damp winter climates.
Labor shortages that make basic jobs nearly impossible to hire out.
A “no open defecation” sign in one of London’s wealthiest districts.
None of these things alone scream collapse, but in the aggregate they suggest incremental change and the tightening of systems that once felt frictionless.
And yet, alongside the strain was something else: strong local communities, decentralized support networks, people investing in neighborly resilience rather than abstract institutions.
If travel is a mirror, it sometimes shows you more than you expected.
Let us know what you’ve noticed in your own travels.
