I’ve thought about this quite a bit over the last few years and I would personally like to have been born around 1880, this would put my prime traveling age of 21 years old around the turn of the 20 Century. Transportation, while not as “convenient” as it is today, provided travelers much more of an "experience" than what I believe happens today. Today we go from point A to point Z with little thought or awareness of the points in between our travel. Extended travel experiences provided opportunities for people to really get to know other travelers, but I think more importantly, a chance to get to know the local people and their customs and traditions.
A map shown In DailyMail.com article, 5 Jan 2016, showing the average travel time to destination from the U.K.
From my own perspective, reading about someone’s travel experiences in the early 1900’s compared to someone’s account today is not as interesting. Maybe much of the romanticism of traveling the world is lost today, overtaken by security concerns and the rise of regional issues not present, or at least not nearly as concerning as it was over 100 years ago.
Despite my thoughts here, I'm thankful for the travel experiences I've had and to future travel destinations.
Safe travels to everyone.