“Car après la mort le Temps se retire du corps … ” —Proust

We all know by now that the time-reversal invariance governing statistical mechanics at the microlevel maps by a simple equation onto the macroworld, making “time travel” a wholly unsurprising possibility … but damn! The first time you go back there’s just nothing like it.

I know all these first-person accounts of ChronoSwooping have become a cliché here on Substack, where, let’s face it, anyone can write pretty much whatever they want no matter how self-indulgent and derivative. Nonetheless I think I have some unusual insights to share, which derive from my own experience but which may offer some general lessons as to the nature and significance of time travel, both the original and long-prohibited “body-transit” method as well as the newer and more streamlined ChronoSwoop.

This is not only because I spent some years in the archives

Shelley Hunter says she had a meltdown before a recent flight from Reno, Nevada, to San Diego. The reason? She had forgotten one of the basic travel requirements: a picture ID.

“While I was in the security line, I could not find my wallet,” she remembers. “I thought, ‘That’s it, I can’t go.’”

Hunter is one of perhaps hundreds of thousands of travelers relearning travel essentials this summer. After enduring shutdowns and travel bans, Americans are vacationing again. Along the way, they’re discovering that they’ve forgotten things they used to know — and that there are some new things they need to know but don’t.

I get it. I’ve overlooked so many basic travel practices in the past few months, it’s embarrassing. I’ve forgotten to check in for a flight, neglected to print out my hotel confirmation and returned a rental car without filling the tank first.

So did Hunter

It’s a popular dream — quitting your day job to go travel the world. No responsibilities, no schedules.

But, of course, nothing in life is free. How much exactly would it cost to travel the world? 

Many factors affect the answer to this: how long you want to stay abroad; what countries you want to see; what types of accommodations you’re willing to stay in. 

Perhaps the easiest way to figure out your budget is to work backward and figure out how much will it cost per day. 

Several popular travel blogs, such as A Little Adrift, Never Ending Footsteps, and Earth Trekkers, all agree that a baseline of $20,000 per person for one year is doable. This averages out to just over $50 per day. 

Here’s how you can figure out your magic number. 

Budget per day

If you’ve ever been on a vacation before, the idea of spending