There was a time when people didn't travel so much. Nowadays every third person I know goes abroad at least twice a year. Personally, I don't like traveling, but I've had to do it after my youngest daughter settled in the UK.
The first time I went abroad was in 1991 (to Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan). Since then, I've been to Saudi Arabia (thrice), Egypt and UK (six times), as well as to Bangladesh, Malaysia and Singapore. I've never been to India, where I was born, except for a trip when I was about five years old.
I often wonder why it's necessary for some people I know to travel so much (apart for business). One man I know thinks life's not worth living unless you go to the Europe and the US at least thrice a year. I'd have understood it if he had children or near relatives abroad. I suppose he has so much money he doesn't know how to spend it. Maybe he goes there for sex.
Within the country, I've seen all the major towns and cities. I've stayed in Quetta, Peshawer and Lahore for more than two months, as well as in Sukkur and Multan. Those were the days when I was working for what later became the largest company in the country (PSO).
My father never went abroad until he performed Umra with my brother a couple of years before his death. There was only one man we knew in those days who used to go to Singapore for business (a neighbor). No one thought going abroad for vacations was essential. Usually, people went for holidays to Murree and the northern areas of Pakistan.
Telephones were rare. I remember how overjoyed I was when a telephone was installed in our house in Clifton in 1975. We were the first among our ten neighbors to get a phone. Life was so simple in those days. We had a lot of time for reading. We used to meet neighbors and talk with them. Nowadays, I don't know the people who live on the same floor as I do. People simply don't have time for each other.
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