Analysis: Travel in 2025

up in the AIR

The first destination on my itinerary was Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. It was from here that I was to be launched into outer space onboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. Approaching the spaceport, its design screamed space travel, with the overhead glass roof panels providing me with undisturbed views of exactly where we were heading.

As a pre-flight requirement, each of the six passengers had to undergo a simulation. The noise and vibration of the actual mothership on which our craft piggy-backs cannot be replicated, but even the quiet and smooth simulator provided a gut-wrenching g-force experience before we reached a weightless zero-gravity.

After formalities were completed, we were strapped in the spaceship seats. Large circular windows next to and above us showed off the surrounding landscape. SpaceShipTwo launched from the mothership at an altitude of 15 km. This followed a normal take off from the ground before we were deployed and sent out of Earth’s atmosphere at three and a half times the speed of sound.

With the option of being able to float around the cabin once it was safe to do so, it is fairly obvious why no packets of peanuts were offered during take off. Five other floating passengers are obstacle enough. The sights out of the circular windows are indescribable and something you will have to wait and see for yourself.

Living large on LAND

In 2025 the streets of Britain are eerily silent with the rumbling of red double-decker buses and iconic black cabs only a memory. The days of the internal combustion engine have been replaced with electronic cars powered by electricity and hydrogen. Plug-in hybrids now whir past landmarks and solar panels glisten on the rooftops of parked cars.

As I walk towards the rental car office, the booking details are flashed up on my contact lenses. I took a Citroën C1 Ev’ie electric car out for a spin, opting for self-drive rather than using the robot co-pilot option. With free plug-in points around the city, parking doubled up as charging.

Later on I took the high speed train to Scotland. Europe’s high speed trains, while running at a swift 330 km/h, are totally eclipsed by those in Asia, however. Indeed, my constantly-updated foldable electronic newspaper revealed a story heradling Japan’s launch of new super high-speed train that uses magnetic levitation technology. The new line stretched out for 290 km and the magnetic pillow permited the train to travel at a break-neck speed of 500 km/h.

ACCOMMODATing future developments

I had confirmed an air cruise, my next accommodation, and travel back to Australia, with a travel agent while still in London. The only difference between 2025 and 2011 was that I spoke to her hologram while she was deep in the Amazon jungle. Images are projected onto a sheet of glass, with recorded messages allowing agents the freedom of assisting customers while off travelling themselves. The concept stemmed from the hologram agents that prepped passengers in airport security lines back in 2011.

This technology made checking in to the floating hotel effortless as all my booking details for the Aircruise had been stored in a data cloud accessible anywhere. Equipped with 50 five-star guest rooms and the luxuries now taken for granted, the hotel moved through the sky at a leisurely pace and over points of interest. Powered by hydrogen and solar sources and with docking points all over the world, the hotel offered an up-market and leisurely holiday along with aerial views of a country.

I took the chance to cruise back to Sydney, and enjoyed a glass of champagne while taking in the views of Champagne itself and enjoyed dinner over the Pyramids. Due to weight restrictions, I shared this experience with only a few other fellow passengers, making it a particularly exclusive holiday.

My time in the future was certainly exhilarating but for now I’m glad to have my feet firmly back on ground in 2011. Besides, in a couple of years I’ll be able to explore some of the deepest trenches of the world’s oceans with Virgin’s Oceanic submarine, but without the queues of the present day.

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