Summer, I’ve been told, is travel season. From about May to August, we’re all meant to be flinging cash at airlines, hotels, overpriced restaurants with watered-down Aperol spritzes, and whatever new wonder drug is supposed to make our bodies moderately palatable for display at the beach. The social pressure to go somewhere (anywhere) during summer has only gotten more pervasive since social media began its clumsy, knifepoint home invasion into our brains. Our Instagram and TikTok accounts are just free advertising for the travel industry. “Gosh, Spain looks nice. But maybe Mexico City is more chic these days?” It doesn’t matter where you go, as long as you go.

Travel