Evolution of Jewish Travel

Jews for thousands of years were forced to wander. Now, out of choice, we travel frequently to places near by (from New York to Chicago) and places far out (from New York to Austalia).

As Joshua Cohen wrote in his article in the Forward:

Not many Yiddish authors ever mentioned it, but the Tefilat Haderech — usually translated as "The Wayfarer's Prayer," better "The Prayer for Those on the Way" — is an interesting piece of literature. It's a prayer said as a safeguard for a journey, for travel. What's interesting about the prayer is that it's wholly in the plural, even if an individual is reciting it only for himself. The idea, expounded in the Talmud, is that a single Jew speaks for all Jews, and all Jews are travelers, wanderers...

But in our day, in the Jewish-American end of History, wandering has been reduced to tourism. The Wayfarer has given way to the Two-Week Eastern European Web-Booked Family Package Deal and the western edge of the East is dotted with Potemkin villages for tourists.

But not only do Jews travel far but Jews now travel via all forms of transportations. Jews drive cars. Jews ride on buses. Jews travel by train. Jews travel by plane. And now a days Jews also travel by boat. But not like we travelled on to escape Europe, sleeping on the decks below while eating the only the food we had in our sacks. Rather, today we Jews travel on 5-star kosher cruises, while sleeping in penthouse cabins and eating the finest of kosher gourmet food, cooked fresh daily.
Now thats evolution!