Suppose I told you that you were stranded on a deserted island? What’s the first thing you think of? Mine was, “Which island should it be?” A random one in the South Pacific or a specific one I’ve long dreamt of returning to? Suppose you found a genie bottle there? What three wishes would you ask for? To be rescued, perhaps, or use one of the wishes to keep the island your secret hideaway. We’ve all had such thoughts, I hope – as Scott and I both have. Today, we thought it would be fun to pose such questions on an episode about Travel Fantasies and Future predictions.

Scott and Trevor banter about how this came about the fun of dreaming whether about real travel possibilities or things that aren’t necessarily possible.
What’s your Deserted Island Look Like?
Trevor: Where’s your deserted island, Scott? If you could pick any uninhabited island to get instantly transported to, which would it be? Note that knowing you’re going to find a genie bottle there could influence your decision.
Scott: deserted, that’s a tough one so I think I’m going to have to pick an island that has people on it, but let’s imagine everyone disappeared. I very much loved Kauai in Hawaii. One of the biggest gorges in the world, incredible beaches, massive cliffs on the north shore, one of the wettest spots on earth, waterfalls and wild chickens. So I feel that being there would offer many good possibilities and a climate that’s very livable all year. Total tropical paradise. There are other neat sounding islands but I’ve been to that one and could more than manage and enjoy myself.
Trevor: Answer – (listen to the episode to find out!)
Ok, now…Genie bottle on the beach:
Scott: Tough one
- The most obvious that everyone would go to for travel is to have an unlimited supply of funds to be able to travel.
- But putting that one aside, being able to communicate with anyone would be pretty tops. You could learn so much from other people and experience so many things that you can’t without speaking the local languages.
- The other one might be the ability to just teleport spots so you could cover a ton of ground at will.
Trevor: First two I’ve had since I was in my early 20’s I think. I’ve thought about this my whole life – explain how genies can be tricky. You need to think like a lawyer to make sure the genie doesn’t twist your wish into something you have to undo with your 2nd wish.
- Travel anywhere in the world, at will, safely, with whatever I’m wearing or holding.
- Speak and understand every language in the world.
- Cornucopia suitcase inspired by the joke about the Irishman who finds a genie bottle.
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Author: Pan American World Airways, Inc. From the collections of the State Library of New South Wales, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What’s more likely in 25 years?
- Haptic suit virtual reality travel or memory implant vacations
- Global visas or restrictive travel
- How about visas determined by social points, credit score, etc.
- Maybe airlines automatically put bad passengers in the back of the plane.
- Dark Mirror
- No more passports because facial recognition, etc.
- Robot taxis and holographic guides or protected jobs
- Any other robot jobs? No more TSA?
- Emission-free air travel or the end of air travel (replaced by train?)
- Moon tourism or bottom of the ocean tourism
Scott: the options are massive, but I think a few would be:
- Global visas once you complete some paperwork
- Flights that can get you around the world in 5-6 hours
- Much better regional train lines that cover various countries in one go
- English is going to be more and more spoken making truly communicating easy and translators will help people communicate in real time, perhaps translating what you’re saying/reading on the fly.

Jan Seifert, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Crazy future travel inventions you’d like to see:
Scott: Luggage holds and forwarding. You’re doing multiple trips that require different equipment and clothes and you’ll be able to ship your items before and someone will hold it for you and then hold on to your current stuff.
A global sim will be a thing or we will just be using wifi but no more sim cards and always connected. I do and don’t want to see this as it makes the world more uniform but would also make travel even easier.
Some sort of mechanism for fairly and efficiently limiting the number of people to certain cities and/or sites in a day. We’re going to have to do something to preserve spots or they will simply be ruined. The reality will be we will want to go somewhere but you’ll have to pre-register.
Faster way to get on/off planes, fast tracking security, check-in and such so that it’s just like a train – show up a few min before and just get on and go.
Trevor: Babelfish: we’ll get to my AI predictions below, and this is one I think we’ll have, but, I want real-time in-ear translations of every foreign language. One of my three genie wishes may come true, meaning I need to think of a new #3 wish!!!
Maybe it was the Arnold Swartzenneg film, Total Recall? I really don’t think it was Blade Runner. Some Phillip K Dick Sci-Fi film had a background commercial for SPF 8000. I’d like some sort of sunblock dip in a bath or shower –some ingenious way to coat your whole body in a thin veneer of sun-reflecting gel that’s good for your skin. Possibly made of hemp.
I’d like to send my luggage ahead. Put it outside, a drone picks it up, and when I get to my hotel, it’s waiting for me. Let’s outsource luggage to Amazon.
How about smart airplane seats: it knows how tall you are, so it makes sure someone in front of you isn’t also tall, etc. Remember what kind of in-flight entertainment you like, etc. Personalized pre-sets.

Tom from USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
How will AI change travel in the next 10 years:
Trevor: tiny ear-piece A.I. OS that operates like Siri, providing you with real-time navigation, search, opening hours, time to departure. You could be having a farewell pint with a friend and your AI assistant will inform you, “If you depart now, you’ll arrive 15 minutes before scheduled departure at your typical walking rate,” and then direct you along the way. Like Jarvis on Ironman.
Augmented reality for historical sites: can flip through the decades/centuries to see what things were like whenever.
Scott: Putting full travel itineraries together will become a snap and you’ll be able to ask it to design a trip based on certain wants and it will then also just be able to book the rooms on voice command, flight ticket, etc.
People will likely make their travel decisions this way. Eg. I want to experience an environment/set in nature hotel, not over $100/night, that people around 35-years-old, with similar profile to me enjoy.
Links:
- Episode 105: Dream Travel Destinations 3
- Episode 46: Dream Travel Destinations 2
- Episode 15: Dream Travel Destinations