Some readers might be fans of Travel & Leisure magazine… presumably because they hope to travel someday, or to have leisure.
I guess, realistically, you have to have leisure, in order to travel. Unless it’s, like, a business trip. So travel and leisure usually go together.
Not all of us see travel or leisure as a possibility. Especially, not travel to other countries.
Speaking for myself, I haven’t had a passport for quite a few years. More than 30 years, in fact. When I want to go somewhere exotic, I drive down to the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio.
Or else, I read Travel & Leisure magazine. It’s almost like being there. That’s what I was doing last weekend when I came across an article by reporter Michael Cappetta, a travel writer with over 10 years of experience in journalism and television news.
I could have been a travel writer myself, except I didn’t have a passport.
Mr. Cappetta’s October 17 article was titled: “These Are the Most Powerful Passports in the World Right Now — and Why the U.S. Just Dropped in Ranking.”
Who knew… that some passports were more powerful than others? Probably only travel writers who are trying to travel to countries that no longer grant visa-free entry to people holding U.S. passports. If you hold “the right passport” you don’t have to apply for a visa in a lot of countries, and the U.S. passport is no longer “the right passport” if you’re traveling to, for example, Brazil or China.
As recently as 2014, the U.S. passport ranked No. 1 in the world for the number of countries we could go waltzing into without needing to obtain a visa. Our fall has been swift. We’re now ranked 12th, tied with Malaysia.
Malaysia! The richest nation in the world… tied with Malaysia!
On the flip side of the passport wars, China is now rewarding all kinds of national passports with visa-free entry. But not the U.S. passports. You could almost get the impression that China is thumbing their nose at us.
Does this really matter? Not to me, personally. But maybe it’s a symptom of a more general decline in respect for the U.S. Fewer countries that want our tourist dollars?
Not that I could provide any tourist dollars myself. I lost them all during my last trip to Sky Ute Casino.
Plus, I don’t have a passport. As mentioned.
I could get one if I wanted. Pretty much anyone can get one.
Fact is, I don’t like travel, and I don’t like leisure. Except in a magazine. Leisure has always seemed like a waste of time.
What I like is hard work. Long hours and hard work.
Apparently, I’m not alone in that preference. Forbes magazine — the magazine I’m usually reading when I can’t find my copy of Travel & Leisure — recently posted an article about “9-9-6”. It’s a popular new work schedule.
9-9-6 Work Schedule Isn’t Chatter. Here’s Where It’s Happening Most
Bryan Robinson, author of “Chained to the Desk in a Hybrid World” wrote about the 9-9-6 work schedule, which is reportedly common in China. Employees are expected to work from 9am until 9pm, six days a week. That’s like, 72 hours a week.
U.S. businesses are beginning to jump on the same band wagon. (Trying to keep up with the Chinese?) This ambitious schedule is apparently popular with tech start-ups in California. But unfortunately, what happens in California doesn’t always stay in California.
Mr. Robinson wrote:
With the 9-9-6 work schedule gaining popularity, finding the healthy balance will continue to be a problem in 2025 unless employers make significant changes with their workplace practices, overtime demands and inefficient meetings.
What defenders of the 40-hour work week, like Mr. Robinson, fail to understand about America in 2025 is that many of us — who feel like leisure is a waste of time, and who don’t have passports — have nothing better to do with our time, other than work, work, work. Especially, now that watching the news is so damned depressing. I used to relax with a beer and watch the news, but I can’t stomach it these days. (“It” being the news, not the beer.)
I’d rather be working 9-9-6 than hear about the latest political disasters.
Now that I think about it, maybe I should apply for a passport, before it becomes absolutely worthless. Surely there will always be someplace that will accept Americans…
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.