# Anybody NOT flying anywhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Cycling\ **Created:** [October 17, 2026, 10:06am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045 "2026-10-17T10:06:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Philipp\_Stehr](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/philipp_stehr/32/919_2.png) [@Philipp\_Stehr](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Philipp_Stehr)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2026, 8:42am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/21 "2026-10-19T08:42:17Z")
I think there’s a marked difference in how people think about flying somewhere between Europe and North America, Australia, where much of EC staff is located. I try not to fly when at all possible and most of the time that works. From Northern and Central Europe you can get to much of Europe by train and bus pretty comfortably. That’s just not the case for many of the other regions. That being said, I do find it a little alienating when people fly halfway across the world multiple times a year for bike races or bike holidays. The entry fee for, say, the Cape Epic is something like 4,500€ per person, plus flights and additional accommodation and stuff. That’s neither financially nor logistically possible for me, at all. But I guess cycling is a rich people’s sport. Some people live in that kind of reality and they get to talk about it on EC, just in the same way that people get to ride fancy 15,000€ bikes that I’ll never ride. ---
**Author:** ![Matthew\_Bart](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/matthew_bart/32/3671_2.png) [@Matthew\_Bart](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Matthew_Bart)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:54am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/22 "2026-10-20T00:54:56Z")
I have never flown anywhere with my bike, but that’s because I don’t know how to pack it and am completely incapable when it comes to bike maintenance, assembly, and disassembly. ---
**Author:** ![Bradley\_Tipp](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/bradley_tipp/32/518_2.png) [@Bradley\_Tipp](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Bradley_Tipp)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:36am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/23 "2026-10-20T01:36:04Z")
An interesting question! I admire your environmental consideration. Air travel is one of the single biggest individual choices you can make, in terms of global warming impact. Having said that, it does depend on where you live and what other options you may have. Living in the Pacific North West of the USA there really is no other way to get to anywhere else in a reasonable amount of time or cost. We don’t have trains, never mind high speed ones and the distances to even relatively nearby places are long. We do have an electric car for Vancouver or Portland, but beyond that air travel is really the best/only option. I also think that travel, especially to other countries and cultures is really important to get outside of your bubble and realize the world is not really the one you see in the ‘news’ or online. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Fast\_Enough\_To\_Keep\_Up](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/not_fast_enough_to_keep_up/32/3224_2.png) [@Not\_Fast\_Enough\_To\_Keep\_Up](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Not_Fast_Enough_To_Keep_Up)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:52am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/24 "2026-10-20T01:52:47Z")
Can’t believe y’all debating geographical flatness… Greetings from Singapore, where the tallest “mount” (not even a mountain) runs 94m, and we get stoked on climbs not more than a few hundred metres long, gradients (more like momentary spikes) \<20%. So yeah, I do travel overseas for rides, if I’m not heading north into Malaysia, or south into Indonesia. For an island measuring 47km x 27km, there’s really not much choice really, especially when rides become really repetitive. ---
**Author:** ![JC1979](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/jc1979/32/2145_2.png) [@JC1979](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/JC1979)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/25 "2026-10-20T12:24:42Z")
> [@Babs](#): > > sending journalists to distant places, What’s worse? Flying journalists to a single location, or flying/couriering multiple bikes seperately too and then quite likely back from the same journalists home locations? Couriering the bikes to the journalists is likely less harmful, but add in the back and it’s quite probably worse, unless they organise press bikes in each market that are then sold on in those same markets. If we want reviews, the people need to be in the same location as the bikes at some point. ---
**Author:** ![JC1979](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/jc1979/32/2145_2.png) [@JC1979](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/JC1979)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 12:32pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/26 "2026-10-20T12:32:07Z")
> [@Donut\_Boy](#): > > And of course the big one, it is measurably cheaper to get that flight then several trains, as well as considerably faster. Interail tickets mean that european train travel can be cheaper than flying. An interail ticket includes travel from your nearest UK rail station to Eurostar, and gives a big discount on Eurostar (so long as you don’t book other services through the interail site, there are very few other additional charges). Yes it does require a bit more planning, but it’s very possible for a reasonable price. Remember you have to get to/from the airport too when flying, and maybe pay for long stay parking, which is often forgotten/ignored when people compare prices. Same with time getting too/from/through airports. That said, UK to Spain would probably take a couple of days by train, and I totally get that travelling in the UK, on Eurostar or on many high speed services in Europe with a bike can be problemtatic. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Tomba](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/el_tomba/32/13673_2.png) [@El\_Tomba](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/El_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 1:06pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/27 "2026-10-20T13:06:53Z")
I’m with you. Its been 10 years since I last flew and I can’t say I miss it. ---
**Author:** ![Robin](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/robin/32/7458_2.png) [@Robin](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Robin)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 3:30pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/28 "2026-10-20T15:30:18Z")
I think EC has made some decent decisions here. They’ve got journalists distributed across a decent part of the world, and they seem to be strategically picky about the places they send folks. @Ronan_Mc_Laughlin but some related comments on an episode of Geek Warning a month or six ago. He talked briefly about not going to product launches or not wanting to go to products launches if the manufactures were withholding important details about the product (Note: my confidence level on the exact details is about 0.3 𝜎 ). To me that suggests they’re making travel decisions with due consideration. Also, maybe being supported by subscriptions helps since they don’t have unlimited funds or big sponsors paying them to travel. EC could take a page from the history books and encourage a country to gift them an airliner for private use. @Iain_Treloar has close ties to Turkmenistan and could no doubt make deal in which EC gets a free airliner in exchange for helping to make Turkmenistan the cycling Mecca of the world. ![Screenshot 2026-10-20 at 11.22.21](https://community.escapecollective.com/uploads/default/original/2X/1/196923381684b9c79224cc11f6edf11330d7ecd3.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Spirit\_of\_Grovel](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/the_spirit_of_grovel/32/1472_2.png) [@The\_Spirit\_of\_Grovel](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/The_Spirit_of_Grovel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/29 "2026-10-20T17:57:46Z")
Good thread. For those from the UK, my top tip is to bare in mind how close much of Europe is! I regularly get the train - in a day - from Manchester to Munich for work. You get the early train, have breakfast in London, lunch in Paris and your tea in Munich: it’s mega. Our sustainability team crunched the numbers and on this journey flying is approx 10x the CO2e of the train. Girona and a chunk of Spain, much of France, north Italy, and all of Belgium are achievable in a day from the Uk as long as you’re within a couple of hours of London on the train. ---
**Author:** ![Muttonchops](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/muttonchops/32/2008_2.png) [@Muttonchops](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Muttonchops)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2026, 10:19pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/30 "2026-10-20T22:19:57Z")
I work for an _airline_ and I rarely fly nowadays! ---
**Author:** ![Crosswind](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/crosswind/32/10643_2.png) [@Crosswind](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Crosswind)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:35am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/31 "2026-10-21T01:35:32Z")
> [@David\_Lewis](#): > > I am encouraged by the research that says that modifying long-haul routes to avoid creating contrails can cut overall climate effect from flying. I have to ask… Do you really feel that it is _the contrail_s are contributing to Climate Change? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Lewis](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/david_lewis/32/1692_2.png) [@David\_Lewis](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/David_Lewis)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 2:32am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/32 "2026-10-21T02:32:27Z")
Interestingly, it does. In addition to the direct CO2 emissions, contrails, soot, sulfur dioxide, etc. all contribute. CO2 is the largest, with contrail estimates being pretty variable but generally regarded as number 2. It’s enough that people figure that burning a certain amount of extra fuel to route where the contrails will be less formed is a net win. This Nature paper does a decent job of laying it out: [The social costs of aviation CO2 and contrail cirrus | Nature Communications](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64355-5) ---
**Author:** ![Robin](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/robin/32/7458_2.png) [@Robin](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Robin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 2:38am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/33 "2026-10-21T02:38:22Z")
It can if a combat aircraft is flying at an altitude where contrails are visible and as a result is shot down. The resulting explosion and incomplete combustion of fuel combined with the burning of composite materials, would produce something the polar opposite of climate friendly or green. The polar opposite of green is magenta. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![simon\_hume](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/simon_hume/32/9748_2.png) [@simon\_hume](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/simon_hume)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 4:46am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/34 "2026-10-21T04:46:03Z")
I have to say I agree with you. Not only for environmental reasons but the fact it takes so long to get through the airport, on to the plane, then the same at the destination. Plus, travel to Europe from the UK is now so much more of a hassle as we are no longer part of the EU. I sent a private message to the EC Editor after the recent article about the EC Member’s meeting/get together in Japan. I queried whether EC thought it was environmentally friendly for many members to fly long distances to cycle together. I didn’t get a response. ---
**Author:** ![JC1979](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/jc1979/32/2145_2.png) [@JC1979](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/JC1979)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 6:16am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/35 "2026-10-21T06:16:31Z")
Re the Japan member summit, where could they have had it and not have that impact? So it’s then a question of having it or not. The EC staff are spread all over, and a once a year meet up is understandable. Japan is probably about the same distance away for all the staff, so the least worst place. If the members who attended would have flown somewhere else for a different trip had the summit not taken place (likely), then no big difference. I am not generally one to quote Arnie, but he said something like ‘if you try to stop people having fun, you’ll loose’. While we should try to reduce the impact of our pleasure trips, it’s our day-to-day activities that are the bigger problem and this where we could have the biggest win. E.g. In the UK, something like 50% of car journeys are under 3 miles, and could be done on foot, bike or public transport. ---
**Author:** ![Thomas\_Zabukosek](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/thomas_zabukosek/32/3590_2.png) [@Thomas\_Zabukosek](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Thomas_Zabukosek)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 9:39am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/36 "2026-10-21T09:39:31Z")
In response to Hector… Maybe if it’s at all possible, try and take a year off and combine those big trips into one with less total air travel? ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Kearns](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/matt_kearns/32/11302_2.png) [@Matt\_Kearns](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Matt_Kearns)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/37 "2026-10-21T13:02:59Z")
I wonder if we could convince the EC crew to hold more regional meetups with nearby staff and members? It would probably be in addition to whatever big “destination” meetup they may or may not want to hold to get everyone together once in a while. But it could be a more attainable and eco-friendly way to have more opportunity to spread good bike vibes. Environmental impact aside, flying to Japan is not in the cards for me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_MAMIL](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/the_mamil/32/2390_2.png) [@The\_MAMIL](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/The_MAMIL)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/38 "2026-10-21T13:54:52Z")
Adventures in nonrev ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Fitzgerald](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/scott_fitzgerald/32/1431_2.png) [@Scott\_Fitzgerald](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Scott_Fitzgerald)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 3:39pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/39 "2026-10-21T15:39:11Z")
Great conversation. I was going to recommend a book which covers much of the sentiment here with the OP and others. Catastrophe Ethics by Travis Rieder (not rider lol). Worth the read for anyone struggling with wanting to do the right thing but also being aware that individual actions are almost meaningless in the context of a massive problem like climate change. Good excerpt from the book here: [How to Make Tough Choices in a Morally Exhausting World](https://time.com/6837533/catastrophe-ethics-essay/) ---
**Author:** ![Crosswind](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/crosswind/32/10643_2.png) [@Crosswind](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Crosswind)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045/40 "2026-10-21T19:30:51Z")
> [@David\_Lewis](#): > > I am encouraged by the research that says that modifying long-haul routes to avoid creating contrails can cut overall climate effect > [@David\_Lewis](#): > > Interestingly, it does. In addition to the direct CO2 emissions, contrails, soot, sulfur dioxide, etc. all contribute. CO2 is the largest, with contrail estimates being pretty variable but generally regarded as number 2. It’s enough that people figure that burning a certain amount of extra fuel to route where the contrails will be less formed is a net win. This Nature paper does a decent job of laying it out: [The social costs of aviation CO2 and contrail cirrus | Nature Communications](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64355-5) David, Thanks for good response to to my statement. I think you’re appropriately responding to jet exhaust emissions and I was only referencing the Condensation Trail (Contrails). Let me clarify. Let me clarify. I am in full agreement with about everything regarding a fossil fuel exhaust (aircraft, automobile or lawn mower) I agree on the exhaust emissions and carbon dioxide consisting of about 71% CO2, 21% water vapor and the remaining less than 1% consists of trace combustion products and particulates. Contrails are not producers of these emissions. The fossil fuel is. Contrails form when hot, humid air from an airplane exhaust mixes with low temperature air in the upper atmosphere. If the atmosphere is cold and humid enough, the engine exhaust will cause the water vapor to condense onto fine particles, forming water droplets. The contrail is not toxic and is not harmful to humans. The jet exhaust emissions are the issue, not the condensed water vapor. NASA, FAA and the EPA has published information validating this. [Previous page](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045.md?page=1) [Next page](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/anybody-not-flying-anywhere/6045.md?page=3)