If you had a free round-trip ticket to anywhere, where would you go?
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Offer me a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the world, and I will thank you warmly. Then I will ask you a few questions.
It was not always so. In July 2023, answering a similar prompt on this blog, I declared myself “bursting with excitement” and chose Iceland and Japan. I asked nothing about cost, safety or health.
Today I could choose Switzerland, explore the historic streets of Rome, visit Jerusalem or discover a country I have always dreamed of seeing. But would I immediately accept the offer and start packing?
Not necessarily. The prompt asks where. At my age, my first question is whether.
1. Is an air ticket the same as a free holiday?
An airline ticket may be free, but accommodation, meals, local transportation, sightseeing and insurance are not. Nor does a ticket guarantee entry. To reach Rome or Switzerland on an Indian passport, I would need a Schengen visa, which requires medical insurance of at least €30,000 and bank statements showing that I can pay for the trip.1 So before I may use the free ticket, I must prove that I can afford the journey.
A gift should bring happiness, not financial anxiety.
The word “free” also clouds our judgement. In a well-known experiment, most buyers preferred a fine Lindt truffle to a cheap Hershey’s Kiss. When both prices fell by one cent, making the Kiss free, the preference reversed.2 Nothing about the chocolates had changed; only the word “free” had appeared.
I would not travel merely because the airfare was free.
2. Has the world become a less predictable place?
Places once associated with peace and stability are experiencing conflict and unrest. The Gulf, once regarded as a peaceful destination for work and travel, was drawn into a war this year that closed airspace and stranded hundreds of thousands.3 Youth-led protests have spread across Europe. Within the past week, thousands of students and workers marched past the Colosseum in Rome, and young protesters in Zurich and Basel set barricades alight under the slogan “We’ve had enough, in Switzerland too.”4
Yet I must be fair. The 2026 Global Peace Index finds global peace at its lowest since the index began, and it still ranks Iceland first, Switzerland third and Japan tenth in the world.5 A protest is not a war, and a ticket to anywhere lets me avoid the real trouble spots. The world gives me a reason for caution, but not an excuse. If I hesitate, the reason lies closer to home.
3. Does age change the way we travel?
In 2023 I read the map. Today I read the fine print. Three years is not long, but the distance between those two answers is.
As we grow older, our priorities naturally change. The enthusiasm to explore new places may remain, but physical comfort, health, accessibility and medical facilities deserve greater attention.
There is no shame in recognising one’s limitations. Wisdom sometimes lies in knowing when to travel and when to remain where one is.
4. Is staying home a failure of imagination?
An older voice than mine has said no, and said it grandly.
The Tamil poem Pattinappalai spends more than two hundred lines on the splendour of Puhar, the great Chola port where the goods of distant lands lay piled in the streets. Then the speaker, urged by his own heart to leave his beloved and go in search of wealth, gives his answer: even if that city were his, he would not go.6 Old Tamil poetics even has a name for this: selavazhungudhal, the giving up of a journey. That man refused a city. I am only hesitating over a seat.
I have not lost my curiosity about the world. Through books, documentaries, photographs and the experiences shared by other travellers, I can discover much of it from home. Yet I will not pretend that a photograph of a cathedral gives me its silence.
5. So where would I go?
If the other expenses were taken care of and the arrangements suited my needs, I would go to Switzerland for its mountains, and then to the historic streets of Rome. The train between them, naturally, would be at my own expense.
Rome, because someone I trust knows it. His Excellency, Rt. Rev. Dr. Selvister Ponnumuthan, Bishop of the Diocese of Punalur, who has shared a verse of Scripture with me every day for more than three years, studied in Rome, returns there often and speaks warmly of it. A free fare tells me what a journey costs. A trusted witness tells me what it is worth.
But the word on that ticket I would value most is the one nobody dreams about. “Anywhere” excites the imagination. “Round-trip” comforts the traveller. It promises that however far I go, my own front door is waiting at the end.
6. What matters more than reaching a destination?
We often associate freedom with the ability to go anywhere. Yet true freedom also includes the ability to make sensible choices without pressure, financial worry or unnecessary risk.
The questions I put to this ticket work for any free offer, whether a trip, an upgrade or a new responsibility. What will it cost beyond its price? What might it put at risk? Has someone I trust walked this road? Does it suit the person I am now, or the person I used to be?
At Rise&Inspire, I believe that rising in life does not always mean going farther. Sometimes it means choosing well.
After all, the world is worth exploring, but peace of mind is worth preserving.
A question for my readers:
If you were offered a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the world, would you accept it immediately, or would you first consider safety, additional expenses and your stage of life? And would you have answered the same way ten years ago? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Notes
1 EU Visa Code, Regulation (EC) No 810/2009, Article 15. Switzerland lies outside the European Union but belongs to the Schengen area.
2 Kristina Shampanier, Nina Mazar and Dan Ariely, “Zero as a Special Price: The True Value of Free Products,” Marketing Science 26, no. 6 (2007): 742–757.
3 The 2026 Iran war began on 28 February 2026. Airspace closed in several countries, and flights across the region were cancelled.
4 Agence France-Presse on Rome, 30 October 2026; Keystone-ATS and Swissinfo on Zurich and Basel, night of 31 October 2026. The slogan in French: “On en a marre – en Suisse aussi.”
5 Institute for Economics and Peace, Global Peace Index 2026, published in June 2026.
6 Pattinappalai is one of the Ten Idylls (Pattuppattu) of classical Tamil Sangam poetry, attributed to Kadiyalur Uruttirangannanar. Puhar, also called Kaveripoompattinam, stood where the river Kaveri meets the sea. The refusal comes at lines 218 to 220.
John Britto Kurusumuthu
Rise & Inspire · riseandinspire.co.in
In response to the WordPress Daily Writing Prompt, 03 November 2026: If you had a free round-trip ticket to anywhere, where would you go?
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