A Traveler’s Best Friend | Inside Yankee

There may be better ways to vacation than living on a houseboat plying the waters of Lake Champlain beneath summer’s blue sky (“Slow Boat on a Big Lake”) but I can’t think of any. Well, maybe one: kicking back at a cabin in the Maine woods, a timeless retreat you return to year after year (“A Place to Get Away”). Or perhaps the open road is calling you to search out exciting things to see and do across our region; if so, our Best of New England guide has both old favorites and worthy newcomers to visit this summer.

I believe that a travel issue should bring readers respite from their everyday cares. Indeed, that’s a big reason why people leave home. But we do not live in a bubble. Since work began on this issue, months ago, the word travel has taken on a heavier weight. A word that once implied exploring, meeting new people, now is seemingly being used to assign us into slots: You over there, OK, come through; you, stay back. Anyone with knowledge of New England understands that we are all descendents of travelers brave enough, or desperate enough, to see what these mountains, forests, and harbors could offer. Hard work and fortitude and enough luck usually prevailed.

I once taught in the journalism program at the University of Massachusetts. The students were mostly seniors, and all they wanted was a chance to break in somewhere—to make their mark, ask the right questions, and find the stories that mattered. These were young people who cared about their world. I can’t imagine anyone calling their work “fake” without turning red with shame.

Every morning at my desk, starting north in Maine, then moving south and west, I read what New England reporters have covered in their backyard. I learn about the rural poor and the human cost of the opioid epidemic, about how towns grapple with alternative energy and how fishermen struggle with quotas. These reporters chase neither fame nor, surely, riches. And while there may exist unscrupulous journalists, they are always unearthed. The world of writing is a poor place in which to hide out—too many eyes.

As you travel this summer, remember that nearly every village, town, or city you visit will offer a daily or weekly paper that sheds light on its people and places. Most of these can be plucked for a dollar; The Boston Globe takes two. It’s worth it to get a better sense of where you are—and it’s the best way to honor the founders of this country in their demand for a free and open press. The New England revolutionaries who took on the tyranny of an English king in the spring of 1775 would thank you.