Autumn Raw, Minnesota

My flight-free journey began as inauspiciously as you can imagine. It was not born out of an awareness of my carbon emissions, or my desire for slow travel. It was born from the fact that I really, truly hate flying. Early in the summer of 2019, I had flown out to Washington D.C., and the flight there was so nerve-wracking, as soon as I landed I texted my mom to say I was not going to be flying back home after my two-month stay. I’ve always really hated flying, and so at the beginning, my decision to not fly was largely based on my anxiety.