When famous explorers like Columbus and da Gama and Magellan left Europe in their ships, they weren't looking for a new world.

The Portuguese Vasco da Gama's Voyage around southern Africa to India took place at the end of the fifteenth century, and by 1502 the trans-Abrabian caravan route had been cut off by political unrest.

And while some of us might fancy ourselves as adventurers, we have for the most part degenerated into cheap-flight-enabled tourists-vasco da Gama and Ibn Battuta would not be impressed.