TRAVEL 2040
Platform 4, Brighton station, spring 2035
An archive of journeys

TRAVEL
2040

Thirteen journeys from the decade travel slowed down.

JAMES LEVER
Explore the storiesGet the book
What will travel feel like in 2040?

The decade travel slowed down.

By the mid-2020s a journey began weeks before departure, in a fog of tabs, apps, loyalty schemes and small print. Travel had become admin, with a view.

TRAVEL 2040 imagines what came next: night trains, offline islands, hotels with no desks, and an AI companion that plans quietly in the background and stays out of the way. Thirteen short stories, each one a small collection of photographs, posters, plans and objects, and each with a gift it gave back.

Every image and short film here is AI-generated. None of it is real yet. Some of it is closer than you’d think.

Booking a holiday in 2035: one sentence and one cup of tea
Before the journeys

The AI companion

Every traveller in these stories has one, though you’ll rarely see it. It lives on the phone, in the watch, in a small voice in the ear. It holds the passport, the bank details and the preferences, and it knows its person the way an old friend does: what they want, what they don’t, and when to say nothing.

Booking a trip stops being a task and becomes a sentence. “Somewhere warm, nothing to plan, back by Friday.”

The archive

Thirteen journeys, and a bonus

Each story has its own page. The short films are added as they’re released on YouTube.

The Long Way Round: Margaret and Arthur Hale · Alpine sleeper routes · 203401
Slowness

The Long Way Round

Margaret and Arthur Hale · Alpine sleeper routes · 2034
Four Trips in One: The Barnes family · the Douro valley, Portugal · 203302
Everyone’s holiday

Four Trips in One

The Barnes family · the Douro valley, Portugal · 2033
Nothing Left to Book: Priya Nair · Tokyo to Kyoto · 203603
Calm

Nothing Left to Book

Priya Nair · Tokyo to Kyoto · 2036
The Club: Daniel Achebe · the Amalfi coast · 203504
Being known

The Club

Daniel Achebe · the Amalfi coast · 2035
Real Nature: Hannah Reid · the Outer Hebrides · 203205
Presence

Real Nature

Hannah Reid · the Outer Hebrides · 2032
Home Before Home: Siobhán, Niamh and Seamus Doyle · County Mayo · 203706
Belonging

Home Before Home

Siobhán, Niamh and Seamus Doyle · County Mayo · 2037
The Trip That Fixed Itself: Ollie Grant · Singapore to Hove, via Dubai · 203407
Calm in chaos

The Trip That Fixed Itself

Ollie Grant · Singapore to Hove, via Dubai · 2034
Remembered: Ana and Joel Ferreira · Copenhagen · 203808
Welcome

Remembered

Ana and Joel Ferreira · Copenhagen · 2038
The City, Slowed Down: Zara Malik and Lea Hart · students · Paris · 203609
A city at walking pace

The City, Slowed Down

Zara Malik and Lea Hart · students · Paris · 2036
The First Big Trip: Mark and Isla Bennett · Brighton to the Mediterranean · 203510
Memory

The First Big Trip

Mark and Isla Bennett · Brighton to the Mediterranean · 2035
The Dome: Elke Schröder and her granddaughter Mia · Brandenburg · 203611
Escape

The Dome

Elke Schröder and her granddaughter Mia · Brandenburg · 2036
Ports of Call: Amara and Jon Okafor · the Aegean, under sail · 203812
A place, properly

Ports of Call

Amara and Jon Okafor · the Aegean, under sail · 2038
Time for Ourselves: Old friends · the beach at Brighton and Hove · 203513
Time for ourselves

Time for Ourselves

Old friends · the beach at Brighton and Hove · 2035
Through in Seconds: Nia · the City of London to New York · 2038+
Bonus journey

Through in Seconds

Nia · the City of London to New York · 2038
Timeline

How travel slowed down, 2026–2040

An imagined history, from the signals of today to the decade the archive records.

2026
Signals
AI agents start booking trips; sleeper trains return to a few European routes.
2028
Agents arrive
Most trips are planned by a personal assistant.
2029
Live translation
Earbuds make every conversation local.
2030
Rail revival
Night trains cross the continent again.
2031
Face gates
Passports stay in pockets at the first airports to drop queues.
2032
Offline islands
The first places are certified offline.
2033
Points go quiet
Companions spend them; recognition replaces tiers.
2034
Sleepers in the sky
Economy bunks on long-haul flights.
2035
Platform 4
The year this book opens, at Brighton station.
2036
Domes and cities
Indoor resorts with screen skies; car-free city centres.
2037
Portable profiles
Guests own their preferences, and hotels just read them.
2038
Ships take turns
Sail-assisted ships, one per island per day.
2040
Slow is normal
Fewer, longer, deeper trips.
TRAVEL 2040 by James Lever: book cover
A great Christmas present

The book

TRAVEL 2040 is a coffee-table book of thirteen journeys, told through photographs, posters, plans and objects from a decade that hasn’t happened yet.

It was made to be given, and to be leafed through rather than read. If one of these pictures makes you want to go somewhere, it has done its job.

Hardback · 174 pages · 8.25 × 11 in · Every image AI-generated
Buy on Amazon UKBuy on Amazon US
In association with DataArt

Every story runs on technology being built today.

The hard part isn’t imagining it; it’s delivering it. TRAVEL 2040 is a personal project by James Lever, shared in association with DataArt, where he works with travel and hospitality companies on exactly these questions.

Start with a free 1-Week Rapid Assessmentdataart.com
The art of getting it rightBusiness outcomes, agreed before we engage.
Seamless, deliveredAgents that act, not just answer: disruption, loyalty, identity, rail and air joined up.
Start smallOne week, one problem, a clear view of what it would take.
JL
About the author

James Lever imagined and wrote TRAVEL 2040 in Hove, East Sussex, in 2026, a few hundred yards from the beach where the last story takes place. He has spent twenty-five years in travel technology and works with travel and hospitality companies at DataArt. More at jlever.co.uk.