Charlie Stross on travel in the 21st century compared to 100 odd years ago

We probably don't spend significantly more hours per year aboard aircraft that our 1900-period ancestors spent aboard steam trains, but at twenty times the velocity — or more — we travel much further and consume energy faster while we're doing so.

From Charlie Stross's Shaping the Future The more I read of him, the more I want to sit down and work my way through a pile of his books.