World-Building Turn-Offs

[Yora]

Easy cross country, continental, oceanic travel: in the past a voyage across the sea might mean you’re not going to see home again for years. In most fantasy worlds I’ve read about, maybe a week tops.

Well, if you went all the way around Africa and to China perhaps. But Columbus made his first trip to America and back to Spain in seven months, which included a three months stay in America and a one month stay on the Canary Islands. During the Roman Empire, getting from Rome to any place on the Mediteranean Sea by a fast ship in good weather would take about a week. From Gibraltar to Alexandria abot two weeks.