Life — December 28, 1911 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Any Place But Home" This is a Winter Travel Number cover from Life magazine (December 29, 1911). The satirical illustration depicts various modes of transportation—a steam locomotive, ocean liner, airplane, automobile, and bicycle—all departing in different directions. The caption "Any Place But Home" suggests the joke: Americans are so eager to travel anywhere else that they'll use any available conveyance to escape home during winter. This reflects early 20th-century leisure travel becoming fashionable among the wealthy and middle class. The humor lies in the exaggeration of travel enthusiasm and the implication that winter at home is so unappealing that people will go to absurd lengths and use any transportation method available to get away.