While listening recently to NPR, I heard Adam Gopnik, a writer from the New Yorker Magazine, opining on Milk Street Radio that life’s little luxuries have gradually become so rare and so pricey over the last few decades that they are no longer attainable for anyone but multimillionaires.

He was specifically referring to food items, and mentioned some classic wines as his examples. But it got me to wondering: is this the case with other parts of our lives?

Real estate price in many markets have risen so high that most individuals under 40 can’t afford the starter homes that previous generations depended on to build their wealth.

In my home town of Toronto, the house that I was renting in the mid-90’s sold for around $240,000 at that time. Today, that same house is priced at over two and a half million dollars. I realise with great sadness that I can simply never afford to move back to my hometown.

A good friend of mine in Toronto recently got divorced and was forced to sell the house he loved because he couldn’t afford to buy-out his wife’s half at current market value, even though his current mortgage was quite affordable at the price he originally purchased the property.

It’s not just money, though.

There are just too many people chasing too few services.

In 1975 I traveled to California for the San Diego Comic Book Convention. It was held in a (smallish) hotel, and attendees could rub shoulders with the famous guests, and even join them on the patio in the morning for breakfast. I sat and talked with literally dozens of famous actors, artists and creators. Stan Lee signed my comic books. Harvey Kurtzman and Carl Barks (and several other great artists) drew me little pictures of their most famous characters.

Today, that convention is the one you see referenced in shows like “The Big Bang Theory”, where there are only (!) 50,000 tickets available and they sell-out in a split second on the internet.

A couple of years ago when I was in Paris (pre-pandemic, natch), I was shocked to see the insanely-long lines to enter almost any attraction, including the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral. I fondly remember previous trips where I casually strolled into all of these attractions without even pausing before entering.

Even the national parks in the US are so overwhelmed they have to severely restrict visitors. Such a situation when I was growing up was simply unheard-of.

Has our world changed so much that the experiences we used to take for granted decades ago now become virtually out of reach to today’s crop of young adults?

Do you have a treasured memory or experience of your youth that is now almost impossible to come by? Let me know by sending me an email or including it in the comments below.