The way we travel has completely revolutionized over the past decade. Our phones have gotten smarter and our traveling lives have thus gotten easier and easier. There are apps to find us accommodation, transport, restaurants, maps, guidebooks, and more. We can connect with friends and family at home via messenger, even introduce them to our new world via video call.
Before the age of the smartphone, travel was about heading out on an adventure, into the unknown. Roaming charges made calls home unaffordable and instead we saved stories and printed photographs for lengthy catch ups post trip.
That was a time when finding your way around a new city meant asking for directions, forcing you to interact with the locals. Without a maps app, you simply got lost until you found yourself, and hopefully fifteen other incredible sites along the way.
Accommodation and transport were not pre-booked and planned based off other travelers reviews, the voices of people you have never met. These recommendations came through word of mouth, if available, and half the fun of arriving in a new town was seeking out a suitable place to stay. Sometimes the gamble would reward you with surprisingly luxurious digs, better times would wind you up staying in someone’s spare room and sharing dinner with their family as you try to communicate across cultural and linguistic barriers.
Travelers did not search out the most popular places to eat brunch or drink cocktails online. They went out and stopped at the place that they found first. There was no time wasted researching the coolest places in town, you just went out and looked for them, finding even more exciting options along the way.
Interactions were reserved for the people you met on the road, new friends with whom you formed lifelong bonds. Without the option to distance-socialize with friends at home, and the barriers of screens dividing us from each other, we lived in the moment and sought new bonds with those surrounding us.
So next time you go abroad, leave your smart phone at home, or at least don’t rely on it for every aspect of your trip. Don’t spend so much time editing your photos for Instagram that you miss thirty-seven other beautiful moments in the meantime. Don’t waste your experience to enhance your social media profile.
Focus on the adventure and the spontaneity factor. Live in the moment and spend time connecting with others to see what you might discover. You may have incredible resources at your fingertips, but you also have them in the people all around you. Surprise yourself with the unexpected events that unexpected interactions may bring. Go home with a heart full of stories rather than an internet history full of links.
Featured image via Erik Odiin on Unsplash
