It’s easy to become prone to nostalgia – complaining that things used to be so much easier in the past, and longing for simpler bygone times.
But one thing you probably don’t mourn from back in the day is travelling.
With more cheap travel, better technology, and the ability to read reviewed accommodations online and book them yourself, it’s pretty fair to say that we are living in a golden era of travel.
Aside from missing the excitement of picking up our holiday snaps – which, let’s face it, were mostly a disappointing collection of pics that featured us with our heads cut off in front of global landmarks – there’s very little to lament.
Here are the ways that travel has (mostly) changed for the better.
Then: The travel agent, who assured you that your accommodation was just a “stone’s throw” away from the beach, must have confused you with Tom Brady. But that’s OK, you don’t mind the walk – it keeps you out of the cockroach-infested apartment that doesn’t seem quite as four-star as the brochure suggested.
Now:Thanks to TripAdvisor and other customer review sites, you know that “cozy” means windowless dungeon and “just outside the main town” means on the flight-path.
Then: You snapped away all vacation long on your disposable camera and were pretty confident you got some great pictures. But when you had them developed on your return you realized that guy who took your photo in front of the Eiffel Tower had his big fat thumb over the lens.
Now:You can take more, better quality photographs on your trip and check them in real-time for any potential vetoing. Oh, and you can take selfies too. We guess that’s a good thing…
Then: You either risk looking like a complete tourist with a giant map or you ask a local for directions to the bus station in broken “Spanish” only to end up at his family dinner table in a very rural part of town. Every time you tell them you’d really better be going now, they smile and gesture for you to eat more.
Now:Two words: Google Maps. Two more: Roaming charges :/
Then: Passport? Check. Plane ticket and boarding pass? Check, check. Hugely long line at check-in? We’ll get back to you in an hour or two…
Now:With just a few clicks, you’re all checked in online, and if you’re not checking luggage, you are free to head straight for security a mere hour before your flight. So long, suckers.
Then: Reception hands over your room key, complete with clunky wooden keyring, and tells you to be careful since they don’t have a spare. You shove it in your back pocket while you’re out drinking – then hours later discover you “misplace” it and there’s no one at reception.
Now:The electronic key cards can always be replaced, and even if you have to pay for a new one at least you won’t be sleeping on the floor of the hotel corridor.
Then: Lining up to use the hotel’s sole computer so you could send your family an email to give them an update of your travels – only for the internet to drop or your time run out before you managed to hit send.
Now: Wifi hotspots abound in cafés and hostels/hotels so you’ll never be too far away from some speedy internet to upload some travel pics to Instagram or Google the name of that awesome bar you went to last night.
Then: You remember your parents’ slideshows after they got back from their timeshare in Aruba: “Here’s me and your father on the balcony. This was our bedroom. And that’s our bedroom from a south-facing perspective. This is a picture of your dad’s rash when he spent too long in the sun.” Ew. Just, ew.
Now: You can view, or just keep scrolling past, your parents’ adventures on Facebook.
Then: You purchased three or four holiday reads from Chapters before you went on your trip and then had to cart them around after you devoured them. Or *gulp* you handed over your shiny new paperbacks at the hostel book exchange for a bed bug-eaten copy of The Da Vinci Code.
Now: Your Kindle can store hundreds of books and it weighs less than a pair of wedges (which you can now fit in your case). Even if you’re a traditionalist and you love the feel of a book, you have to admit that vacation time is what e-readers were made for.
Then: You stay in a small overpriced hotel room in the city centre that is so loud you can’t sleep at night – but if you close the windows you will overheat because the A/C isn’t working. When you told the hotel manager he shrugged. And spat into a bucket.
Now: You find a pretty apartment in a bohemian neighbourhood just outside town. You have the entire place to yourself so you can cook the occasional meal, and your Airbnb host even left you a welcome package.
Then: Traveller’s cheque? Remember those? They were the large, monopoly-looking sheets of money that you could exchange in place of hard currency with great difficulty and incurring exorbitant exchange rate fees.
Now: The widespread availability of credit cards, debit cards and automated teller machines with fairly reasonable fees have made these relics all but obsolete, meaning we can take out money almost anywhere in the world with ease.
