Travel and Technology ~ A match made in heaven?

A map when you need it most. Storage for your movies when you miss that flight. The fastest way to keep in touch with family and friends. There are many reasons why travel and technology intertwine hands like a perfect couple. A noticeable trend in recent years has seen devices getting smaller, lighter and thinner. The relationship between technology and portability has become closer and closer and now they are on the brink of being inseparable. How many of us travel abroad without our phones? Even if we don’t use them to call or text, they can still be used to connect to the Internet via wifi, to play games, to listen to music and to take photos. But is this reliance on technology really improving our travel experience? Is a trip spent snapping photos, watching YouTube videos and tweeting our every move more enriching or more exciting than without those distractions? How much is technology a force for good when married with travel?

For

Technology is being built specifically for travel. Why have iPads and other tablets become so popular? Because we can easily slip them inside a bag and use them on transport without the inconvenience of a weighty laptop. They can store a whole bookshelf of guidebooks and access a map with the tap of your index finger. They can fix you up with a place to stay the night, tell you where to get a cheap bite to eat and arrange a meeting with the friend you keep meaning to meet up with. More importantly, they can keep tickets and booking numbers safe, remind you of your itinerary and give you instant answers when something is canceled.

In short, it seems that technology is an essential packing item.

Whether it’s a smartphone, tablet or laptop it can come in useful at the worst of times and help you to make the most of the best of times, as well as record your thoughts and experiences along the way. Some degree of preparation is crucial when traveling and access to the Internet is the key to planning ahead, whether it’s just booking a hostel room for the night or checking out flights months in advance.

Personally, I can recall one horrible instance whilst traveling that would have been significantly helped by having a device that could access the Internet. Walking through Washington DC having just got off the overnight bus from Georgia, I realised that my bag was half unzipped with the contents of my bag open to the world. I checked my possessions in a panicked rush and realised that my phone was missing. Whether it had been taken or just fallen out I couldn’t tell but I knew I had to contact my insurance and report it as lost. The problem was that I had no Internet and no phone. Fortunately I had my Lonely Planet guide to the USA on me and it pointed me to an Internet cafe. Unfortunately it had the wrong address listed and so I spent hours wandering around the block where the guidebook had told me an Internet cafe existed, hunting desperately for a computer that I could use so I could look up the insurance number for my phone company.

Eventually it all worked out and the situation was rectified, but it would have taken minutes, not hours, to report my phone had I been carrying an IPad with me.

Technology may seem to spoil the purity of simply discovering a destination. There’s a lot more to discover without reading a guide, watching a video, or spending half your time looking at a screen rather than the scene in front of you. However, sometimes technology can be a lifesaver.

Against

How did we ever travel without videoing the moment we bungey jumped off that platform or checking in on Facebook to make our friends’ blood boil with envy at our ultra-cool travel lifestyle, eliciting jealous comments like ‘hope you’re having a great time’ through gritted teeth. When did it become essential that you carry more books than you could ever read in a lifetime when all you really need is the one book that you’re going to read anyway? So what if you’ve got all your tickets saved on your email – they’re no good when your device inevitably runs out of battery.

Paper doesn’t turn off unexpectedly.

For all the good that can be achieved through traveling with technology, doing it the old fashioned way can be even more satisfying. Writing in a notebook (the paper type, not the mini-laptop version!) may make your writing less accessible to the wider world than a blog, but it’s more enjoyable than pounding the keys on your laptop. Sharing your travels on your blog is a great way to record your journey, but leave the details about what you had for breakfast for your personal notebook. Sharing everything you do dilutes what is really important, but it’s what the Internet seems to command of us. ‘What’s on your mind?’ asks Facebook every time you post a status. Keep some of your travels for just yourself and that way they will stay special.

Travel somewhere because you want to see it, not because it will look good as your Facebook cover photo.

On another note, take a look at a technology tourist. They’ve got a camera around their neck, a tablet in their hand, and a phone sticking out of their pocket. They might think that they’re looking at the attraction, but others have different ideas of what an attraction is and they’re looking at them. Carrying expensive technology around with you can make you a target for pickpockets in any country and, although you can buy a new camera, but you can never replace the photos you took. With the worry of being a target for thieves, can you really enjoy your travels? Far less stress if all you have is a cheap notebook.

20 years ago, the most anyone would have taken traveling with them would have been a film camera. Nowadays it’s unthinkable to go abroad without at least a couple of high-tech devices.

Could you travel without technology? Do you pack all the devices going when traveling? Or do you try to leave the tech at home? Has technology ever been your knight in shining armour? Comment below!