Written by Selina Ferrais
I am compelled to preface this little prose by declaration of generation. I am of the age whereby I finally understand why people were so excited to win an appliance on Sale of the Century – I am spawn of the X-generation and therefore writing from the perspective of such.
It was 1997…
Not long turned 18 I decided I wanted a little holiday. I wandered into a travel agent wide-eyed and knowing extraordinarily little about the world other than what my complete set of Funk and Wagnalls encyclopaedias, proudly standing to attention in our family room had offered me. Whilst plying me with towering piles of glossy travel brochures (planet conscious we were not, and we apologise) she had my undivided attention regaling me with her travel adventures to long lost lands.
That little “holiday” extended into five and half years of overseas residency and working holiday. It was also the catalyst to my persistent wanderlust episodes seeing me on a plane overseas each and every year since, up until Covid. Lordy how, technology has affected travel over the last 30 years…
Printed airline tickets ✓
Printed accommodation reservations ✓
Printed travel insurance documentation ✓
International drivers licence folded up neatly and placed within the pages of passport ✓
Passport ✓
Photocopies of all the aforementioned documentation to leave with an emergency contact ✓
A travel agent branded generic plastic pouch to hold these printed documents ✓
Camera and three rolls of film (I can get more when I’m over there) ✓
Large fold-out maps ✓
300-page doorstopper the European Lonely Planet ✓
Traveller’s cheques ✓
Translation dictionary of “Ten Useful Phrases for Travel in Europe” ✓
Super cute address book listing home phone numbers and addresses of family, friends and emergency contacts PLUS an even cuter fancy schmancy one to wholeheartedly capture ALL the contact details of EVERYONE you meet on the promise that we will “keep in touch” (Pen Pals!) ✓
Fast forward to 2024.
Right well, smartphone ✓ [insert chirping crickets]
It was once a pretty arduous task to travel. From the initial engagement with a travel agent in a bricks and mortar location to the comprehensive list of checkboxes, printouts and requirements needing satisfying before setting foot on a plane, train or boat. From physical guidebooks to printed out maps It wasn’t easy, and it took time, which is possibly why travel was so much more a luxury in times gone by and the world seemed so much “bigger”. Even getting lost is now a thing of past (sidenote: I am not sure any technology will ever fix my complete ineptitude in attempts to comprehend a map, physical or otherwise. “Head north-east” and my brain starts to weirdly “buffer” as I tentatively tilt my gaze to the sky whispering, “OK Siri you can keep your damn secrets, I’ll find my own way home”….but I digress….).
Over the years, travel has become somewhat second-nature with a seamless and instant experience demanded and expected but not always appreciated. Thanks to mind-spinning technological advances proliferating in our everyday lives.
The ability today, to stay connected is blinkingly easy with email addresses, WhatsApp, Messenger, and free international calls. In Europe and Asia, internet connectivity is global currency with “FREE WIFI” signs burnished on shopfronts like the batman insignia in Gotham City skies in a bid to lure travellers within.
Also too, social media platforms have inextricably contributed to reducing the world’s vastness by allowing the sharing of real-time information and masses of content, making everyone, everywhere immediately accessible. More so thanks to “influencers” from every corner of the globe broadcasting their new “literal obsession” in a 60-second reel.
From travel agents and their shopfront habitats with a smorgasbord of glossy destination brochures containing technicolour images and the smell of paper and ink slowly disappearing, to online check-in/out, digital payments, touchless security, biometric scanning and facial recognition, online booking reservations, QR code ordering, and virtual reality, we can all agree that technology (for better or worse) has revolutionized the way we travel.
Final notes… One thing technology can’t grasp with its fibre optic talons? The thrill of an airport. It’s a unique, almost lawless place, and I hope it remains that way forever. Wine? 10am? Sure, why not!
18 for a side of fries? Absolutely! Breakfast for dinner? I’m here for it!”
Happy Travels.
