When my sister lived overseas, she used to call home maybe once a month. It cost her an arm and a leg and usually she had to huddle in a post office booth after waiting in line, then yell her news to us while we passed the phone between us. Occasionally postcards arrived giving us stories that were already history about people and places she had already left. That was in the early ’80s. Could it really only have been 20or so years ago?
Now that I am living in Europe, far from my family in Australia, I speak to them a few times a week, for free, via my computer. If I see or do something I think they will really like, I send them a text on my mobile phone. And I send them photos of people and places taken minutes earlier, via my computer or my phone. And forget postcards and letters, I can bash out an email and know it will arrive seconds later. Complete with a photo if I wish. One I took myself. Perhaps even with me in it.
How much things have changed. But is it better or worse?
Technology: Can’t live with it, can’t live without it
I can hear you all yelling that of course it’s better. And in so many ways it is. But consider the following: people used to travel to find themselves and immerse themselves in foreign cultures.
Do we still do that? If we are not really separated from friends and family, not having to truly fend for ourselves, not having to make our way in an unknown place where we have problems communicating, are we really travelling?
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| Do you have problems communicating when you travel? You are not alone. |
Or do we do something else these days? Do we merely sightsee in the global village, pulling all our connections with us?
I was in an internet café in Salzburg, checking my emails and booking a flight for my next leg of travel. At the next computer, was a guy with headphones on; he was talking to a friend in Spanish. On my other side was a girl also with headphones on, listening to music off a MySpace page. I don’t know either of these people, and I didn’t start chatting to them because they both had headphones on and were in their own worlds.
Which is the bit that interests me. Without all this technology, they probably would have been in a local bar, a youth hostel common room or wherever and would probably if not certainly have ended up talking to a real human. Who they did not know five minutes earlier. Who they may or may not like, or have anything in common with, but who was sharing the same physical space as them and maybe had something interesting, surprising, different to say. Rather than just electronic blips bringing news of the familiar, the safe.
The humans are dead
I’m not saying people don’t meet other people when they travel these days, far from it. But perhaps the need and the opportunities are lessened by all the technology we travel with. When we’re not starved for conversation, or filling our time walking, exploring, and seeing the real world, perhaps we take fewer risks meeting people and doing new, unfamiliar things.
The flip side of course is that technology enables us to keep the people we do meet in our lives for a long long time. Facebook, Flickr, email, Skype and all their equals mean we keep in touch, see what people are doing, where they are and share information. And of course there are sites such as Craig’s List which provide a whole new way of meeting people – not the random bar, bus, hostel style but with a bit of pre-vetting via profile, photo, emails.
But, call me old-fashioned, I still like the old face to face where you hear a voice, see a smile, feel the chemistry.
I am not judging anyone for using the awesome technology. Often travel can be really lonely. I am so grateful for the fact that on a rainy Sunday morning in London or Zagreb or Amsterdam, I have been able to open my computer, put on my own headphones, and instantly call a friend I have known for 10 years; family I have known all my life. It can pull me back from feeling lost and isolated and unsure. It can remind me that I have a whole other reality, world, existence aside from this one where I have on my travelling boots.
But it’s a double-edged saviour. If I’m over here trying to find myself (as inevitably so many of us are), do I need such easy access to being pulled back to who I was? Or to be saved from having to face the darker moods and thoughts that can bring a new perspective?
Remembrance of travel things past
I have to mention the ease of booking travel online. I love it. I can find all the options, get advice from other travellers who have been there. I can see pictures and compare prices. I can book with my credit card and pay for it later (excellent!). But is the better travel story in: ‘I booked online in my own language, printed my eticket, went to the station, caught my train and arrived.’
Or is it in: ‘I went to Information at the train station, where they finally understood my butchering of their language enough to answer my questions. Then I went to the booking office, stood in line for half an hour watching the people and the trains come and go, saw an old man cry when his daughter arrived and a young couple argue then make up, told the equally confused tourist next to me that this was the right line, then walked with him to the line which was actually the right line, and finally, through gestures and pointing at a map, bought a ticket which was written out by hand and completely unreadable. And on the train a day later, the conductor wanted to throw me off in the depths on Slovenia because my ticket had the right beginning and end point but the wrong route. He even disappeared with my passport for about three hours leaving me to be comforted by an elderly Italian woman who had been travelling for 24 hours already from her village south of Naples to visit her grandchildren in Croatia; we shared no common language but managed to communicate – she even shared her delicious homemade vegetable soup with me. Mystifying her family, she gave me a long hug goodbye when we finally reached our destination.’
Yes, option A is less stressful but if you don’t want any stress, don’t travel. That’s part of the package.
McTravel: More than 3 billion served
The elderly lady on the train brings me to another piece of technology: the iPod, mp3 in whatever form. When is a journey a journey and when is it a music video? Again, make no mistake, I love my iPod. And it sometimes saves my sanity. In my fear of flying era, my walkman (it was a long time ago…) used to block out bad noises and soothe with familiar music I could escape into. And there can be no greater joy than watching a landscape unfold to a favourite tune.
But. But but but… it cuts you off, puts you into your own bubble which is definitely no way of finding out about the world. A friend of mine has a strict rule that you do not listen to an iPod in any city but your hometown. He believes that the sounds, the voices, the rhythm of a place are as important as anything you see. I agree. Why leave one whole sense out of the experience? It’s like eating at McDonalds; it can be comfort food when the whole journey is getting a bit overwhelming but do you really want to deny your tastebuds an adventure?
My current travel life is easy. But when I read travel adventures from decades previous, I am made shamefully aware that these days, I am doing it so easy. But I shouldn’t be ashamed; I should be grateful. And aware of my many choices. So, I won’t sit in judgment on us modern technologically connected travellers, I’ll just say that these days, travel is different.
Posted on July 16, 2008 by Philippa Burne in Travel Advice & Inspiration.