A Twitter Post Has People Reminiscing About Travel Before Smart Phones

As summer travel continues to raise the question of, “Just how did this person afford this European trip?” over and over again, it’s time to finally pay our respects to our tried and true travel companion: the smart phone. Long ago in a time far, far away, people actually had to religiously research, memorize, and print out maps of wherever they may be going. There were things called… *checks notes* phrasebooks meant to help you speak a foreign language. A trip to the mall an hour away? Gotta pull out the trusty state map and get out your yellow pages to find the address.

The era of modern-day travel has been upon us for arguably 15 years, since the rise of the first smartphone circa 2008. As someone who hasn’t ever been able to navigate her local city without Google Maps, let’s just say that we are thankful for this technological advancement. Yet… there’s something to be said for anyone who was brave enough to venture out into the great wide world before smartphones.

Twitter users began reminiscing about this forgotten age of travel after freelance writer Hannah Docter-Loeb reached out to people for a piece she is writing about pre-smartphone travel.

The prompt inspired many Twitter users to share some memories of those years traveling smartphone-less. While smartphones have certainly made everything about travel easier, the memories of these golden days without our trusty tech companion surely bring up some fun memories.

https://twitter.com/voicesbend/status/1682396190686564356

https://twitter.com/nehachheda/status/1682233314302734337

Travel influencers make travel look like a walk in the park nowadays (in fact, one could argue they’re far less resilient when things go sideways), so kudos to all those brave souls who made the journey with pockets full of coins, endless maps, and smiles on their faces. We’re looking forward to reading Hannah Docter-Loeb’s full piece on Slate.