Travel Before Cellphones
Does Anyone Even Remember What Traveling Was Like Before We Had Them? - Letters from a Wanderer No 9
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I just returned from a road-trip to the Oregon Coast. While on the long drive, I couldn’t help but notice that each of us had our cellphones out and open. We set my husband’s on GPS to show us the way, while my daughter and I used ours for entertainment, to research subjects we were discussing, and to take photos of the landscape we were passing through. We also used them to look up the closest restaurants or places worth stopping when we needed a break.
When we passed through areas with no coverage, I remembered our past travels before cellphones, a time before our daughter was born. While she can’t imagine life without these devices, we still remember traveling without them.
If you ask anyone what’s the thing they can’t travel without, nine out of ten people will answer their cell phone. I am one of those travelers who can’t imagine leaving home without it. We use it for everything from phone numbers and addresses of everyone we know, besides those of businesses, hotels, and restaurants nearby, instant access to maps, camera for photography, even to translation apps to communicate with locals in foreign countries. Plus entertainment during long flights, or road trips, not to mention instant access to news and social media everywhere we go.
Yet, I remember a time when we didn’t have this tiny convenient device. And sometimes I feel nostalgia for those times, when travel was more spontaneous, when every time we left the house we had to be ready for an adventure.
Finding Our Way Without The Cell Phone’s Built-In GPS
As we were making our way across the country, following the instructions of the GPS, I remembered our first long cross-country road-trip when we moved from New Jersey to Arizona, thirty-some years ago.
We had a giant book of road maps, with separate pages for each state and even closer views of smaller regions we drove through. Acting as the navigator, I kept the map near me, ready and opened to the right page. I wasn’t very good with geography, and bad at reading maps, so that trip was a true learning experience for me. I learned how to hold the map right, to understand road signs in the US, to figure out the ways to get back on the right road if we got lost in a town we stopped for food, gas, or a hotel.
I remember often panicking when the road continued on another page and I couldn’t figure out where to look for it while my husband was driving. We sometimes missed a turn before I found it, and had to backtrack a few miles, but we eventually always got back on track.
Now, the GPS replaced me; It even talks to us, giving us step-by-step instructions, telling us ahead of time (and repeating it), when to turn before missing the road. While I was happy to lose the job, sometimes I miss it. It kept us all more involved in the trip on the road.
Deciding What To See, Where To Eat And Sleep
Before visiting a new region or a new country, we used to buy a full-length travel book about it and carried it while on the road. They were often heavy, especially when we had to carry them in our backpacks on the road.
Our cell phones replaced them, storing several books’ worth of information in the palm of our hands. They point out hotels and restaurants around us, including driving directions, ratings and every detail we don’t even know we need.
When the book got outdated (we didn’t buy a new one every year), we knew we were taking a chance. Hotels and restaurants listed could be out of business. We experienced this a few times, but when we did, we looked up the next place. Or asked locals.
While I wouldn’t give up the convenience of the information stored on my phone, I realize we lost something with the convenience. When all the information was harder to find we knew we often had to rely on locals. We learned to go with the flow, to communicate better, and it added an element of adventure to any travel.
Communicating With Locals In A Foreign Country
The cell phone even makes communicating with locals easy these days, with apps that translate full sentences, even paragraphs. Some apps even do the talking for you, at a push of a button. Sometimes these translations are off, but generally we can rely on them for the basics at least.
Before carrying a phone, I carried a pocket dictionary. I also studied the basics of the local language if I was traveling to a foreign country. Pulling out the dictionary, looking up a word, while locals were waiting for me to tell them what I needed was slow.
But it worked, and maybe it made people more tolerant, more patient with each other. Now, having everything at our fingertips, at a push of a button, we become impatient when we have to wait.
Relying On the Help Of Strangers
If we have car problems on the road now, we can look up the closest mechanic, call and get things fixed in no time. But things were different before cell phones.
The first time I traveled to Mexico, driving through what is now known as the Riviera Maya, we stopped at a beach, after following a short track in the sand towards the ocean. As we got out, the rental car’s key broke, half of it stuck in the driver side door - after it locked everything. We were stranded on a sunny beach in the middle of nowhere, with our money, hats, and sunscreen inaccessible, locked in the car. Not only did we not have a cell phone, but the tiny restaurant on the beach didn’t have a land phone either.
A group of strangers we met on the beach helped us out, driving my husband back to Cancun, to the rental company, where he sorted things out, while I waited. By the time he returned with a mechanic from the rental company, I knew the beach intimately and even made a friend.
Staying in Touch
Travel was slower before cell phones, and always an adventure. But staying in touch could be a problem at times.
The first time I traveled without my kids, also to Mexico, I promised them to call every night. Without a cell phone, we planned our days around stops in the larger towns, where we could find a payphone to call. Sometimes it took hours to get through. But I always managed, either standing in a phone booth in the street, or finding a post office to call from.
It made travel slower, and forced us to learn more about the places we were visiting. If nothing else, we always needed to figure out where to find a phone, and how or where to get exact change to use it.
I still remember that Puerto Morelos had a payphone on its main street that worked for international calls, for the right change. Playa del Carmen, at the time a small town with one main street, had a post office with several phone booths. I remember standing in line, waiting til for a phone booth to open up so I could call.
And since calls were expensive, we always had to limit our talks. Which was a bit hard when talking to a two-year-old who wanted to tell you all about her day. But we still managed.
Though I Would Not Leave Home Without My Cell Phone, Sometimes I Miss the Old Days
While now I can imagine leaving home without my phone (like most people, I have a slightly unhealthy attachment to it), sometimes I miss the old-day travel. We still have glimpses of it though in some out-of-the-way places without cell phone coverage.
We often spend a few days during most vacations in one of those places. For a few days, it’s nice to get disconnected. We can always come back to the convenience of being connected - to everything, from loved ones to maps and businesses we think we need.
Do you remember what travel was like before cell phones? Did you travel in those days? If you did, do you miss it sometimes? Let me know your thoughts.
Thank you for reading, and Happy Travels,
All the best,
Emese
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I remember travel without a cell phone. It was an adventure with a map or an atlas and it required some advanced planning. It really wasn't long ago, either. Times and technology have changed so fast.
“It made travel slower, and forced us to learn more about the places we were visiting.”
This speaks to something I’ve also reflected on in my writing and there is some pang of regret on how technology has impacted the way we experience time, space, and place. I can only recall a handful of childhood road trips with my family to Florida and the East Coast where we travelled before cell phones. However, while we had cell phones while backpacking the Appalachian Trail in 2014, we rarely used them and it was something that greatly enhanced our experience to be untethered and simply walk without all the distractions beaming at us from the wider world.
That said, I also view this device not so much as a singular entity, i.e., a cell phone, but rather a multi tool that can enhance or inhibit one’s travel experiences depending on how we choose to use it. While traveling I use it to record my thoughts in Notes that might form into a future Substack post, snap a few photos for the memory bank, tune into my favorite podcasts, listen to some jazz while I read, look up nearby restaurants, navigate a bewildering city, and utilize my meditation app.
This was a great read with plenty of food for thought. Thanks for composing it for us!