With this post we inaugurate the category Travel Stories. This section of our blog will be told from the point of view of different guest writers.
In this first reflection, Lucía shares a comparison of what it was like to organise trips before and after the digital world, here we share a brief profile of her:
I am Lucia, an Argentinean passionate about travelling. Since I was a little girl we used to travel with my parents to visit my grandparents who lived in another province, that filled me with joy, partly because of the trip itself, partly to see my grandparents and partly because of the new friendships I met there. Then when I grew up I began to broaden my horizons and so I travelled through all the provinces of my large country, neighbouring countries and then Europe.
I enjoy travelling from the very first moment, from the moment my brain starts thinking about different alternatives of where to go on the next trip until I come back and look at the photos of the trip.
Being from the generation of the 60's I have gone through great changes at the moment of organising and carrying out the trip due to technological changes.
1. Maps
On my first trips, I always went out with printed fold-out maps of the country, regions and provinces and, depending on the area I was travelling to, I also had a Pirelli, YPF or Michelin guide to help me find my way around. Then we added the portable GPS, later the one in the car and now with the APPS on the phones, Google Maps, internet, artificial intelligence. With Google Maps or some other app we have instant route status, traffic status, etc.
On my first trips I would mark on a map the route I was going to take, then I would make a summary of the main routes and note down the km where I had to turn off or take another route. When I arrived in a city, the first thing I did was to look for a tourist office to get a map of the city and mark the places I was interested in visiting according to the time I was going to be in that city. Today I download the Apina map with the places already marked.
2. Booking tickets
When I didn't travel by car and I had to book tickets, I did it through a travel agency, it was good to have a friendly travel agency that would listen to you and guide you to make the trip of your dreams. They would put together the circuit with the airline tickets, hotels, tours and itineraries in each city and a copy of the maps of each city to visit. They would give you a bulky envelope with the vouchers for the whole tour and there you would go to see what you were really going to find.
Today, you search for places from your computer or phone, look at the different alternatives offered by the market, compare circuits, read comments from other travellers, put together your own route and buy and pay for the different tickets, hotels and tours without leaving your armchair. And if you don't want to worry about organising your own itinerary, you can search on the web for the tours and do it all from your computer or phone.
3. Organising trips: places to visit
When it came to defining the circuit to be covered and the places to visit, I used travel guides. In my case, I used Pirelli, YPF, Michelin guides and travel books.
Today, I read different blogs and I put together my itinerary according to what most appeals to me.
4. Communications
Communication with the family was a big issue. When I went on holiday I had to be aware of finding a public phone or a call centre to let them know how we were doing, then the mobile phone appeared, but in many places there was no coverage, but it was still a step forward and now with today's mobile phones you can make video calls almost anywhere. Making a live video and sharing the moment you are living with your loved ones is great! That they enjoy that moment with you is very nice, it's not the same as showing a photo of the place some time later.
5. Money
The money for the trip! What a change! Before, I had to think about where to take my money, make sure it was safe, large notes so that it didn't bulge so much, a little small money for the immediate needs and then get change at each destination, praying not to lose it, or use a traveller's cheque. Then credit cards appeared, but you couldn't use them in all businesses, and in some countries they wouldn't even accept certain types of cards. They had to go through a manual post to register the number and fill in by hand the amount you had spent. Today with contactless credit cards, virtual wallets, etc. that issue has disappeared. You just have to have your phone at hand, or your watch or the right chip! I've even got as far as my phone, we'll see how I get on!
Time goes by, great changes take place, we adapt quickly to everything new and we think how we could have lived without all these advances, but luckily other new things always appear that amaze us and we go for more. What always remains is the travelling spirit, the desire to get to know something new, to meet people, to get to know other cultures that enrich you, to experience the journey from the very beginning and that remains engraved in your heart.
Questions for our readers:
What surprised you most about the way you used to travel?
What is your favourite tool for organising travel nowadays?
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