“This year, I will travel less.”
That’s what I told myself on January 1st.
But here I am in a new country and it’s not even February.
Oh well.
Welcome Back
The last time I was in Spain it was 1992.
I was traveling around Europe with a school friend.
In English class, we had read The Sun Also Rises, by Hemingway.
So we decided to visit Pamplona and drink from wineskins and run with the bulls.
Now I’m back.
And travel is much different.
Here’s how I traveled on that first trip to Spain:
- I carried paper maps.
- When I got lost I asked a person for directions.
- I arrived in each new city with no place to stay.
- I carried a guide book to find hostels and things to do
- All my money was in my pocket or in my bag. (And each country had a different currency.)
- When I left home I didn’t have any communication with friends and family until I returned home.
There were some good things and bad things about the old days of travel.
What do you think?
Was travel better then or now?
Dear Mr. Vig,
I have spotted a mistake in your text, I mean in the following sentence: ‘The last time I was in Spain it was in 1992.’ It should be: The last time I was in Spain was in 1992. Am I right?
Good eye! But native speakers say it both ways.
I didn’t travel much in the past, nor I’m now. I’ve visited around 6 to 7 countries in 90-ties and in the first 10-15 years of the century. Yes, the currencies were different, hotels were simpler (our badgets thinner ) , not many people have been speaking english, but each country was special for us. So many things have been different than at home and we felt it everywhere. But that all was slowly changing in the past ten years. Now there is sometimes hard to tell if we’ve already crossed the borders or not. There are Kauflands, Lidls, Baumaxes, Möbelixes, Holiday Inns, Carltons, Kaminski s, – almost the same everywhere. Originality is disappearing. Sometimes it’s convenient, you almost know which way to go in the store to find what you need, the same as at home. You can use Internet, WiFi, GPS, no need to ask anyone what is where. No need to have a closer contact. It’s simpler, but more inpersonal. For me it’s a bit sad, but maybe for other people it’s better. Who can tell ?
… Kempinski…. (what happened? Why is it not possible to correct your mistakes anymore? )
Dear Mr Vig,
I think that now is simply different from the past, neither better nor worse. It’s true that we can use a lot of instrumets by which our travels are easier but, at the same time, we have to push ourselves to find out the peculiar authenticity of the different countries, against the globalisation of our life style. So I think that nowadays travel is a true challenge, if you want to discover something new and for real different from your world.
I think it’s better now
The best Era for travelling….before Internet!!!
Authentic experience, unique and memorable. Now is influencers Era + fake Globalism!
In fact, the big change was 9/11 2001.
The rapid development of technology has resulted in a change in the way people behave. This is especially true for travel. I cant imagine my self travel without GPS or internet. And I cant imagine how I travelled some years ago. In any case to travel now is much better
Well, nothing more authentic for Spain then Pamplona and running with the bulls, plus your first travel conditions are cool for teens, but for adults….!
Yes everyone need a map for travel, good for us today we have GPS and all informations in our phone and cards for money.
But, on the other hand I must say nothing compares with the adventure of your first travel and I think you try to recreate it every time you travel in a new place…isn’t it?
So, welcome back adventure!
I read all comments on this blog, and I agree with most of them. We buy in the same stores, we eat the same food, women and men are dressed in the same way everywhere. Even the songs are almost the same. We are happy that there are many old buildings, this brings the diversity. On the other side, we have internet and mobile phones, booking.com, and credit cards. These items make our travelling more comfortable. And we stay in contact with our family and friends during our travels. We can also work in the hotel room. In my opinion, it is much better now.
Traveling is one of the most enriching experiences there are, and can teach us more than thousand books!
Being able to deal with cultures and habits that are unexpected and different from our own, opens our minds to points of view that we probably could never have even imagined.
We learn so much about ourselves and others, we come face to face with our limits and our abilities. It’s definitely an experience that helps us grow, and who knows, if we learn to listen and observe in a deep way the mystery in front of us, it could even make us better people!
Traveling with a smartphone, as we do today, having a device that explains, guides, translates, and finds everything for us, is in some ways very convenient….but maybe it flattens out the adventurous experience that makes a travel “THE TRAVEL”: the opportunity to get lost to learn how to find ourselves!
Hello, in the old days travel definitely is more interesting, and you met many people, and have much more real contact with them. Sometimes nowadays I leave my mob. at home, and go abroad with no connection at all 🙂
I agree with you it was different.
In my opinion, today with the cellphone is easier to get some help in case of emergency, to give some news to your family. But travel with your pockets full of money it’s not safe.
And the other hand to pay something in another currency it’s an adventure as to find a place to stay.
I think there are many ways to travel. We only have to find the right way for us
Of course traveling is the great thing. That´s how it was in the old days and it´s still the same today. Is it better now? It certainly is. 20 years ago we didn´t know what would happen in 10 or 20 years. We didn´t know that all the necessary information would be in our smartphones or other electronic gadgets. This makes traveling more convinient. And we all love convinience. But for me, there´s one thing that has remained the same. I like when I can travel with a good companion to enjoy and share immediate travel impressions.
Enjoy Spain!
maps, of course, now is better, is more easy, money, now is better, is more easy, but I think that now, like in the past, you can talk with people to have more information, I think that is good because add the app, of course If you don’t want to talk with your friends, you don’t call them but them can call you, so you need to close the phone, in any case now is better because you can do a choise in every step, you can have money in the bag and in a bank account, you can fix hotel by app or you can find it while you are walking, the currency is more easy but may be not better, because with different currency the mind work. contemporary age is better because you have not only the same solution, but more, for me the main question is, make money is more easy now or in the past? travelling is cheap now or in the past? people are better now or in the past?
Travel was better back then because we left home without phones or the internet. We spent time outside with others, playing together and talking to each other.
I just went to the other side Mr V. I think this year I’ll travel more! I’ve always wanted to travel, visit knew places around the world, but there was always something that was holding me back, mostly work. Last year I felt that I have accomplished a lot of my golds and I that I could use a bit of self kindness. Sure enough I went to Egypt, Turkish and Mexico, that was last year. This year I’m planning to go to Japan for the spring season, that would be my first in 2025. I have to choose other places to go because this is my new gold, visit at least three countries every year, and nothing is holding me back this time. In my opinion travel is better now than the old days, it is much easier to plan if you don’t have a lot of time ahead to do so, I need a plan. Do you have any advice about wonderful places I could go? I really like being outdoors, museums, galleries, ancient cities, pretty much everything but laying on the beach all day. Thank you for any advice you could have for me. Have a good one Mr. V
of course Travelling is easier today! We can communicate everybody, in every where. Cell phones are miracles ! We can do everything with cell phones .
But when We were visiting Barselona in 2018, nobody response us in English. Whether they didn’t know, or refused to speak in english I don’t know. But speaking peoples in english was a problem there.