Modern Technology: Is It helping or Hindering Travellers?
Are the most recent and greatest upgrades in technology bringing us all closer, or pushing us even more apart? This is a topic that we’ve been talking about for a few months now, and is one that is continuously on my mind.
As digital nomads and travel bloggers, having a solid wi-fi connection is a necessity for our career, as is having our computers, camera, iPad, etc., and there are days when this need for Internet and electronics drives me crazy. For us, and also for those who don’t work online, is it really essential to be tweeting and Instagramming every moment while travelling? Does the world need to know what we’re all up to whatsoever hours of the day?
What happened to sitting around a hostel table and having real conversations with other travellers, rather than having virtual ones? Why not gather around a campfire on the beach, rather than at a restaurant where one can Snapchat their food? how about sending a postcard home, rather than sending an email? Why not ask the local people where to find the best places to eat, rather than checking out reviews and lists on trip Advisor?
Chatting with fellow backpackers at a guesthouse along the Pamir highway in Tajikistan – no Internet here!
On one hand, I love how the Internet helps to bring people closer together for various causes and to share essential information with one another. I also love how we can now recommend, review or report to the world about great hostels that benefit the community, an awesome trip that is ecologically sound, or scams to view out for when travelling. There are numerous local companies thriving due to the wonders of the world-wide web. Nowadays, you can find locals to stay with, cooking classes to join or farms to work at, all while helping out the local economy.
Friendly families who owned the casas that we stayed at in Cuba – it’s great to be able to promote them.
Obviously, I also appreciate that the Internet has offered us with a location independent career! नि?
The flip-side is that I feel like the Internet (at times) can avoid us all from interacting with the residents of the city we’re in, and with our fellow travellers.
Nick and I (as bloggers and as travellers) really started feeling this way during our trip to Cuba a few months ago. in that country, Internet and wi-fi is available, but it is quite scarce, unreliable and you wait in long line-ups to purchase “time cards” just to get online. So, prior to leaving, we chose that we were going to have a break from the Internet while in Cuba and pretty much go offline.
डराउने!
We weren’t sure how we would react at first, but to our surprise (and delight) we were pleased and felt free! We could fully be backpackers, not backpackers and bloggers, just regular ol’ travellers. After all, that’s who we are first and foremost, and adventure is what drives our passion for travel writing.
Exploring caves in Cuba.
Instead of spending a good chunk of the day blogging and working online, we spent those hours in Cuba playing card games, having mojitos at taverns, chatting with the owners of the casas we were at, or just simply hanging out and exploring the cities and their surroundings.
We also found that by not having wi-fi readily available, it really made us have to go back to the basics. how did we get around the world before the abundance of wi-fi? In Cuba, we couldn’t book our transport online, and we couldn’t check out Google Maps for directions. Instead, we relied on our feet, mouths and hands to figure out how to get around. We had to walk to the bus station to sort out tickets, ask locals for directions when we were driving our scooter, and use our hands for charades when our limited Spanish abilities failed us.
Being able to explore Cuba by motorbike was so much much more fun than being online!
Rather than checking review sites for the best spots to eat, we asked our casa owners or just wandered around until we found a restaurant that looked fresh, budget-friendly and local.
Instead of always having the answers to everything on our devices, we had to use our brains and really think things through. The other backpackers we talked to in Cuba had the same feelings as us on this matter. discussions around the table were lively and opinionated, instead of a question or thought being brought up, only to be immediately answered by a Google search on someone’s smart device. who needs a brain when you have search engines?!
It reminded us of how things were when we first started backpacking in 2008/2009 (which really wasn’t all that long ago). All we had then was an 8.9″ travel-sized Acer Netbook and our point-and-shoot digital camera, nothing else! No backpackers had iPhones or iPads back then, र सायद सायद कुनै पनि पूर्वाग्रहहरू छन् wi-Fiegege- हामीले ईमेल पठाउन ढिलो इन्टरनेट क्याफेस गर्न जानुपर्थ्यो, जुन प्राय: लामो लाइनहरू थिए।
नोट लिनको दिन र लेख्ने तरिकामा पछाडि … एक डायरीमा! यहाँ कुनै ब्लग छैन?
क्युवामा, हामीसँग आधारभूत जानकारीको लागि हाम्रो गाईडबुक, तर इन्टरनेट बिना, हामीले धेरै अधिक रचनात्मक हुनुपर्यो, जुन वास्तवमै ताजाको सास हो भनेर समाप्त भयो। हावा।
यो भावना अविश्वसनीय थियो, र मलाई लाग्छ हाम्रो क्युवाले हाम्रो लागि आश्चर्यचकित गरे।
हामीले केमा लेख्नु पर्दैन, पुरानो स्कूल मार्ग बाहिर पत्ता लगाउनु पर्दैन, र ग्रिडबाट बाहिरबाट बाहिर निकाल्ने, र ग्रिडबाट बाहिर हुनु स्फूर्तिदायी भएको थियो! त्यसोभए अचम्मको कुरा, जुन हामीले यसलाई एक वार्षिक रूपमा चीज बनाउने छनौट गर्यौं। कम्तिमा एक बर्षमा एक पटक, हामी दुई हप्तासम्म “छुट्टी” मा जायौ, हाम्रो कम्प्युटरहरू र हाम्रा ग्याजेटहरू टाढा, केवल यात्रा गर्न।
अब, मलाई गलत नबनाओस्, हामी हाम्रो साइटलाई टुक्रा-टुक्रा पार्छौं, र विशेष गरी सोशल मिडियामा फर्केर हेर्छौं, तर क्युवाबाट फर्केपछि हामी दुबैलाई ब्याकप्याकरको रूपमा खुशी महसुस गर्छौं। मलाई लाग्छ कि यो यात्राको लागि हाम्रो प्रेमलाई प्राथमिकता दिनुहोस्, र हाम्रो साहसी स्पार्क चम्किरहेको छ।
उत्तरी मोजाम्बिकमा मेलोड गरिएको टापुहरू, र समुद्र तटको शिविरमा – महाकाव्य!
स्पष्ट रूपमा त्यहाँ एक इच्छा छ र ईन्टरनेटको लागि आवश्यकता र साथीहरू र परिवारसँग जडान हुनु, तर म विश्वास गर्दछु कि यो हाम्रो उपकरण र हाम्रा अनुभवहरू बीच सन्तुलन पाउन आवश्यक छ। त्यसोभए, अन्तमा, मलाई लाग्छ कि इन्टरनेट उपलब्धता दुबै मद्दत र बाधा मद्दत गर्दछ। यसले निश्चित रूपमा यात्राको स्मूवता बनाउँदछ, सरल र ठूलो मार्गदर्शन र सुझाव प्रदान गर्दछ। जब कहिलेकाँही यसले हामीलाई सबै थोरै अल्छी, अपशण, र स्थानीय र सँगी ब्याकप्याकरहरूबाट विच्छेदन गर्न सक्छ।
तिम्रो पालो! हामीलाई भन्नुहोस् इन्टरनेटको बारेमा तपाइँ के सोच्नुहुन्छ र 2 // 7 – यो एक राम्रो चीज, वा यात्रा को लागी एक नराम्रो कुरा हो?
के यो छोटो लेख तपाईंको बोर्डको योग्य छ?
अस्वीकरण: सडकमा बाख्रा एक अमेजन एसोसिएसन र केहि अन्य रिटेलरको लागि एक सम्बद्धता हो। यसले हामीलाई समावेश गर्दछ हामी आयोगहरू कमाउँछौं यदि तपाईं हाम्रो ब्लगमा लिंक क्लिक गर्नुहुन्छ र ती retailles बाट खरीद।