Ways Technology Has Changed How We Travel

Hey! Been a while guys! Welcome to the month of April & the second quarter of 2018.

I've been examining the effects of technology in the way we travel for a while now. Technology has affected every area of our life. Like it is always said, it will be difficult for many people to abandon some of these new technologies available these days. It's so easy to travel now, with just an app you can book a flight and even make hotel reservations. Just within few minutes how you want to spend an entire weekend could be planned. We can say technology has made travel easier, if we aren't using it to the full we are on a long thing. Let's just take some steps back and see the impact of technology in this area over the years.

^{A baby using a smartphone.}

Communication

In times past when you travel abroad, it's so difficult to communicate with those back home. You have to send postcards, or look for phone booths to reach out to your loved ones. In some places in west Africa, only postcards could be sent since phone booths were not everywhere. It's even difficult to reach loved ones in cases of emergency. But now, the game has changed. With just a smartphone boom. WiFi hotpots are even around some big hotels, airports and even planes. Video calls can been done with most social networks too.

^{Photo showing a hotel room.}

Hotel reservation/Flight booking

Back then you have to find a hotel's brochure to get more info or ask a friend who has travelled to your destination before. You might end up reserving a room you may not even like. It's quite different now, since pictures of hotel rooms are posted for potential customers to see before booking. You can even see reviews of the hotels online and it's rating. It's quite similar for flights too, you can get much info on the airline and book and your own comfort.

^{Communication despite language diversity.}

Language barrier

If you travel to a country that English is not the common language, that's when you understand the language barrier. I remember when an uncle travelled to Germany many hears ago, when he came back home he complained how he had to learn German within few months to be able to communicate. Now, with so many tools at disposal you can even communicate without having full knowledge of the language being spoken. Their are a lot of translation apps out there, even the ones that can help with text-to-voice translations.

^{Photo showing a lady using her smartphone's camera.}

Photography

Taking photos was really difficult, no selfies and all. Eh we have to thank the smartphone. Any picture taken back then had to be printed. Now there is even a competition between digital cameras and smartphone cameras. I can't remember the last time I printed a picture. It's just to snap and keep for memories sake or upload to any social media of your choice.

I'm so happy for the impacts of technology in the way we travel. In the future we should expect more advancements too.

All images used are under Creative Commons CC0. Images are from http://pixabay.com.


Thanks for coming around :)

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