There’s a quiet revolution occurring in the way people travel. For years, the cell phone has been a necessary piece of equipment for anyone traveling to a foreign country. The phone allows you to translate road signs, find a place to stay for the night, locate the most inexpensive transportation and connect with friends in the same country. It’s a camera as well as a roadmap and a tour guide.
The phone is indispensable when traveling. Or is it? Travelers are beginning to realize that when they rely so much on their phones to direct their travels, they all end up experiencing the same places, restaurants, and sights. People have returned from the trip of a lifetime to an exotic location. When they compare experiences and photos with friends who have also visited the same location, they are dismayed to realise they’ve had essentially the same experience.
Their passionate one-of-a-kind exploration of a lifetime has been shared unknowingly by half the people they meet once they’re back home. They’ve become another unwitting victim of the popularity algorithm that seems to control every tourist’s travels.
Put the Phone Down from Time to Time
Travelers have come home and kicked themselves that the only photo they have of the beautiful deserted beach they found in Mexico is in the background of a selfie. They’re embarrassed to admit that their favourites Samui restaurants were the same as every top ten travel list. They wonder why they see the same crowd everywhere they go in Crete.
Travelers are realizing they can have a much more memorable vacation if they put down the phone from time to time and simply look around. Take a new road for a change, try a restaurant that isn’t on anyone’s website, or stay at a place that simply has a nice vibe instead of five stars. Become part of the new revolution in travel. Put the phone down and enjoy yourself.
