Travelling Now vs 20 Years Ago – What’s Yay, Nay, and Lost Along the Way
- Marta Jarosz-Gupta
- Jan 28
- 8 min read
Travelling today is easier than it’s ever been. And yet, sometimes, for some reason, it feels harder. And I don’t mean from the logistics point of view. I mean from a very personal, subjective, emotional point of view.
Author’s note:
This article is a personal reflection, not a judgment. I’m grateful for modern travel and all the ways it made the world more accessible. These are just my observations — shaped by time, experience, and a lot of miles — on what changed, what we gained, and what might have faded along the way.
When I think back to my first overseas trips — over 20 years ago — I realise how different travel felt without smartphones, easily available GPS, free WiFi… But also without the pressure to document everything. We planned more, waited more, got lost more… and somehow, experienced more.
This isn’t a “back in my day” rant, and it’s definitely not about saying travel was better before. It’s simply a personal reflection on what, I believe, has changed.
My first overseas travels started with a few short ski trips to Slovakia as a kid, and a couple of rock-climbing trips to Austria and Croatia during my high-school years. All by car, with a map in hand, and passport control at the borders.
First flight — and first relocation — came in 2007. Right after graduating from high school, I packed my bags and left for Cyprus to work. I still remember the excitement during take-off, and the hot, humid air hitting my face as soon as I stepped out of the airport in Larnaca.
And the rest, as they say, is history…
Recently, the more I travel, the more I find myself pondering over the differences between travelling then and now.
For those of you who are my age or older, this might feel like a walk down memory lane. For anyone born more recently, it may feel more like watching a movie about something they’ve never experienced.
But just for the fun of it, let’s look at what really changed, whether anything changed at all, and see which things are yay and which are nay (at least to me 🙂).
No GPS & The Art of Not Getting Lost
Who remembers paper maps? Raise your hand! And the frustrations some people experienced, caused by wrong turns, confusing streets, or unannounced road closures… 😂 As annoying as it was to others, I always loved it. The maps, not the frustrations.
Now my map-reading skills come in super handy when planning my travels and when roaming around in the new country.
The difference is that today I don’t need a stack of maps or an entire atlas in my backpack. I can open Google Maps on my laptop or phone.
Convenient? Absolutely. But getting lost used to be part of the experience — and sometimes we’d end up in amazing places because of it!
Verdict: I guess I have to vote both — yay and nay. Yay to GPS being super helpful and making travel easy and safe, nay to taking away all the fun (and map-reading skills from some).
No Smartphones – Can You Believe it?
Although I got my first mobile phone in high school, it looked nothing like what we carry today. No internet. No WiFi. No free calls. Only a black-and-white screen, a couple of simple games (who didn’t love Snake?!), and expensive calls and texts. The phone was just enough to survive and call someone in case of an emergency.
And if you didn’t have call credit? You made a missed call. The person you were trying to reach would call you back at their expense. Simple system. Universal understanding.
And in case we really needed internet access? We went to internet cafés. Some of you might not even know they existed. 🙂
Verdict: Believe it or not, I have to say… yay to no smartphones. At least when it comes to travel. Sure, they make tons of things easier, but instead of taking a few meaningful photos, we now take hundreds — sometimes thousands — most of which we’ll never look at again. Moments turn into content. Stories get posted before the experience has even settled. We scroll through social media on train rides instead of looking out the window and taking in the new country we’ve just landed in.
Somewhere along the way, convenience quietly replaced presence.
No Free WiFi (or No WiFi at All)
I wouldn’t worry so much about coffee shops here, but airports with no WiFi connection got really stuck in my mind. And not for good reasons…
Once, I missed my flight in Liverpool (due to some drama with my luggage). The next one was leaving in 24h, so I had to spend the entire night at the airport. By myself.
Long story short, this happened while I was moving out of Spain. I had cancelled my Spanish bank card, moved my money to a Polish account I didn’t yet have access to, and kept maybe 10 euros in cash. It was supposed to be a short journey with one quick layover. I thought: What could go wrong?
I was stranded. No Internet. No way to contact anyone.
I used the money I had left to call a friend to book another flight for me, then I waited… 24h. No connection with my family, no food, no money. Once I landed in Poland, my friends — worried sick — came to pick me up with warm tea and sandwiches. 🙂
Looking back, it sounds dramatic, but at the time, it was just something I had to figure out.
Verdict: Honestly? Mixed feelings here. Reading this story, you would think, “Of course it’s a nay!”, but the truth is… This experience taught me a valuable lesson – always be prepared. And despite not having a WiFi connection, I still managed to get back home safely. So I guess I have to say… Yay to no WiFi. Yes, it may be helpful, just like GPS. But more often than not, we rely on it too much, and we are unable to disconnect when it truly matters. It also takes away some valuable skills we may otherwise learn while travelling.
No E-hailing Apps and Talking to Strangers
Today, you land, open Uber or Grab, and head straight to your hotel. You don’t even need to know how to say hello in the local language.
Before e-hailing apps, it was not always easy to communicate and to trust the drivers. To make sure I got to the right location, I always carried a printed page in the local language. (Frankly, it took me years to stop doing it.)
Once, after a three-day hike in Myanmar — through mountains and rice fields, ending at Inle Lake — I needed to reach a bus stop on the other side of the lake. I took a small boat that was supposed to drop me off nearby.
The boat driver completely misunderstood where I wanted to go (which was not surprising), so I had to take another ride. Finding a reliable driver and explaining my destination (without my printed piece of paper or internet connection) took time, but eventually, I made it.
This whole journey would probably take me a few hours less and would definitely cause less stress if I had an Uber app to book a car with no word exchange needed.
Verdict: As much as I love to talk to locals and immerse myself in the local culture, I would rather do it on my own accord. So I must say nay to not having e-hailing apps. They make travel safe, especially when you travel as a solo female traveller in a completely foreign and less developed country.
No Phone Camera
I don’t have many photos from my first trips. Slovakia was definitely shot on film. Austria, Croatia and Cyprus were already digital, but nothing like today. Just simple cameras. Good enough to capture memories. I got my first Canon DSLR in Iceland, as an 18th birthday gift. It pushed me deeper into photography and helped me slow down and really observe what was around me.
Now, smartphones take beautiful photos. They’re convenient. They edit instantly. They’re ready for social media within seconds.
Convenient? Of course. Better? Not necessarily.
Developing films as a kid felt magical. Downloading digital photos and seeing them on my laptop felt special. When I travelled with my Canon through Iceland, Spain or Italy, it allowed me to take time to notice things, immerse myself in nature and experience the surroundings. Now we snap snap snap and post. Everything is instant. And suddenly, everyone is a photographer.
Verdict: Definitely a yay to no camera in our phones. I am guilty as charged, but I feel like it is more out of convenience and social pressure to share everything instantly. (My Canon is dusted off and ready for my next trip, though!)
Social media & performative travel
It’s something we didn’t have before, and I feel a bit teary that we have it now. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for sharing photos and memories. This is why I created this blog in the first place. But I feel like more often than not, people try to “perform”, show off, and even compete. Who travels where, who takes first class, who sees more countries in a better way… It feels like travel has become less for us and more for our audience.
Before social media, there was no pressure to document every meal, every sunset, every cocktail by the sea. We didn’t feel the need to explain or justify our trips.
Our experiences were private. They weren’t our "content".
Verdict: Having a blog and social media accounts may make me sound like a hypocrite, but I have to say nay to social media, especially if it encourages performative travel and some sort of unnecessary competition.
Booking Flights – an Adventure on Its Own
How many times my bookings failed — I honestly can’t count.
As young adults at that time, we didn’t have credit cards, and debit cards weren’t always accepted. We swapped cards, borrowed from friends, tried again and again. Websites crashed. Sessions timed out. Payments failed.
Booking a flight required patience — and sometimes luck.
Verdict: This is gonna be a quick one: nay to the old, slow, annoying, and unreliable booking systems. Looking for a perfect flight it’s time consuming enough; the last thing we need right now is slow connections, time-outs and failed transactions. 🙂 And as a side note here, big yay to Skyscanner.com that has helped me book countless flights over many years.
Last but Not Least - Pace of Travel
With different means at our disposal, we would focus on fewer places to see, and very often longer stays (sometimes out of necessity). We waited for buses, ferries, and photos to develop. We were more patient and resilient. We had time and noticed things happening around us.
Now we're country-hopping.
Going to Europe? 7 countries in one month. Asia? 4 countries in 2 weeks. 2 days here, 3 days there. Weekend trips feel like sprints. We move fast because logistics are easy. You can book a flight, a taxi and a hotel on your phone — and hop on a plane a few hours later.
I guess the verdict here is very clear… A big NAY to the fast-travel and country-hopping.
All the experiences I lived through my travels, with little to no digital connection, taught me resilience, resourcefulness and patience. Even now, when something doesn’t go as planned, I know very well how to recover from it, because of what travelling 15-20 years ago taught me.
Travelling back then felt harder and less accessible, sure. But we travelled because we really wanted to go. We wanted to experience new cultures, and we were curious what lies on the other side of the border. We were patient.
Now we have cheaper flights, easier visas, and easier logistics. Travel is more accessible — but sometimes less intentional. Sometimes we hop on the plane just to sip cocktails by the pool of a five-star hotel. While there is nothing wrong with that, it feels like we’re missing out on a bigger, and often better picture – the country’s culture, customs and natural beauty.
And maybe that’s not wrong. And maybe I am old-school and nostalgic.
But sometimes, I miss when getting to the destination was part of the journey...
Comments