The Life of a Backpacker in Asia in the 1970s (2018)

> I probably don't disconnect as much as I probably should for certain types of travel. But not everything about completely disconnecting is wonderful.

When my partner and I travel, we travel at a breakneck pace. We get up in the morning, stuff our faces with some calories, then head out, and we're usually walking, backpacking, bicycling, motorcycling, and occasionally train/driving/tour busing through most travel locations for 10+ hours a day. We frequently net 7-10 mi of walking per day unless we're in a particular place where you have to drive to get around. I still use my smartphone to download tickets, reservations, and maps (often don't get signal in parts), but we never sit still for long enough to have more than a small peek at the smartphone while having lunch or dinner.

I'm always amazed at how many people find it so difficult to disconnect on vacation. Maybe if you're the type to sit around in a comfy hotel and vacation that way the temptation is stronger, but for me, travel is the easiest way to disconnect.

A lot of this stuff is so much more recent than people realize.

I went to Southeast Asia in 2010: Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand.

One of my stops was the famous "Lunch Lady" from Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations [0]

There was no Uber, I had no data. I had printout of a map, but just look at the kind of map I had to go on in that URL from 2008. There were slightly better directions from Vietnamese-only websites.

I had to get a cab driver to take me to ROUGHLY the right area, and then wander around until I found her.

I'd have to go to smoky internet cafe to upload photos and email my family.

Ubiquitous mobile access and data is what's really flattened most of our world. It's unquestionably an improvement for the people involved, but travelling definitely has a lot less charm and sense of discovery now.

[0] https://gastronomyblog.com/2008/08/09/meet-the-lunch-lady/

Very true. I am a bit behind the author of the article in age, and in my first real adventure trip, and I can tell you it is not the same at all now. You can be on a mountaintop calling home from half way around the world. We are so tethered to smartphones, ATMs, and others to guide our treks now, or at least most people are, and we lose the ability to truly wander without interference. Solitude, not loneliness. I used to buy one-way tickets to places, go with very little cash to exchange at a bank, and make my way working here and there to make just enough to drip feed my trips.

I grew up in the late 60s/early 70s in Brooklyn. I didn't make my first trip abroad until I was 18 to England and the Netherlands. Not too exotic. Then some of the islands like Jamiaca, the DR, etc. But then I went to live in Spain in the Northern region of Huesca after touring all over Spain. What a blast. I called my Mom and Dad after being out of communication for three months. My brother, who I had not really seen a lot while in the U.S. started writing me every three or more weeks where I was living in the mountains near the French border. Then Portugal, and other European cities. Costa Rica (before Ecotourism took off), was my first foray into rainforests, jungle camping, rafting in waters with different fauna, and their ilk. I later went on to a few more places, but longer stays than 8 months or a year. I lived in Macau for six years, Indonesia for a year in a rice-farming village with dirt floors in most of the houses, and traveled to Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam (honeymooned there). As smartphones and the internet popped up everywhere, the experience became diluted. Yes, I climbed volcanoes, dove great reefs, camped out in cool jungles, but the individual time alone with myself and no distractions was noticeably missing. I realized this when I was able to make a Skype call almost everywhere I went, sometimes with better internet than I had in the U.S. I think the current way to get some of this back is to turn off your smartphone, or risk leaving it somewhere, and enter a less-visited place. I am old, and biased, but the gaggles of digital nomads in cafes, hammocks, and on beaches with their notebooks and tablets propped open almost makes me wish for a "Transcendence" event (the movie, not the movement, but some will argue it's the same thing), or dare I say a post-apocalyptic existence (just a daydream, not a wish!). This article warmed me over with nostalgia for this same experience. I guess there is still the ocean and the deserts, but they probably have 5G by now!

There are parts of New Jersey 11 miles from the closest bit of New England. I'd be inclined to treat that as close enough.

Friends drove in very recently, and had a great time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmkT1oRVACc