Techno Travel for Luddites

We’ve certainly come a long way since the days when you had to line up at international phone centres to place a call back home. As a bit of a techno-phobe myself, it’s been a process to adopt the new technologies for travel. But I have to say, I’m hooked. Here’s why:

1. I found a favourite inn using only Google Street View and a photograph

Because who could ever remember a street named ‘Huzye Hertsberge’?

I was racking my brain trying to remember the name of a B&B where I stayed 9 years ago in Bruges, with only a photo of the backside of it overlooking the canal, and the memory of there being a bridge nearby within a short walk of the central square. But by studying an overhead map of the town, finding the landmark central square, I could actually SEE the roof of the hotel, and from there I was able to literally follow the streetview to the front of the building and find the name of the hotel! (By the way, it’s a beautiful B&B, if you’re ever in Bruges!)

(Confession here, if truth be told, credit for this idea has to go to my geek husband, who had the idea. Turns out he’s not just a pretty face that lad, or as he misquoted once when describing me: ‘just not a pretty face’. Watch that syntax, Mister!) 

2. Books on Tablets

Sure beats lugging around The Agony and the Ecstasy in a backpack. More the former, less the latter.

No more lugging paperbacks around the world, hoping that when you swap your finished novel for a fresh one donated by the previous hostel guest, it isn’t a trashy read by Danielle Steele. (Apologies, Danielle, if you are reading my blog – yeah right – I’m just demonstrating a problem with transient libraries.) Now you can bring the entire Encyclopedia Brittanica, if that’s your preferred reading, and it all fits on a nice little tablet or smartphone.

3. Google-in-my-pocket

I love smartphones because they make me feel smarty-smart. (Especially when used to prove my husband wrong when we disagree on any subject. Maybe that just makes me a smart ass…) Anyway, for more practical travelling purposes, they provide all kinds of answers to any question you might have RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Whether it’s finding out just when the Colosseum was built, helping you find a last-minute B&B, locate a restaurant, or confirm the opening hours for an attraction you want to visit. (We’ve used it many a time when we found ourselves ‘homeless’ in a city and secured a great place to sleep in minutes.) This makes for a device that is a valuable tool, not just a toy. The fact that it is a cool tool is a bonus.

4. Señor Garmin and Monsieur Tom-Tom

Great, yes, but pick up a printed map as backup.

When Henk first got his hand-held GPS, he insisted it accompany us on our trip to Peru. I nicknamed our new travelling companion ‘Señor Garmin‘ and to be honest, didn’t take him too seriously. (Or maybe that was Henk.) Certainly GPS devices have their limitations, like when you drive through underpasses or tunnels, but Señor Garmin has proven pretty handy. In one case he even helped us retrace our jeep tracks on an African savannah back to the singular tree where we spotted a leopard 5 hours before. Whether you use it for finding your way in the wild, or marking your favourite cappuccino cafe, having a map that doesn’t blow away can be a real benefit. That being said, I do like to back it up with a printed map, especially if I’m driving – because sometimes Señor Garmin and I don’t seem to be speaking the same language.

5. Digital Cameras

Want to go back to film canisters?  Negative.

Once upon a time I had an entire country’s worth of travel photos (Greece) ruined by a stupid camera that didn’t pick up the stupid film for a stupid MONTH!. (And when I say ‘stupid’, insert much more colourful language, which is what I did when I discovered the problem after returning to Canada.) Now that film has joined cassettes in the Retro Museum of Life, I now know in a second if our photo is good or not, and I can retake those fabulous photos on the spot until I get it just right. And there are all kinds of ways to back up that shot, whether that means downloading your photos onto USB keys or disks, or sending them off to the cloud if you’re worried about losing them between destinations.

The CONS: With the advantages of technology comes  the flip side, and it consists of two things: cords and batteries.
Some day a really smart-smart person will make a universal adaptor plug-in for all electronics like they have for wall outlets in foreign countries. We’re getting there, but until that genius invents one for my older devices, or the Apple and PC boys start playing more nicely together, we’re stuck with a spaghetti tangle of cords to keep all our electronics happily charged up. And you thought untangling the Christmas Tree lights was fun.

The second problem is batteries and memory cards. All the weight you thought you were saving in your luggage by leaving those books behind is negated by the batteries/chargers you need for your camera. If you like rechargeables, it’s a good idea to carry a couple of battery packs so you can always have one charged up, but like the printed map, have some alkaline as backups – for when you’re really focused on getting those photographs (pun intended) and there’s no wall outlets in your canoe.

Oh, and get a bunch of memory cards. They weigh nothing, ensure you will always have space to capture that unexpected photo, and they are an investment, since they can be reused. (Try doing that with film, and you’d end up with some pretty interesting shots.)

I’m actually surprised how far I’ve come with all this stuff that now has proven essential for my travels. Then again, I’ve always been a Star Trek fan, so maybe it isn’t all that surprising after all. Now all I need is a transporter, and I’ll be all set.

Jane Canapini

Jane is an award-winning travel writer and photographer and an accredited member of the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC). In their annual awards competition, TMAC named GrownupTravels.com as the Best Self-Published Travel Blog in 2025 .
She is also a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association, and a freelance travel writer contributing to both print and online publications.