Smartphones have transformed the way we travel
From helping us navigate through foreign cities, to providing a handy paperweights for our passports, smartphones have had a profound effect on the way we travel.
And if a recent survey carried out by a San Francisco design and development firm is anything to go by, this trend isn't going to change anytime soon.
The survey found that a third of people would be lost without their smartphone over the holiday period, while 46 per cent of travellers rely on mapping apps to guide them.
Over half the people surveyed texted family and friends when their aircraft departed and arrived safely, 30 per cent used travel apps on their phones to keep up to date on departure times for planes and trains, and a quarter of the people who took part in the study said they were making use of the boarding pass features on their mobile phones when they arrived at the airport.
It’s just goes to show how profound the effect the implementation of mobile phones has had on the process of travelling and what it means to be a traveller in 2016.
Smart phones have removed the need for a variety of different tools in a traveller’s backpack. From a camera to a compass to maps, phrase books, translation tools and a diary, the modern smart phone is an all in one device that makes the process of travelling easier, but maybe takes away some of the charm of finding yourself lost in a foreign country where you don’t know the local language or customs and are struggling to think of how you’re going to get yourself to your hotel.
So what do you think? Are you addicted to your smart phone as a travelling tool of convenience or are you yearning for a return to the days where you were uncontactable overseas (and virtually had every chance of getting lost to the point where you were a 45 minute walk from where you had to be). Let us know in the comments below!
Related links:
One man’s genius way to avoid losing your luggage
Is it safe to hand your passport over to a hotel?
Why you should never book a flight on a Friday