I was out for dinner the other night with some fellow travel blogging friends, Tim and Donna. We were talking about how much travel has changed in the last 10 years. How it wasn’t that long ago that we were traveling without smartphones, stopping into local tourism offices to get a physical map if we didn’t already have one in the paperback Lonely Planet in our backpacks.
They talked about traveling with film cameras and how strict they used to be about how many photos they could take of something, “no more than two,” they said with a laugh. “Can you imagine?”
“Now I take at least five photos of everything, if not more,” I said in agreement.
This style of travel, this way of living in general, seems to be having a comeback. The 90s are fashionable again, and not just for the questionable clothing choices (capri cargo pants are back? Really??).
Gen Z and Alpha are buying old digital cameras, and even more are buying disposables and taking them on their trips. Their sepia images appearing unedited on Instagram. Sure, still more curated than the photo albums with over 100 photos that we used to post on Facebook, but equal in quality. They love the novelty of not knowing what you’re going to get until you get it developed, love that you only get 27 precious chances to capture what you want.
They call it going analog. Listening to CDs and records again, rather than letting the Spotify algorithm determine what they are going to listen to. Some are even going as far as getting flip phones, which they comically call dumb phones. They are shunning the smartphone and its control over our attention spans entirely, although they’re still managing to find ways to post about it on social media, so figure that one out.
People my age are beginning to take up hobbies we now call Grandma Hobbies; things like knitting, crocheting, and watercolor painting. Heck, I wrote an entire Substack about sewing.
As the world becomes ever more digital, ever more comfortable, ever more out of our control, we are all seeking places where we can use our hands, where we can use our brains, make our own decisions, make something of our own.
I’m sure everyone has a different reason for seeking out these hobbies. I started sewing because I thought it would be fun to make my own clothes, but the more I do it, the more I love the feeling of being completely engrossed in something.
Writing does that for me in a different way; my brain is still on, still editing as I go, still pulling for words at the back of my brain, still forcing me to look up and around and go in and out of focus. But when I’m sewing, I am nowhere else. I am so focused on the singular task at hand that hours pass without my knowledge. There is something so magical about that.
I have started to become much more discerning about the travel information I consume lately. With the rise of AI and how much is being scraped from blogs like mine, no credit given, no ad money received, no affiliate income made when someone books that tour that I recommended, but that was found on ChatGPT instead of on my blog, I want to make sure I am supporting small businesses and real writers.
I started reading guidebooks again last year. First, I did it for my November trip to Glasgow. I went to the library and took out Rick Steves’ Guide to Britain. It was packed with funny anecdotes, helpful tips, and a great walking tour that I did during my trip.
Then I got the Scotland Lonely Planet. I’ll be honest, Lonely Planet books are more style than substance these days, with beautiful photos and better maps, but really lacking in the information that they used to carry. But I did use those maps and some of the cafe and bar recommendations, which were excellent.
I did this again for our road trip through Northern California down to San Francisco, and once again, I was surprised at the depth that many books went into. I took one of them with me on the trip, and we used all of the maps of the different Redwood Forest Parks to find hikes (but also, always stop into park ranger offices, they have the best maps and hike recommendations! So many analog options!).
I still love reading blogs and other online articles for restaurant recommendations, because they tend to be the most up-to-date options, and I love supporting fellow bloggers and travel writers, but overall, I have fallen back in love with analog travel.
Maybe I should go get a disposable camera for my next trip, too.
The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza. So far, I am loving this multi-generational tale of Lucha Libre wrestlers. The book hops between timelines, and in each chapter, the narrator shifts to one of the sons or the eldest grandmother. You go between Mexico City and Los Angeles across the generations while learning about the complicated relationships these three men all had with each other and those who are close to them. I haven’t been able to put it down!
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. I am reading this for my job, and so far I am fascinated! I have only read two chapters, but the gender data gap is wider than I could have ever imagined. “The fact is that worth is a matter of opinion, and opinion is informed by culture. And if that culture is as male-biased as ours is, it can’t help but be biased against women. By default.”
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Until next time,
Laura
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