12 Ways the Internet is Good for Travel
09. Jun, 2008 
11 Comments
Is the internet ruining travel? A recent timesonline.co.uk article says it just might be.
Dea Birkett, a travel writer who hosts the travelling with kids forum said that she looks for ‘remote’ places without internet, “The internet has changed our geography of the world: Irish islands without it are ‘remote’, spots in Antarctica with it are not.”
Hunter Davies, a writer famous for his Beatles biography, says he “never uses the internet”, and comments that “people like to hear real stories and see pictures in the flesh when you return from trips.”
The article makes a strong case against using internet cafes excessively during travel and isolating yourself from interacting with the people around you. I agree that it can be taken too far, but I found it unnerving that they are against using the internet at all. I think it’s only fair that I point out the other side. Here are 12 Ways the Internet is Good for Travel:
1. Travel planning is a snap. Booking a flight online is so easy. Do I even need to mention the hotel reviewing systems that let you get feedback on a hotel before you book it? Seriously, what did we do before?
2. You can have best of both worlds. You can keep your job and travel at the same time. Working remote has become an option for more people working traditional 9-5 jobs. My husband won’t be quitting his job, he’ll be taking it with him as we travel. He has been working remotely for almost four years now, using Windows Instant Messenger to keep in touch, dialing into conference calls and uploading his work. His managers have remarked that those working remote as often more productive than their office bound counterparts. As this trend becomes more popular, it not only saves people from the daily commute, it opens up the world for exploration.
3. Learn before you go. Need some help with the local language? Curious about the history? Want to see what the weather is like in January? This information is not just convenient but often vital.
4. On the ground coverage. When the 2004 Tsunami hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, the internet was flooded with video, pictures and blog recountings of the disaster. Without the advent of the internet, this information would have never had been shared so widely or quickly. The coverage was so immediate and savagely humanizing, it triggered an avalanche of support and donations.
5. Real time updates to local information. By the time you get a guidebook to press, it is already over a year old. Online resources don’t have this built-in delay, and can often have more places listed than what you can find in a guidebook.
6. Snail mail isn’t better than email, it just takes longer. Some of the writers in the article talked about how great writing postcards can be—that is unless you spend an entire afternoon with a hand cramp, while you furiously write 20 postcards. Email? 5 minutes, cc’all and send. It’s less romantic, but if the quoted writers want us to spend as much time as possible interacting with locals, then this is a huge time saver.
7. Clever ways of making money outside the 9-5. The internet has opened up doors for people looking to follow Tim Ferris’ advice in the 4-hour Workweek. Tim’s approach involves a concept called passive income: starting business online, that doesn’t require your constant attention. Through creative outsourcing with online personal assistants from anywhere in the world, you could free yourself to travel, following your passions.
8. Everyone can travel. You don’t have to be an adventurer or a member of the leisure class to enjoy travel. The internet has opened locations up to the average vacationer who would never have considered taking a week long rafting trip in Mexico or a bicycle tour of Paris.
9. Blogging isn’t about the updates, it’s about the community. As much as I like reading an award winning travel story, I also enjoy reading those hastily written travel-blogs too. And you know the big difference? If I ask the award winning author and the travel blogger a question, guess who will answer first? (Yes, the blogger). Not only is the blogger more accessible for continued conversation, they are typically tapped into an entire network of likeminded travelers. I don’t want to be told about a place, I want to discuss it.
10. You want locals? I’ll give you your locals. Sites like virtualtourist.com, let you not only read about people’s vacation experiences, but also tap into the local community of natives and expats living in a place. Some of these profiles are invaluable resources for the local’s favorite spots and a great jumping off point if you want to experience a place like the people who live there.
11. Anything goes. The truth is that there is an entire world of stories that formal publications won’t print. It won’t sell enough magazines. The advertisers won’t like it. Online I’ve found beautiful stories that don’t have mass appeal. I’ve found funny articles that are so irreverent, they would be rubber stamp rejected by most editors.
12. If you’re going to reminisce for the good old days of travel, why not go all the way. I hear passage by steamship can be quiet relaxing. Oh wait, you can do this, on the Delta Queen… I found it online.
I think it’s a mistake to say that parts of Antarctica are not ‘remote’ because they have internet access. It’s a small world that is shrinking all the time, and part of our new reality is that there are few places in the world that haven’t been discovered or that you can’t read about online. I’d like to think there is a value in travel, even if you’re not living in the jungle with the natives. So yes, put down the cell phone, limit your online time and enjoy where you are. This goes for when you’re at home too. But the internet has opened many doors for reluctant travellers, myself included. I’m quite happy to share this with you, even though it won’t be printed on glossy magazine stock.
What you think?
Dont get me wrong, I rely on my internet for everything and when on vacation i am lost without it. But when you are away, you are supposed to AWAY! To live a different lifestyle, learning first hand different cultures. We all know that seeing/learning something through experience sometimes works better than sitting back and clicking. The internet prevents us from experiencing things first hand.
BUT if the argument is that internet isolates us from eachother, i would like to know what you think about ipods and mp3′s. Don’t they isolate us as well from each other? Comments welcomed!
Antiques: I think the internet, MP3s and iPods– even books and hiding in our hotel rooms ordering room servce… can all isolate us from each other.
My point is exactly that: let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.
There are tons of great things about the internet, just use it well.
Like everything by itself it isn’t good or bad, but how you use it.
I think it can be a very good tool for a small research on the journey and enjoy it much more: special places, reserve rooms. Why not to use it?
excellent article! I use the internet a lot. I use it for most of my research, plans, and communication. Actually, I don’t know how I lived without it.
Another benefit is that it is much more up to date with information than guidebooks!
Christine-
Great, astute observations, as usual.
Just today, I had a lengthy conversation with a travel writer with both print and online experience, and we agreed that online travel writing is FAR more exciting that most print pieces… mainly because of what you identified: online publications allow for a conversation and blogging platforms don’t typically require the rubber stamp, which is usually reserved for pieces that are predictable and fall into a certain mold.
I’d also add that the online platforms allow for quick retrievability. Although we’re bombarded with more information than ever, we also have the ability to access something we read a month ago or a year ago and bring it back to our consciousness in a way that we can’t do so easily with the print version of a magazine or a newspaper. This feature not only serves as a handy travel planning tool; it permits us to get perspective on the depth and breadth of a place with ease.
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In trying to plan my route around Argentina, I’ve gone to realize that the internet isn’t that useful. Argentina is huge, and trying to get info on distances isn’t as easy as I’m sure it will be once I’m there. But getting overall info on a country, I’ll take the internet for that. Otherwise, I’d be even more lost going to a land I’ve only seen on a map. And getting to keep a blog to inform others of your trip is awesome.
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So this stirs up a lot in me.
For starters, I think that the line between many people’s work and leisure time is becoming obscured to the point of being non-existent. If I’m not at a job, I tend to be working for myself…generating income…and I use the Internet for that heavily. Ruined travel? …That depends on one’s viewpoint of travel. If travel is thought of more as “vacation” – an escape, then by all means – leave work behind, ditch the mobile phone and enjoy your time away from it all, but if travel is a lifestyle…then live! If part of your lifestyle is using the Internet for…whatever…then don’t get too caught up in trying to fit within the boundaries of some external definition.
If one were to believe that the Internet is ruining or has ruined travel, the same thing could just as easily be said for any number of technological advances and various forms of dissemination of information. Anything from newspaper and magazine articles, guide books, telephones…mobile and land based, tour guides, tour buses…It’s pretty easy to avoid any of the things you don’t want as part of your travel experience.
You really sucked me in with the Antarctic references. I’ll tell you what, I’m at the South Pole at this very moment. Friday June 20th (Local – we run on New Zealand time) is our annual mid-winter dinner celebrating…well, half way through the winter and a short three months until we see the sun again. We have internet here…only for 10 or 11 hours/day…but apparently in somebody’s opinion this means this isn’t a remote location. Anyone who has read this is invited to join me for mid-winter dinner. It’s on me! Just show up to this non-remote location for a wonderful meal!
O.K….sorry for the article within an article.
If you notice, both of the writers you mention were in their profession well before the internet existed. Davies is over 70. Not sure about Burkett, but her photos suggest mid-40′s to mid-50′s (I’m terrible judging age). They sound biased towards the internet because of when they grew up.
Travelers/explorers who grew up before the telephone probably thought the same thing about the telephone when it went into widespread use.
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I love the internet. But I despair when I walk into a hostel common room and everyone has a laptop propped on their lap. I suppose it’s the same as having your nose in a book but there’s something more uninterruptable about a laptop. Then what do I do? Get mine and do the same. Hrm.
But then again it can make it very easy to connect with more people, too. Couchsurfing, people you meet through your blog etc etc.
Nice article!
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I understand that many articles are written to stir up a response, thus they take an extreme position. No one ever got readers by being moderate and walking the line, but I really hate it when I read articles like the Times Online article you quoted. Internet is not ruining travel. Money is not evil. A candy bar every now and then isn’t going to kill you. As with anything in life, it’s about how you use it. To me this article totally smelled of the “good ol’ day” phenomenon when we all look back longingly at how we trudged uphill both ways to school through snow 10 feet high. And then we have a moment of lucidity and remember that it either actually wasn’t like that at all or if it was, it wasn’t actually that good of a time. Bleh. If you want to get off the grid, then do it. If you’d rather not, fine. There’s no one right way to travel. Do what makes you happy.
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I don’t know how I’d live without the internet, communication and information are its sole purpose.
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