I'm with you, Brent! First off, speaking of tech, DUDE, ditch the physical SIM cards! Check out Airalo.com, it might just save you hours dealing with SIM cards. It's the best.
That said, for my first big overseas trip right after college in 2005, a year wandering the world, all I had was an old iPod. No Kindle books, social media, laptop, phone. I was totally disconnected from home most of the time except in internet cafes and I think that solitude gave me a new sense of autonomy and independence that has led to many other successes in my life.
My oh my was there a lot of introspection on that trip, hours on SE Asian night buses and the Trans-Siberian railroad looking out the window. It did help me decide WTF to do with my newly minted engineering degree (ditch it and start my own unrelated biz!).
Would I do it now? Hell no! Love having my phone trips. But I'm glad I had the opportunity to travel large sans-tech and think there's a middle ground for travelers to check out of their home lives and focus on what's in front of them without the comforts and connections to home. But bring a phone that can do Spotify, I got SO sick of the songs on my iPod!
haha. well, it's complicated. We do have e-sims (we use Flexiroam -- we've had problems with Airalo, but we've had problems with Flexiroam too, so who knows?), but, well, Michael need a special discount to get a particular phone, which meant being on a particular plan, which mean getting an actual sim card. Anyway! Problem is solved now. (But thanks for the tip! We may go back to Airalo...)
I think your approach is smart, and with self-control it's possible to have some of the best of both worlds. But of course that doesn't stop the world from changing around us.
As I'm aging traveling is getting more difficult keeping up with technology. Much of it is easy peasy and a portion is a pain in the derriere. For example, I rent a car and get lost because the GPS isn't hooked up and my phone service is sketchy. Or, I'm exploring a new city and get lost because the GPS has me circling the same block over and over unable to recognize a street (or an entire block) is under repair. Recently I attended a concert in Detroit and needed a parking app to get into the parking garage. It didn't punch out passes or tickets - I had to use my phone to get in, pay, AND get out.
Airline travel is easier, or is it? I don't like being cramped like a sardine and it's too expensive to buy business class most of the time - if I want to change my seat or flights the phone is really a solo option in most cases - what if I leave my phone on the plane?
And finally, off topic. I'm starting to realize the "preppers" aren't as nuts as I once thought they were. I'm preparing a bug out bag in the event technology goes down - crazy as it sounds with all the unrest I'd rather be prepared than left to the demise of a phone that no longer has service due to some foreign invasion or our satellites going dark... at some point when I'm ready to relocate to another part of the world I will be packed for an emergency in the event of no phone or service... and I'm packing a paperback, just in case. Great read as always!
Very interesting about the prepper idea. I always insist we have several hundred US dollars in case we're in a country where everything crashes for some reason. I figure US currency will always be worth something.
I'm interested in it (now) also. I lived in Northern Nevada for a number of years. Outside of Reno in a somewhat deserted area of the country there is a small town (Walker) where there is a large community of these preppers. It is somewhat eerie and a bit scary to visit, and not such great vibes driving through it. But. What I did learn was the level of confidence they have if something serious were to come down, it's all about being prepared. I can't imagine living underground or foraging for food and clean water to survive in the event everything is shut down. Guess since the supply chain interupted in the past couple years this really opened my eyes to how desperate things might get. Honestly I'd feel safer overseas than here - it seems like people come together more over there than here.
The thing that scares me about being overseas in the event of disaster, now (with the systems all "working"), we're seen as "rich tourists," so we're respected and catered to a bit. But should things melt down, I don't think anyone would care, and we might even be viewed with great suspicion (especially if America *causes* the meltdown). We don't have local friends and family to support us, take us in. That worries me.
Scary that we're all even THINKING about such things. But such is the era in which we live...
I feel your pain at “smart” technology that can’t think and innovate. Question for your prep: how do you plan on handling transportation if your phone goes down? All our reservations, confirms, travel docs are on the darn phone. Do you plan on finding a printshop? Printers are getting scarce. Solution?
We save everything in email folders, so it we lost our phones, we'd still have access to our email, so we could (hopefully) print stuff out. We've found, in poorer countries at least, it's easy to find a copy shop or a business center. If we have easy access to one, we print stuff out anyway, but we haven't done that much lately. I guess I always assume, worst case scenario, I could log into a computer and at least show someone a document. Plus, there are TWO of us, so we have two phones --- and we send each other everything, so we have two copies.
Oh, God, I agree with all of this. I will say: Air travel is much CHEAPER now (adjusted for inflation), which is why it sucks more. People want low prices, not big seats. I guess I'd also add there were certainly inconveniences before -- they were just different ones. But yeah, big picture, lately I'm frustrated that so many place ASSUME you have a phone (or certain technology to along with it). I don't WANT to download your app!
The preppers issue...oh Lord I don't even want to think about that. You're right, they have a point, and I simply can't deal... LOL
Here’s another thought. Without tech, there wouldn’t even BE Airbnb, VRBO, Booking dot com, etc. Those resources (as much as we may hate them) couldn’t exist. 1n 1992 our daughter arranged her honeymoon in Boston/NH by phone with bed and breakfasts and rental cars. I thought she was pretty intrepid. At this moment we are booking June and July in three countries, and never speaking to another person…..
Right?! The first time I came to Europe (in 1986), my mother made all reservations by mailing internationally to hotels she saw advertised in the back of THE NEW YORKER (her favorite magazine). It took MONTHS, and it was expensive and all quite random.
I'm not a nomad, and I can see how tech enhances the experience. But my experience with tech is mostly frustration. It's always: the account is down, the account has new requirements, you have to upgrade everything, there's a security breach, the touch-screen isn't responding or is too sensitive, the click or swipe isn't working, the login isn't working right, the whole website has been reorganized so you can't find anything anymore, and on and on.
We were in Wales several years back. Paper bus schedules were no longer available for many routes, and the international phone we'd gotten wasn't working. While I stood at the bus stop reading the sign for the bus's pickup times, a helpful local stepped up with his phone app. The trouble was, his transit app only showed the *next* bus that would arrive, not all the pickup times for the rest of the day--and what I needed to know was what time the bus would come later in the day, so we could plan our return trip. Luckily there was a printed sign at the bus stop showing that info.
I remember riding with a friend to a weekend retreat where we circled the location we were trying to find with GPS, as her phone connection went in and out, and every time it went out the whole thing would reset. We knew we were only 2 minutes away, but we drove in circles for 10 minutes. Give me a paper map any day.
I gave up on e-books because my e-reader app constantly had to be upgraded, and with every upgrade it would reshuffle my carefully organized library. It's such a relief to just pick up a paper book and open right to the bookmarked page and never have to recharge a battery or upgrade the software or hardware.
Don't even get me started on "smart" appliances that seem designed to make processes that used to be simple ten times more complicated than they ever need to be.
As I write, it occurs to me that tech feels like Looking-Glass Land: running and running just to try to stay in place. I don't have that kind of energy or patience for the constant upgrading, the constant relearning, and so I've fallen behind. So to me the world feels less accessible, not more accessible, than it used to be. I feel like I need to become a tech wizard to go anywhere--and as soon as I do learn anything new, it changes within a year, so I'm back to zero again.
For me, it doesn't help that I'm not interested or fascinated by technology, like a lot of people are. I'm a late adopter, and very little of this comes easy to me. So yeah, much of what you say resonates. I will say: some of the innovations are amazing. But it's a lot of frustration along the way.
I find the "HotelTonight" thing amusing. It used to be that hotels would truly sell last minute inventory online, and you could get real bargains. But now EVERYONE books hotels online, so the "bargain" price is just...the price. (Although you can definitely pit the apps against each other and still find bargains. But it's tough! It requires effort and legwork just like...before. Oy.)
So agree about the appliances! Give me a washer that I just press the "On" button and it washes my clothes. I do not need twelve different cycles to choose from!
It's interesting. When we were in KL I hadn't yet solved my sim card issue and I was out walking by myself one morning when I encountered one of those SEA sidewalk anomalies -- in this case a sudden drop-off. I bruised myself pretty well, but was immediately able to get up and wave off the security guard coming to help me. But what if I'd knocked myself out? Without a working phone, Brent never could have tracked me down and any authorities wouldn't have much to help them figure out where I might be staying.
Of course, these things all happened prior to phones. And while I consider myself a pretty intrepid traveler who wanders around Istanbul after midnight, I didn't love the idea of being completely cut-off.
As a student I travelled through Europe, Turkey, and India armed only with a Lonely Planet Guide and it wasn’t bad at all. And in spite of everything, nothing beats knowing a local. But I am grateful to never have to be at the mercy of the “ridiculously corrupt” taxi industry again (KL being an especially egregious example)
I recently purchased a used paperback book to read at the beach when the glare from the sun made it difficult to read the screen on my phone. I have had the book for three months. In that time, I have read only 46 pages; and I have completed 5 books on my phone. I thought I missed the paper books but in reality, the books on my phone are so darned convenient that I now find I prefer the digital books.
Yeah, I don't get the complaints about Kindles (which I love even more than my phone). I have the entire store of human knowledge, access to every book ever written, right in my hand! I'm a fan.
The last tlme I read a "paper" book, I got really frustrated i couldn't "search" or forward stuff to Michael. LOL
"an astounding 87% of the world’s population. This is way more than the number of people who have flush toilets (60%) or running water (74%)" - um, wow. It does seem that everyone has a smart phone, but placed in comparison to the basic need of water....wow.
Yeah, it's complicated. I love my technology, but as with everything else it's never all good or all bad, just as you have described.
BTW, have you tried the app maps.me? It allows us to download the local maps and have full GPS coverage even when we have no cell coverage. Just in case you get stuck again with SIM issues. We decided not to buy any local SIM's and rely on WiFi in the evening at our accommodations. We really enjoy being disconnected during the day. It helps with my Facebook addiction :/
Oh! Good tip. Just downloaded it. Exactly what I needed, even if I still don't understand how the phone tells you where you are even while disconnected.
It uses GPS. One thing to note. Local maps have to be downloaded as well. Whenever we are headed to a new place I just zoom in. Once zoomed in enough it will ask if you want to download the local map. It has been a huge benefit for us.
Ha, that's two strikes on me recommending my travel tips to the pro nomads. Seems like y'all are dialed! I'll scope out Flexiroam for my next trip overseas...unless I smash my phone to pieces and go without. Is there a phrase for NON digital nomading? :)
Hope you're having fun in Malaysia. Fond memories there myself from that trip around the world. FWIW, Borneo was one of my favorite destinations, though I'm sure it's changed a lot. But hey, you can climb the highest mountain in SE Asia and scuba dive the next day at Sipadan, how cool is that?!
Oh, don't ever hesitate to give us tips! There are MANY things we don't know.
Hmmm, we were all set to go to Borneo, but then switched to Thailand instead (not enough Visa time left in Malaysia). We need to get there though, and fast.
I enjoyed your article but have a question; how especially with new AirBnb rules were you able to negotiate a rental price agreeable to all? Kindly walk me through your methodology, the process you used?
But in a nutshell: (1) go places in the off or shoulder season.
(2) Investigate the market thoroughly. Use filters, etc. Compare platforms. If at all possible, contract owners via their websites, not through Airbnb or Booking (do a photo or headline search)
(3) Contact host, ask questions, establish some kind of trust. (Don't be a pushy kook)
(4) once questions are answered, "sell" yourself (older, quiet, etc), and ask for a discount.
Great subject! I wouldn’t go back in time to travel the way we used to travel. I remember flying in the US for the first time in 1979. You basically had to have a travel agent and it was all a mystery. Plans that were made for where to meet and god forbid someone was late, got hurt or got lost. There was no way to connect. I lived 3000 miles away from family in NYC in the early 80’s and we had to schedule phone calls because of the cost. I still have the letters my friends and family wrote to me while I lived there.
Even when I started traveling internationally in 1999, it was difficult. I could book a flight online, but who knew if it was a reasonable fare or the best timing. And I remember printing off reams of MapQuest maps so I would know where I was going, both internationally and at home.
Traveling alone in foreign countries was much harder for me back then with only English and school-girl French. Especially since English was not being widely taught or had just started to be taught in foreign schools. I had to look for 10 year olds to try to help me be understood. I would be lost in a foreign city with no one to ask for help and only my trusty guidebook and paper map to help me find my way back to my hotel.
Was it stimulating and exciting? Yes. Was it absolutely exhausting? Definitely! So I would not go back. Technology we have today is the only reason I feel I am able to live and travel as a nomad as I do today.
Have a question about a visa? The answer can be found or someone has good info on our FB groups. There are fewer countries requiring visas for US citizens than in the past. And if it is required, it can usually be done online. No more applying for your visa in your home country, which nomads are never in!
I’m grateful for the technology we have today, but can see that with the convenience comes change that is not necessarily for the better.
Hahah, yeah, all very true. And remember going to "internet cafes"? We'd always seek them out every few days to check our email.
It's all pros and cons. I guess the sweet spot was maybe 2010-2015, with all the wifi and new technology and conveniences, but before the hordes of people (and higher prices). But that's partly my privilege talking...
(oh Lord! Mapquest. Crazy! And even that was so frequently WRONG)
Travel pre/post tech... it's a conversation that fascinates me! I wrote a piece for Conde Nast Traveller two or so years ago, which focussed on four (or was it five?) women who'd travelled Before The Internet. My big take-away? Yes, it's so much easier now (of course) but when we're so screen-bound we really do miss out on so many rich experiences and real-life connections.
(Also, I remember – back in about 2008 – registering the URL "Travels With My iPhone". My idea? To travel the world, using only my phone to make bookings, navigate, plan, take photographs. Oh, the changing times!)
I'm with you, Brent! First off, speaking of tech, DUDE, ditch the physical SIM cards! Check out Airalo.com, it might just save you hours dealing with SIM cards. It's the best.
That said, for my first big overseas trip right after college in 2005, a year wandering the world, all I had was an old iPod. No Kindle books, social media, laptop, phone. I was totally disconnected from home most of the time except in internet cafes and I think that solitude gave me a new sense of autonomy and independence that has led to many other successes in my life.
My oh my was there a lot of introspection on that trip, hours on SE Asian night buses and the Trans-Siberian railroad looking out the window. It did help me decide WTF to do with my newly minted engineering degree (ditch it and start my own unrelated biz!).
Would I do it now? Hell no! Love having my phone trips. But I'm glad I had the opportunity to travel large sans-tech and think there's a middle ground for travelers to check out of their home lives and focus on what's in front of them without the comforts and connections to home. But bring a phone that can do Spotify, I got SO sick of the songs on my iPod!
haha. well, it's complicated. We do have e-sims (we use Flexiroam -- we've had problems with Airalo, but we've had problems with Flexiroam too, so who knows?), but, well, Michael need a special discount to get a particular phone, which meant being on a particular plan, which mean getting an actual sim card. Anyway! Problem is solved now. (But thanks for the tip! We may go back to Airalo...)
I think your approach is smart, and with self-control it's possible to have some of the best of both worlds. But of course that doesn't stop the world from changing around us.
As I'm aging traveling is getting more difficult keeping up with technology. Much of it is easy peasy and a portion is a pain in the derriere. For example, I rent a car and get lost because the GPS isn't hooked up and my phone service is sketchy. Or, I'm exploring a new city and get lost because the GPS has me circling the same block over and over unable to recognize a street (or an entire block) is under repair. Recently I attended a concert in Detroit and needed a parking app to get into the parking garage. It didn't punch out passes or tickets - I had to use my phone to get in, pay, AND get out.
Airline travel is easier, or is it? I don't like being cramped like a sardine and it's too expensive to buy business class most of the time - if I want to change my seat or flights the phone is really a solo option in most cases - what if I leave my phone on the plane?
And finally, off topic. I'm starting to realize the "preppers" aren't as nuts as I once thought they were. I'm preparing a bug out bag in the event technology goes down - crazy as it sounds with all the unrest I'd rather be prepared than left to the demise of a phone that no longer has service due to some foreign invasion or our satellites going dark... at some point when I'm ready to relocate to another part of the world I will be packed for an emergency in the event of no phone or service... and I'm packing a paperback, just in case. Great read as always!
Very interesting about the prepper idea. I always insist we have several hundred US dollars in case we're in a country where everything crashes for some reason. I figure US currency will always be worth something.
I'm interested in it (now) also. I lived in Northern Nevada for a number of years. Outside of Reno in a somewhat deserted area of the country there is a small town (Walker) where there is a large community of these preppers. It is somewhat eerie and a bit scary to visit, and not such great vibes driving through it. But. What I did learn was the level of confidence they have if something serious were to come down, it's all about being prepared. I can't imagine living underground or foraging for food and clean water to survive in the event everything is shut down. Guess since the supply chain interupted in the past couple years this really opened my eyes to how desperate things might get. Honestly I'd feel safer overseas than here - it seems like people come together more over there than here.
The thing that scares me about being overseas in the event of disaster, now (with the systems all "working"), we're seen as "rich tourists," so we're respected and catered to a bit. But should things melt down, I don't think anyone would care, and we might even be viewed with great suspicion (especially if America *causes* the meltdown). We don't have local friends and family to support us, take us in. That worries me.
Scary that we're all even THINKING about such things. But such is the era in which we live...
I feel your pain at “smart” technology that can’t think and innovate. Question for your prep: how do you plan on handling transportation if your phone goes down? All our reservations, confirms, travel docs are on the darn phone. Do you plan on finding a printshop? Printers are getting scarce. Solution?
We save everything in email folders, so it we lost our phones, we'd still have access to our email, so we could (hopefully) print stuff out. We've found, in poorer countries at least, it's easy to find a copy shop or a business center. If we have easy access to one, we print stuff out anyway, but we haven't done that much lately. I guess I always assume, worst case scenario, I could log into a computer and at least show someone a document. Plus, there are TWO of us, so we have two phones --- and we send each other everything, so we have two copies.
Oh, God, I agree with all of this. I will say: Air travel is much CHEAPER now (adjusted for inflation), which is why it sucks more. People want low prices, not big seats. I guess I'd also add there were certainly inconveniences before -- they were just different ones. But yeah, big picture, lately I'm frustrated that so many place ASSUME you have a phone (or certain technology to along with it). I don't WANT to download your app!
The preppers issue...oh Lord I don't even want to think about that. You're right, they have a point, and I simply can't deal... LOL
Here’s another thought. Without tech, there wouldn’t even BE Airbnb, VRBO, Booking dot com, etc. Those resources (as much as we may hate them) couldn’t exist. 1n 1992 our daughter arranged her honeymoon in Boston/NH by phone with bed and breakfasts and rental cars. I thought she was pretty intrepid. At this moment we are booking June and July in three countries, and never speaking to another person…..
Right?! The first time I came to Europe (in 1986), my mother made all reservations by mailing internationally to hotels she saw advertised in the back of THE NEW YORKER (her favorite magazine). It took MONTHS, and it was expensive and all quite random.
Haha, I'm trying to pull my head out of the sand (sort of).
I'm not a nomad, and I can see how tech enhances the experience. But my experience with tech is mostly frustration. It's always: the account is down, the account has new requirements, you have to upgrade everything, there's a security breach, the touch-screen isn't responding or is too sensitive, the click or swipe isn't working, the login isn't working right, the whole website has been reorganized so you can't find anything anymore, and on and on.
We were in Wales several years back. Paper bus schedules were no longer available for many routes, and the international phone we'd gotten wasn't working. While I stood at the bus stop reading the sign for the bus's pickup times, a helpful local stepped up with his phone app. The trouble was, his transit app only showed the *next* bus that would arrive, not all the pickup times for the rest of the day--and what I needed to know was what time the bus would come later in the day, so we could plan our return trip. Luckily there was a printed sign at the bus stop showing that info.
I remember riding with a friend to a weekend retreat where we circled the location we were trying to find with GPS, as her phone connection went in and out, and every time it went out the whole thing would reset. We knew we were only 2 minutes away, but we drove in circles for 10 minutes. Give me a paper map any day.
I gave up on e-books because my e-reader app constantly had to be upgraded, and with every upgrade it would reshuffle my carefully organized library. It's such a relief to just pick up a paper book and open right to the bookmarked page and never have to recharge a battery or upgrade the software or hardware.
Don't even get me started on "smart" appliances that seem designed to make processes that used to be simple ten times more complicated than they ever need to be.
As I write, it occurs to me that tech feels like Looking-Glass Land: running and running just to try to stay in place. I don't have that kind of energy or patience for the constant upgrading, the constant relearning, and so I've fallen behind. So to me the world feels less accessible, not more accessible, than it used to be. I feel like I need to become a tech wizard to go anywhere--and as soon as I do learn anything new, it changes within a year, so I'm back to zero again.
For me, it doesn't help that I'm not interested or fascinated by technology, like a lot of people are. I'm a late adopter, and very little of this comes easy to me. So yeah, much of what you say resonates. I will say: some of the innovations are amazing. But it's a lot of frustration along the way.
I find the "HotelTonight" thing amusing. It used to be that hotels would truly sell last minute inventory online, and you could get real bargains. But now EVERYONE books hotels online, so the "bargain" price is just...the price. (Although you can definitely pit the apps against each other and still find bargains. But it's tough! It requires effort and legwork just like...before. Oy.)
So agree about the appliances! Give me a washer that I just press the "On" button and it washes my clothes. I do not need twelve different cycles to choose from!
When I feel like travelling 90s-style I just leave the phone at the hotel, which is to say I don’t do it often. I do miss it tho!
It's interesting. When we were in KL I hadn't yet solved my sim card issue and I was out walking by myself one morning when I encountered one of those SEA sidewalk anomalies -- in this case a sudden drop-off. I bruised myself pretty well, but was immediately able to get up and wave off the security guard coming to help me. But what if I'd knocked myself out? Without a working phone, Brent never could have tracked me down and any authorities wouldn't have much to help them figure out where I might be staying.
Of course, these things all happened prior to phones. And while I consider myself a pretty intrepid traveler who wanders around Istanbul after midnight, I didn't love the idea of being completely cut-off.
EXACTLY! Some of us have partners who never stand still. Since I don't (yet) have a leash, a smartphone will have to do...
Yes, it's possible to do it old style. But it's becoming harder! No way to call a rideshare. And I do worry about emergencies...
As a student I travelled through Europe, Turkey, and India armed only with a Lonely Planet Guide and it wasn’t bad at all. And in spite of everything, nothing beats knowing a local. But I am grateful to never have to be at the mercy of the “ridiculously corrupt” taxi industry again (KL being an especially egregious example)
Oh I am SO HAPPY to see the taxi industry go down! Such frustrations we've had!
Jealous of your travels, sounds wonderful. These days, we still think it's so important to get to know locals....
I recently purchased a used paperback book to read at the beach when the glare from the sun made it difficult to read the screen on my phone. I have had the book for three months. In that time, I have read only 46 pages; and I have completed 5 books on my phone. I thought I missed the paper books but in reality, the books on my phone are so darned convenient that I now find I prefer the digital books.
Yeah, I don't get the complaints about Kindles (which I love even more than my phone). I have the entire store of human knowledge, access to every book ever written, right in my hand! I'm a fan.
The last tlme I read a "paper" book, I got really frustrated i couldn't "search" or forward stuff to Michael. LOL
"an astounding 87% of the world’s population. This is way more than the number of people who have flush toilets (60%) or running water (74%)" - um, wow. It does seem that everyone has a smart phone, but placed in comparison to the basic need of water....wow.
Yeah, it's complicated. I love my technology, but as with everything else it's never all good or all bad, just as you have described.
BTW, have you tried the app maps.me? It allows us to download the local maps and have full GPS coverage even when we have no cell coverage. Just in case you get stuck again with SIM issues. We decided not to buy any local SIM's and rely on WiFi in the evening at our accommodations. We really enjoy being disconnected during the day. It helps with my Facebook addiction :/
Oh! Good tip. Just downloaded it. Exactly what I needed, even if I still don't understand how the phone tells you where you are even while disconnected.
It uses GPS. One thing to note. Local maps have to be downloaded as well. Whenever we are headed to a new place I just zoom in. Once zoomed in enough it will ask if you want to download the local map. It has been a huge benefit for us.
Ha, that's two strikes on me recommending my travel tips to the pro nomads. Seems like y'all are dialed! I'll scope out Flexiroam for my next trip overseas...unless I smash my phone to pieces and go without. Is there a phrase for NON digital nomading? :)
Hope you're having fun in Malaysia. Fond memories there myself from that trip around the world. FWIW, Borneo was one of my favorite destinations, though I'm sure it's changed a lot. But hey, you can climb the highest mountain in SE Asia and scuba dive the next day at Sipadan, how cool is that?!
Oh, don't ever hesitate to give us tips! There are MANY things we don't know.
Hmmm, we were all set to go to Borneo, but then switched to Thailand instead (not enough Visa time left in Malaysia). We need to get there though, and fast.
I enjoyed your article but have a question; how especially with new AirBnb rules were you able to negotiate a rental price agreeable to all? Kindly walk me through your methodology, the process you used?
What do you mean new rules?
I've written about this in the past: https://www.brentandmichaelaregoingplaces.com/p/what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-the
But in a nutshell: (1) go places in the off or shoulder season.
(2) Investigate the market thoroughly. Use filters, etc. Compare platforms. If at all possible, contract owners via their websites, not through Airbnb or Booking (do a photo or headline search)
(3) Contact host, ask questions, establish some kind of trust. (Don't be a pushy kook)
(4) once questions are answered, "sell" yourself (older, quiet, etc), and ask for a discount.
Lather, rinse, repeat!
Great subject! I wouldn’t go back in time to travel the way we used to travel. I remember flying in the US for the first time in 1979. You basically had to have a travel agent and it was all a mystery. Plans that were made for where to meet and god forbid someone was late, got hurt or got lost. There was no way to connect. I lived 3000 miles away from family in NYC in the early 80’s and we had to schedule phone calls because of the cost. I still have the letters my friends and family wrote to me while I lived there.
Even when I started traveling internationally in 1999, it was difficult. I could book a flight online, but who knew if it was a reasonable fare or the best timing. And I remember printing off reams of MapQuest maps so I would know where I was going, both internationally and at home.
Traveling alone in foreign countries was much harder for me back then with only English and school-girl French. Especially since English was not being widely taught or had just started to be taught in foreign schools. I had to look for 10 year olds to try to help me be understood. I would be lost in a foreign city with no one to ask for help and only my trusty guidebook and paper map to help me find my way back to my hotel.
Was it stimulating and exciting? Yes. Was it absolutely exhausting? Definitely! So I would not go back. Technology we have today is the only reason I feel I am able to live and travel as a nomad as I do today.
Have a question about a visa? The answer can be found or someone has good info on our FB groups. There are fewer countries requiring visas for US citizens than in the past. And if it is required, it can usually be done online. No more applying for your visa in your home country, which nomads are never in!
I’m grateful for the technology we have today, but can see that with the convenience comes change that is not necessarily for the better.
Hahah, yeah, all very true. And remember going to "internet cafes"? We'd always seek them out every few days to check our email.
It's all pros and cons. I guess the sweet spot was maybe 2010-2015, with all the wifi and new technology and conveniences, but before the hordes of people (and higher prices). But that's partly my privilege talking...
(oh Lord! Mapquest. Crazy! And even that was so frequently WRONG)
Travel pre/post tech... it's a conversation that fascinates me! I wrote a piece for Conde Nast Traveller two or so years ago, which focussed on four (or was it five?) women who'd travelled Before The Internet. My big take-away? Yes, it's so much easier now (of course) but when we're so screen-bound we really do miss out on so many rich experiences and real-life connections.
(Also, I remember – back in about 2008 – registering the URL "Travels With My iPhone". My idea? To travel the world, using only my phone to make bookings, navigate, plan, take photographs. Oh, the changing times!)
hahah, that's great. And that was only 2008! (To me, that doesn't seem that long ago. And yet the world has been UTTERLY transformed. Oy.)
Luddites never win...
But do they have more fun? At least if they're blond? LOL
In the future, please keep comments relevant the article you're posting on, okay?