10 Things You Almost Miss Worrying About When You Go On Vacation
Sure, we all want to travel and visit new and exciting places, but there are always going to be those experiences from your past that you miss.
We can't really recreate our former trips and memories, but we can revisit them. Even if it's not even a place, and instead it's a moment or a habit that you used to have when you traveled that has suddenly become irrelevant thanks to new technology.
Don't get me wrong, having all of our needs taken care of by one device is absolutely ideal, but there are some nostalgic little things that we can't help but miss.
Who else remembers when these things were a big part of your vacation?
Search through the vacation brochures
Back in those dark days before the internet, the only way to find out about new places to travel to was either by word of mouth, or fancy travel brochures.
Sure, you can still go and get them now, but you can just google 'vacation destinations' and end up with millions of results.
But there's something oddly satisfying about looking at the pictures in print. Flipping through those glossy pages on a rainy day, dreaming about your future was an excellent way to spend your time.
Stock up on phrase books
Going to another country meant that you needed to be able to communicate with the people there, so we would buy these little phrase books so we could learn how to say the important stuff like "Where's the nearest bathroom?" or "How do I get to the museum?"
But now, people just look at their phones quickly to either just look up the location of what we need, or even to quickly translate our question.
I guess it's a lot easier than carrying a book around a foreign country, but it does loose a little something doesn't it?
Buy a paper map
When was the last time you saw a paper map? Probably at a theme park or something right? Not actually one that was used for streets and landmarks, those are almost never seen anymore.
But back when we didn't all have tiny computers in our pockets that could map out the world in milliseconds, we had to sit down, plan a route, and then make sure we actually stuck to it because getting lost was a huge hassle.
Pick up a few phone cards
Well, you had to keep in touch with work or your family back home somehow! It wasn't like you could just carry a phone around, that would be ridiculous!
Instead, we would get these little phone cards that had money loaded onto them so we could use the payphone without needing change. It was good for those long distance calls home, at least until it ran out of minutes in the middle of a conversation.
Pick up batteries for your walkman
If you're going to a beach or even walking around in a big city, you may want some of your favorite tunes right there with you. But before music was available digitally, it meant we needed to bring the good ol' walkman and all of our tapes or CDs with us.
It wasn't uncommon to see people sifting through their tape collection on the beach, but if you saw that now you'd have to do a double take.
Go to the bank for traveller's checks
If you're heading abroad and you aren't sure how much money you need, you might be worried about taking out too much cash. You also may be worried about that cash being stolen and ending up stranded with no ATM and no way to get more money.
Well, traveller's checks solved that by making it so you could bring them with you no matter where you went, and then use them just like cash, and you'd receive change in the proper currency.
The best part was that if you did happen to lose them the bank would be able to replace them. You just had to contact them and they would get you more.
Write down the addresses you needed to send postcards to
If you try to think back to the last postcard you received, I bet you couldn't think of it. But back when we were young, sending postcards was a very normal thing.
You'd send one to your parents, maybe your grandparents, or even some friends, so you could let them know you're thinking about them while you're away.
Now a simple text is pretty much the most you could expect.
Go pick up some film for your camera
You used to take pictures and just hope they turned out. You couldn't see them, and you certainly weren't going to waste too many shots on the same thing. You only had the ability to take 24 pictures so you weren't about to waste it on one sight.
You could obviously bring a bunch of film, but it's not always easy to carry it around everywhere or change it while you're on the go.
But that moment when you get the photo envelope back at the lab was always so exciting. Flipping through the pictures was like living all those memories again and again.
Pack your brand new digital camera up
If you were lucky enough to have a digital camera, you were probably never far from it. The freedom to take as many pictures as you want was very much appreciated.
Now, we all tend to take advantage of this amazing change, and have thousands of pictures on our phones at any given time. But at the time, it was such a big deal!
Find the nearest internet cafe to your hotel
As email started to become a thing, people who traveled on business were expected to check in even when they were away. So with that, the internet cafe was born.
You could go in, buy a certain number of minutes, and surf the web and check your emails as fast as the dial-up service would allow.
Source - Premium Tours