Travel Now & Then

In 2004, I traveled abroad for the first time.  I spent the fall of my junior year in London.

My previous "international" trips consisted of a 2 week family road trip across Canada in a rented camper van (let's just say I'd appreciate it more now) and a mission trip to Juarez (i.e., the Mexico-side of El Paso) where we magically tried to convert people using broken Spanglish.

That being said, I consider London to be my first "real" travel experience.

The biggest difference between my adventures now & then is technology.  Yes, I have more money to spend now.  I go to more exotic places.  But, overall, I like travel for the same reason -- to spend a few days in someone else's world.

2004:
In 2004, I didn't fully understand Skype; I used it once to finally find a friend who had missed her flight (note: the call was after 2 days of trying to "serendipitously" find her in Italy).  

I spoke with my parents about 4 times over 4 months using a pay phone and a calling card -- three times outside my dorm in a phonebooth & one time in the basement of a hostel in Berlin.  

I carefully printed out my hostel reservations and copy/pasted travel tips from Lonely Planet before heading to the airport (usually via an EasyJet bus to board an EasyJet plane).  It would have been easier if I had a printer, but instead I walked 30 minutes with my luggage to the school computer lab, paying 5 pents per print (this is starting to sound like a grandparent story about walking 5 miles in the snow to school).

I kept a Xanga to document my travels, which my mom printed before I took down the site.  I was too embarrassed a future employer might find it.  I also had a Friendster account, a predecessor to Facebook, with about 5 friends from my study abroad group.

Now:

I use G+ hangouts to chat with my parents each week, complete with awesome accessories. If only phonebooths had accessories in 2004...