How travel has changed ...

I remember when I went on my first backpack trip, I bought a lonely planet book and read about all of the places I wanted to go and planned our trip according to what LP had to say. (Arnold said it was the travelers bible back in the day when we backpacked his way through Europe). I stayed in places they told us to stay in (or if someone had a recommendation I would go there). I would go to Internet cafes to check my email and to make phone calls home. I was ALWAYS keeping an eye out for the cheapest
long distance rates back to Canada. And then you would sit in a little room/booth with a phone and timer and make your calls.

In just 4 short years, the way we travel is so different. It's actually shocking. We like the LP, but it's not our bible. We use the Net to do a majority of our research and the hotel reviews on Trip Advisor are our bread and butter. That is what we consult first. If a hotel doesn't have FREE wifi, we aren't booking it. I have a netbook and Arn has an Ipad. So now all of the sudden we are wifi snobs and shocked when places don't offer it. haha. We rely heavily on wifi to do anything and we get so upset when it doesn't work. If we can't get connected, it's like the world is going to end. We don't know what to do with ourselves. Sad, right?

And Skype - I can't even begin to think about life without it. It is probably the most amazing tool EVER. I don't know why it took us so long to get on the Skype train. If you aren't on it, get it now. As long as we have wifi, I can call home. No more going out to look for Internet cafes, I just turn on my PC and call whoever I want whenever I want. It's AMAZING. And cheap! We always laugh about how we traveled before and why we didn't travel with PC's a couple of years ago. Even on our trips last year we never thought about wifi and being connected. Now, I can't imagine not having my netbook with me. I even think when I am home, I will have it with me non-stop. Free wifi is the best gift haha. We are so excited when restaurants and airports have free wifi.

Love Melissa and Arnold