In the UK and again contemplating how ridiculously improved international travel is by technology, particularly smartphones.
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Replying to @patio11
In my parents' generation, and my own first trip to Japan, you planned every iota of your itinerary on paper and God forbid you lost one.
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Replying to @patio11
You'd be stranded in a country you didn't know and probably dependent on the kindness of
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Replying to @patio11
strangers to get you to one of the "known hospitable areas for travelers" where someone could sort things.
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Replying to @patio11
By contrast, these days my travel planning barely deserves the word. I show up at Heathrow knowing next stop is Brighton.
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Replying to @patio11
I do not know how to get to Brighton, but Google knows how to get to Brighton, and I know Google knows how to get to Brighton.
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Replying to @patio11
I also don't have conscious knowledge of what hotel I'm staying at (it's in Gmail somewhere), what a pound is worth, or where I can eat.
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Replying to @patio11
And yet even for someone who is a bit of a worrywart this is all sorted by ubiquitous (if expensive) Internet and general expectations.
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Replying to @patio11
And if you were travelling from Brighton to, say, Ogaki? Exact same process *works* despite the perception of exoticness and language wall.
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(Even with a smartphone in hand I'm not comfortable going somewhere I don't speak the language but it is a fact: you can navigate to Ogaki.)
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Replying to @patio11
I have done this as a person who doesn't speak Japanese
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