Editor’s Notebook

Reading Ferry de Bakker’s articles always impresses me with how well prepared he is for his travels. I don’t mean that the way it would’ve once meant – meaning he had packed his socks, and underwear, had items he would need when he got to his destination. Being prepared would’ve meant doing a bit of research, having a guide book and a map, perhaps. Having never seen Ferry pack his bags, my guess is that they are very organized, but how well prepared he is in that way, I really don’t know.

FORWARD PLANNING

What I mean is that Ferry knows what he is going to do once he gets to his destination. He knows what restaurants he wants to enjoy, he knows if there are museums worthy of his time. This is how the Internet has changed travel – we have all the information in the world to be well prepared for our travels, even if we forget to pack the toothbrush.

When I started travelling with my parents, they may have been well-prepared for the trip, but often they knew little about the places we would visit. I remember one Saturday we travelled 90miles up the 97 Cariboo Highway in British Columbia to Quesnel. We didn’t know what we would see there. We found a restaurant to have apple pie and ice cream, coffee and Coke. We took in the views of the Fraser River and then we drove home. We didn’t take any pictures, but we enjoyed the day.

TOWERS, PYRAMIDS AND THE TAJ

Before I saw the Eiffel Tower, before I saw the Pyramids, before I visited the Taj Mahal, I knew what they looked like. When I got to each of the places I thought, that is the Eiffel Tower, that’s the Pyramids, that’s the Taj Mahal, but what I didn’t expect was the experience of being there. In Paris, there was a great sense of place, people chilling on the lawn in the park around the Tower, people in line to go up the Tower. In Egypt it was the sense of history, the desert, the wonder of these enigmas. In India, it was the setting, the beauty of the marble, the peace inside the chaos, the story.

While they looked familiar each places was different. If you go there just to take a picture, you are missing the experience. The sense of place is so important to feel.

CREATING THE EXPERIENCE

But what Ferry does, as do many people, is he creates the experience before he gets there.

The Internet provides the opportunity to get all the information you need, and design your trip before you pack the socks or forget the toothpaste. This is superb because people can more fully enjoy the time they have. It allows the opportunity to fully experience on your terms.

A mobile phone could’ve changed my experience of places – even without all the smart apps. I’ve been lost in places, separated from my travelling partners, going in circles with no way of making contact. Now I don’t worry about getting separated. A simple text message reunites us.

MORE THAN ICONIC PICTURES

The Internet and devices have changed travel immeasurably, but if you think that travelling is all about taking the iconic picture that you’ve seen on Facebook and Instagram, with or without your grinning face in the foreground, arms length away, then you will miss the real value of travelling. The experience and the memories. When we travelled, back in the day, it was with a feeling of discovery. That sense of finding something new and rare and amazing is being lost because you’ve seen the trailers so many times it is just all too familiar. I guess that is why many people are lining up to go to Mars.

I never took a picture of a Quesnel that day, but I remember scenes as if I’d been there yesterday. Memory is a marvelous thing – don’t let your smart phone or camera take it away from you.