The hike is too easy now, I liked it better before social networks

I started traveling through Southeast Asia at the end of the 90s. After university, with just a backpack, a camera and a sense of adventure, I started exploring the Philippines – my country of birth.

This first trip sparked my career as a writer and travel photographer and led me to move to Singapore a few years later, when the rest of the region was only a flight from Changi airport.

Since then, I have collected travel stories that go from simple to sublime and downright strange.

In the twenties, during my first trip to Cambodia, I spent a hilarious evening of “cultural exchange” with a group of Tuk -Tuk drivers – we learned the hardest words that our mother tongues had to offer.

A decade later, during the Thingyan festival – the celebration of the New Year of Myanmar – I found myself on a Trishaw while crossing a glove of acclaiming and coating partying which soaked me with water pipes and planted playful and hairy kisses on my cheeks.

The following year in Bali, I stood in the middle of a Perang API – a ritual war of fire between groups of villagers who launched brilliant coal guys.

None of these adventures had been inspired by a tiktok, and I had not been led there using the GPS on my phone.

At the time, the hike involved practical research – often tackling a thick copy of “Lonely Planet”. I had to make fixed phone calls or write emails in internal cycles to book rooms. Flights were more expensive, so I often went to move by land (or sea, as the case may be).

I was so on the road that I often arrived at your destination without plans or reservations.

These days, the hike is a breeze with everything online – Google Maps shows us where to go, and sites like Expedia and Booking.com are planning all the details in advance. Everything is super practical – maybe too practical.

As Salty Old Road Warrior, I would say that we have lost something in this hyper-connected and instantaneous time. The hike in Southeast Asia is simply not what it was. This is what we miss.

Serendipity gains

To get lost to be part of the reason why the hike was so fun. But with navigation applications now available on everyone’s phone, is anyone still really getting lost?

The transformer trip is no longer the standard today, replaced by essential, essential and essential lists that bomb our social media flows. Indeed, looking at the long lines of people waiting to take exactly the same photo in so-called selfies, one might think that the interest of traveling is to feed the very important gram.

For all their features that change the situation, Google Maps and Street View have decreased the joys of discovery on the simplest neighborhood walks.

My trips at the time felt gross and not filtered. Since the world was still largely offline, we, the old -fashioned backpackers, left our curiosity (and our printed cards) to show us the way.

Connection with the inhabitants

There are a lot of travel advice from the crowd and approved by influencers on your phone, and they often guarantee the same experience as everyone.

Of course, some would say that it is a modern blessing – especially if you have Fomo – but there is nothing like a touch of kindness of a nice room to make a unique experience.

Over the years, I have shared impromptu meals, received generous walks, seen from proud skills demonstrations and even been welcomed on intimate occasions. It was all because I dared to reach out and get involved with the inhabitants.

The cold efficiency of online booking, navigation and even carpooling applications has reduced opportunities to create significant connections. I remember when everything I needed was a smile and a curious question to break the ice.

Go away

Nowadays, we can always travel solo, but constant connectivity means that we are never alone. Not so long ago, hiking was a question of immersion in a place, and often it was easy to fall from the grid.

Nowadays, travelers are more likely to update their Facebook, Instagram or Tiktok accounts in real time than holding a handwritten newspaper.

There are also these fun vloggers who walk while speaking to their streaming streaming phones. Although some travelers are physically far from everyone and everything we know, our mobile phones always pingen text messages, emails and updates on social networks.

Be part of a community

Once upon a time, Independent Travel was a shared experience among a loose community of backpacker colleagues. We crossed paths on the road, then we later found ourselves in travelers hubs like Khao San Road in Bangkok or rue Pham Ngu de Saigon. Here, we would exchange travel stories on cheap beer and exchange dog ear guides in used bookstores.

Occasionally, we would leave messages for new friends at the Guesthouse Babillards, before going to the next destination. Formerly a source of so much camaraderie, this IRL culture has largely dissolved in the field of social media.

These days, we could find our travel friends online, but the things that led our travels at the time – a sense of adventure, a desire to connect and a curiosity for different cultures – are values ​​today the generation of net travelers and card cards seem to be missing.