My Indispensable Phone

 At one time, before setting out on a holiday, BCAA would provide you with maps and books on the places you planned to go. They would even draw out a route for you to follow. The books contained information on hotels and restaurants and described tourist attractions. You always needed a phrase book in foreign language countries. Later there was Lonely Planet and other guide books to carry with you. 

Today, you only need a smart phone to travel and I wonder if anyone could travel well without one. In some restaurants the only menu available is by way of a scan with your phone. Since the possibility of spreading Covid germs became an issue, full size menus are rare. One-use paper copies of menus are available but are not good for the environment. 

In foreign countries, Google Translate and the Google Lens apps are indispensable. Google Maps, another vital app, will even guide you on walking to destinations with narrow crowded streets and lanes where street names are hard to find or understand. If I hold my phone in my hand, and have mapped my route, it lets me know when I have made a wrong turn.

Note to self: Next trip bring at least three power cord adaptors.

With phones, laptops, ipads, noise cancelling earphones, watches, sleeping devices, electric tooth brushes, there is always something that needs charging.