Yes, absolutely. My first long trip was to what we called the Near East in the mid ‘90s (I am still amazed my parents allowed me to go as I was barely out of sc

Yes, absolutely. My first long trip was to what we called the Near East in the mid ‘90s (I am still amazed my parents allowed me to go as I was barely out of school). I had an outdated guidebook and word of mouth from the other occasional traveller and that was it. Most villages had at most one phone and often none at all, and of course there was no cell network. You just sort of headed off with only a foggy notion of what to expect. Traveling to Thailand a few years ago was quite different. The internet allowed us to preview every leg of our journey and there’s really not much mystery. On the other hand, it’s easier to get deals and figure out efficient ways to get around. But something has been lost, for sure.