What a fantastic era we live in. You can travel to some of the most remote parts of the planet and still come across an internet cafe in which you can email home, update your social networking site or post a blog on your adventures. Instant communication with home at the touch of the button – incredible!
Or is it? Does anyone out there miss the days where once you said your farewells at the airport you were gone. Lucky if the odd postcard made its way back home. And it was far too expensive to queue up at the nearest phone exchange to book a call back to the family. Cafes were devoid of electronic equipment but full of travellers bent over worn pages of diaries frantically updating their entries over endless cups of tea. There was perhaps something about flicking through those much loved tea-stained journals on your return that brought your adventure back in a way that re-reading your blog entries lacks.
But what do you think? Do you head straight to the nearest internet cafe on arrival in a strange land to get your thoughts down on ‘electronic paper’ or are you content to while away the hours on a long train journey jotting down notes, memories and impressions for future reference? Blog or journal, keyboard or ‘quill’ – which do you prefer?