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are all made easier by the internet and all the consumers. We did all our planning and made
web-related travel resources now available. It all our arrangements on the web, with (almost)
may not have decreased travel times any as
compared to ten years ago, but travel is now
on average more fuel-efficient, reliable, safer
and easier to arrange, and in some cases low-
er in cost, all due to technology.
While motor vehicle average passenger and
cargo spaces have decreased, and airline av-
erage passenger seat space and free bag-
gage allowances have decreased, the tech
stuff we want to bring along on our trips has
only increased. Smartphones may be small
and provide a lot of capabilities, but it seldom no human interactions, and believe we got a
stops there for most travelers. When you add very good deal on our trip.
in laptops, tablets or e-readers, digital camer-
as, music players, noise-canceling head-
phones, GPS devices and all the extra The internet can be of great benefit for travel
memory cards, batteries and chargers to sup- planning, as it is easy to do price comparisons
port them, you’ve typically got a big bag of to come up with the lowest-cost options. Com-
heavy tech gear to cart around, get through paring other factors can be done, but you can
TSA screening and protect against theft or wind up spending a lot of time on the web re-
loss. searching. Our first plan for an October trip was
to visit our nephew and see the fall colors
(leaves turning color) in New England. Our
I really like to travel, though I don’t get the op- nephew had just started school at Cornell Uni-
portunity to do so all that often. For various versity in Ithaca, NY, and the photos my sister
reasons, it had been more than a year since forwarded when they dropped him off there
our previous overnight trip when my wife and I looked inviting. I figured we could also visit Ni-
took a week-long anniversary vacation trip this agara Falls, which is somewhat nearby. When
last month. I’ve always been a tech user and my wife determined that the optimal place to
tech traveler but was surprised at how much see the fall colors was in Stowe, Vermont, the
more dependent on it we had become since trip became more complicated than my week of
our last trip. vacation could accommodate. To hit all three
locations would require flying in and out of two
destination cities, one-way car rental and a rap-
As expected, we relied heavily on the internet id pace. It would also be a bit expensive from
for our pre-trip planning and arranging. In the San Diego.
old days, one might consult with a travel agent
to select a destination, price the arrangements
and book the travel and lodgings. Now the Our second plan was to go to New Orleans, a
commissions that paid for the agent’s time place we’d both wanted to go to and would
have been reduced or eliminated, and most have earlier this year, were it not for other is-
companies prefer to sell on the web directly to
March 2020 5
