Spontaneous Travel Suffers With ‘Crutch’ Apps
I do a lot of chats on social media with fellow travel bloggers, and almost every one eventually has this as a question: “what apps do you use when you travel?”
The answers always overwhelm me. People – some of them major influencers with 50-250K followers – use multiple apps. They use them for navigation, for maps, for locating themselves as well as restaurants and even to find public toilets.
I get the feeling that if the system over goes down and they are not able to access their beloved apps, they will be like a robot with a short circuit, constantly banging into a wall in their hotel unable to leave the room.
Me, I don’t really use any apps when I travel. About the only ones are Facebook and What’s App, and those are for purely social reasons (they are great for making plans with a girl you just met on the beach, for instance).
And I post photos, videos and articles on the social media channels, but that’s all part of publishing PubClub.com.
As far as “crutch” apps, as I call them, I simply don’t use them or even want to use them.
My reasoning is simple: I believe it takes some of the fun and adventure out of traveling.
After all, if I don’t know exactly where I am, that’s kind of fun. A lot of times, I’ve stumbled into really fun places – bars, cafes, a group doing some kind of activity in a park – that I would not have found if I had my face in a phone following step-by-step instructions of an app.
I also like exploring and finding things on my own. I’ll take recommendations, of course, from trusted people I know but I’ll never spend time reading dozens of reviews on Yelp or some other app by those I do not know and frankly, may not even agree with if even I did know them.
Part of the excitement of traveling – at least to me anyway – is not knowing exactly what is in front of you. It’s in saying “hey, let’s see what’s down that street,” or following the sounds of people playing or gathering somewhere just out of view.
An app can’t do that for you. They make things too structured. Some people need structure and reassurance, tho. They are planners when they travel. Me, I plan in advance but when I have my”boots on the ground” I like to be spontaneous, and I can’t do that by relying on apps.
Cheers!
Sometimes, a traveler does not need any apps other than the one you’re born with – your brain. Tho good ones can be helpful for sure.
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