I have huge respect for my parents being able to plan a roadtrip through Europe in the 80s.
Going thousands of km., different currencies, languages and stil being able to show up at the hotel on the hour of check-in.
They didn’t even have printed routes, like I had in my younger days. They’d just drive by signs, a dated map and lots of planning.
I for one don’t miss the unnecessary detours as international maps would only show major roads and cities (which weren’t necessarily the fastest or most convenient route), navigating around new roads that the map didn’t know about, the arguing / guessing between driver and passenger whether or not it’d be correct to take this unexpected exit coming up very quickly, driving around a town until you find someone to ask for directions in a foreign language, finding a phone booth to call your destination and ask for directions, making a wrong turn in a big city and finding yourself in a maze of one-way roads with no way to turn around, not even knowing where you are to begin with… yes, not to mention that “real-time traffic information” meant listening to the radio in a foreign language to get a vague idea of which areas you might want to avoid (though no mention of how you’d do that).
I for one salute our satellite-wielding overlords and am prepared to follow them blindly most of the time.
I have huge respect for my parents being able to plan a roadtrip through Europe in the 80s.
Going thousands of km., different currencies, languages and stil being able to show up at the hotel on the hour of check-in. They didn’t even have printed routes, like I had in my younger days. They’d just drive by signs, a dated map and lots of planning.
I for one don’t miss the unnecessary detours as international maps would only show major roads and cities (which weren’t necessarily the fastest or most convenient route), navigating around new roads that the map didn’t know about, the arguing / guessing between driver and passenger whether or not it’d be correct to take this unexpected exit coming up very quickly, driving around a town until you find someone to ask for directions in a foreign language, finding a phone booth to call your destination and ask for directions, making a wrong turn in a big city and finding yourself in a maze of one-way roads with no way to turn around, not even knowing where you are to begin with… yes, not to mention that “real-time traffic information” meant listening to the radio in a foreign language to get a vague idea of which areas you might want to avoid (though no mention of how you’d do that).
I for one salute our satellite-wielding overlords and am prepared to follow them blindly most of the time.