i almost forgot to tell you that an old iphone is the most pleasing travel companion.

i brought a backup smartphone on this last trip as a safety precaution. i habitually travel with an iPod to keep from draining my phone's battery or relying on wifi, but thought i could try to use an old iphone 4 as an mp3 player, with the bonus of a few features. turns out, i missed having such a compact and pleasing little machine in my hands.

i loaded the Notes app up with the travel itinerary--all addresses, confirmation numbers, etc. i downloaded iTranslate and XE, synced up my Google Voice, Maps, Mail, and Calendar, downloaded the custom map for each city. i tested out the Compass app at home, testing out landmarks and cardinal directions. i added some music for true offline mode. and then i took the iphone 4 to south america.

we were constantly mindful of our safety and the worst-case scenarios on this particular trip. our canadian friends from the wine tour had their wallet and phone snatched while they were asking for directions in a santiago metro station. our bicycle tour guide warned us that motorcycle thieves zip by and steal smartphones out of your hands while you're distracted (tourists and natives; he told us that it happened to him recently). my Pixel is brand new and fancy and, like most of us, i depend on it for everything.

more than half of the time, i kept my Pixel in the safe next to my passport and emergency credit card. the funny thing is: carrying a smartphone that costs $19 on ebay really keeps you from being precious about it. after a couple days, i found that having something (with maps and notes) was a great comfort, but i appreciated the lack of distractions and noise. i rarely connected it to the wifi unless i needed to verify directions.

but then something not-so-surprising happened: i also started to really like the feel of such a small little machine. remember when cell phones were huge, and then they were so tiny, and then they became tinycomputers, and now they are big tinycomputers made of glass that we sometimes hold up to our faces??? i guess i've always been nostalgic, so it's no surprise i want livejournal and napster back as much as i am prone to fall in love with an 8-year old smartphone. something in me really appreciates the idea of a minimalist smartphone stripped down to the basics (and it looks like i'm not the only one.)

ultimately, technology has moved forward so that we can quickly toggle between apps, access information, communicate, and capture content. when you're traveling, you're constantly pivoting as and plans and needs change. so there's definitely a downside in using old technology: it's stuck where we used to be. we've come a long way and i appreciate that progress as much as i can wax nostalgic about the good old days. go figure that after a true 10-day unplug (no laptops on this trip, either), the first thing i did (after sleeping off the jetlag) was spend two days on my laptop.

xo
rhienna