There is a part in most of us (if not all of us) that longs to see the world, to travel the globe and experience all it has to offer. We were designed to be consistently travelling. We are literally born to be hunters and gatherers. Every creature on Earth was designed with its own purpose, its own reason for being brought into being. Travel is ingrained in us. We crave it. We want to explore the big wide world and we want to be able to do it as easily as possible and as often as possible. At the end of the day, we just want to wander. It does not necessarily matter how far or how wide, only that we want to be given the chance to take it all in with our very own eyes. The infiltration of technology into the travel industry has only made this thirst for adventure stronger. Through technological advancement and certain digitalisation, we have been introduced to modern innovations in travel that have made the experience infinitely easier and far more efficient.
Some of these aspects of modern travel (like the frequent flyer website we opt towards to record our miles, or the online check-in module most airlines offer) have been around for quite some time. And then there are others that are still relatively fresh – if not entirely new. Travel is one of those activities in life that becomes exceedingly popular all the time, and because of this people being feats of technologies have latched on to the concept, realising the value and the impact to be made through the travel industry. Both avid travellers and newbies to the globe-trotting experience are always looking online for ideas for their next trips around the world. Companies for accommodation, transport, and extracurricular activities are always making pages online to draw in more business. We are overwhelmed, even spoilt, by choice in this world, and we are both impatient to see it all and savouring every millisecond. And technological innovations do not just end there. They are everywhere.
One of these pioneering feats of technological advancement is social media. Think of Instagram, for example. Before Instagram, people used search engines and travel companies a lot more to find dream destinations and information about the places they are visiting. Now, Instagram is full to the brim of astonishingly beautiful images and captions to match. Sometimes the posts are from a travel blogger or vlogger’s social media, and have a link to a lengthy article or video that tells followers more about the dream destination they have shown interest in. In fact, this is such a booming industry that people build entire careers around travel blogging or vlogging. Travel is the gift that keeps on giving, and people are realising that more all the time, using that gift to promote their own content and building successful, continuously flourishing careers out of travelling to these insane destinations and being able to inspire others to be the next to visit them.
Technology has changed the world of travel, not unlike its impact on other industries the world over. While the entire world has changed in the face of technological advancement and rapid digitalisation, travel has expanded globally to a point where the industry is literally booming, with millions of people each and every day embracing the adventure and the challenge of it all. More than anything else, there is inherent excitement in the fact that, thanks at least partially to technology, travel is something that has truly captured the hearts of everyone. We have always sought out adventure, but now we chase it with our hearts held in our hands and the technological innovations that built the industry up powering our passion to keep the dream alive. When we think of travel as a concept, it is difficult to figure out how to envision it. Through travel we are given access to [literally] the entire world. We can see it all in vivid detail, right in front of us.
To travel is to live, and technology and digitalisation have made the process of much more exciting, so much easier, and so much more efficient and fast-paced. From the internet and then social media building up the hype through visual and written queues of excitement, to the exhilaration of flying over one’s next destination and seeing it from the sky before the plane lands, we want it all. In all its great forms, technology is largely responsible for the exceedingly rapid growth of the worldwide travel industry. We have always wanted to travel. And now technology has given rise to constant opportunities for inspiration and wanderlust to bombard us from every angle. The world is your oyster. And hers. And his. And mine. The world belongs to all of us – we just have to get out and explore it.