I'm David Plotz, the former CEO of Atlas Obscura. Welcome to the Atlas Obscura podcast.

Today on the show we're going to be doing something a little bit different. We are pulling

a question out of the question grab bag. So answering questions from you guys.

Well, Dylan, the question grab bag is empty because we just got started. So we're waiting

for you, dear listeners, to fill up that grab bag with your questions about travel. Until

then, we've got some questions from our colleagues. And Dylan, who are we hearing from?

This question is for both of us. And it's from my Atlas Obscura colleague, Chris Nakka,

who works on the show. David, you're old enough to have traveled before.

I'm old. I'm definitely old. You're old enough to have traveled before the existence of

cell phone cameras and social media. And I think Chris's question is this, how have

these technologies changed travel? Is technology good or bad for travel? This is Atlas Obscura.

Today, we're going to reflect on the places we've been with and without technology in which

way is better after this.

I think I actually must have done it when I was like 17 and traveled through Europe with

a high school friend. No technology. But like, I don't remember how that worked. Like,

we had a guidebook. But like, I don't know how we did it kind of. It sounds crazy. But

it's like, I don't remember even the functional pieces that you totally use. And I like the idea

of traveling without technology. First of all, I have not forgotten those experiences because

they're so vivid because you were so on your own and figuring it out yourself and like,

you know, trudging around some backstreet and Lance, France, France, France, France, France.

Trying to find some hostile or wondering why the hostile you ended up in in Rome was so terrible

and wasn't actually a drug house and why did someone take a shit in the corridor and outside

...