Travel trends come and go. Some we’re glad to see the back of, while others we wish were reinstated. Here are seven things that will make you laugh (or more likely cringe), writes Anna Sarjeant The Discman There was nothing like sitting in the back of the car on a family road trip, listening to your Christina Aguilera CD on repeat.
Lyrics would be memorised by the fifth play because you’d always forget the other 20 (illegally burned) CD albums. In those days, the headphones were small, foamy and barely touched your ears. Thus ensued an argument with your mother about how loud the car radio was, and her harking back that it was to drown out your “tinny” music.
Later, you’d go for a sulky walk but Discman couldn’t cope with bucolic surfaces and the CD would skip itself to death. Cumbersome to carry, the “portable” player was too big for a pocket and would conk out by day three. Dad wouldn’t fork out for any more expensive batteries, and you’d still have to wait eight years for Steve Jobs to invent the iPod.
International phone cards Before smartphones and the World Wide Web, travellers on their OE would only touch base with their worried parents once a fortnight. It was a process. Having first frequented the local internet cafe where you’d be greeted by a barrage of emails from your mum insisting you “ring home”, you’d have to find a cash machine and a dairy.
One to extract $10 and the second to pay for an international phone card. Reluctantly, you�.
