Tech

By Robert McGarvey

Booking.com wants to know and it has developed research that aims to identify where you and I come up with our ideas about our future travels.

There’s also the question: have new information modalities rewritten the results? Is TikTok the beginning and end of travel inspiration?

Speaking for myself. I can say I have never looked at TikTok for anything.  I’m not dissing it, just yawning at its mention. I know others think differently, so be it.

So what do the Booking.com numbers have to tell us?

The show stopping chart result is that in the lead is what has always been in the lead.  That’s because 45% of us say we get travel ideas from friends/family.

Of course we do, we always have and that “we” is the broad word meaning people, all of us. A friend comes back from walking the Camino de Santiago and talks your ears off about that pilgrimage and soon you are planning your own walk across Spain because that is how inspiration works.  We take it from trusted sources and the key word is trusted.

Of course not everybody we know is a reliable source.  But we know who among our relatives and exaggerates, who lies, who always is in full bore Panglossian mode.  

we also know, because we know the people, whose tastes are utterly dissimilar from our own.

We also know who we’ve listened to in the past and it’s been worthwhile.

But we also pay attention to other sources.

For instance: What’s in second place with 39% of us tabbing it: social media.  Personally, tho, I see this as a subset of friends and family.  Those are the people whose posts I glance at and might believe.  There is no way I am reading and certainly I’m not believing some stray influencer’s insistence that I really ought to vacation in Albania because it’s like Greece but cheaper (and, yeah, there are such posts).  Now there is a good reason to be interested  in Albania – it was the planet’s most isolated and poorest nation for many decades after WW II.  In this century it has taken steps to join the rest of us and that’s probably an intriguing course to witness. And the location, above Greece and across from southern Italy, is spectacular.

But what I see in social media that’s posted by paid influencers is dross. I skip it. But I do look at travel posts by friends and family and they look at mine.

Quite probably the top two on the Booking list surprise no one.

Where the Booking.com numbers get genuinely interesting are at the bottom of the list.  Travel agents and tour operators come in at third from the bottom with 17% of us giving a hoot about what they say.  That means roughly five of six us don’t listen to them. Sure, I see the headlines in travel trade publications that tout the resurgence in use of travel agents. But the Booking numbers throw shade on that thesis.

And then the results really sting. 

That’s because in next to last place – with 14% paying attention – are newspaper and magazine articles.  86% don’t look at such stories and if they do they don’t heed the suggestions. Ouch.  That number makes me glad that although I have written thousands of magazine and newspaper articles I’d guess that under 5% dealt with travel destinations.  Sure, I did write some but mainly I wrote about business and tech and credit unions and real things, not where you should go on vacation this summer because, honestly, I have no idea what you should do.

In that vein, by the way, I’ll tell you I am going to Spain which has emerged as my go to place to get out of the US.  But I won’t tell you much more about it because apparently you don’t care what I have to say.

Speaking of which is that last place – with just 10% of us saying they get good travel advice from this source- are podcasts.  Whew.  I do a podcast – the CU 2.0 Podcast – but it is not about travel, but credit unions.  There are maybe 400 shows in the library and I don’t believe I have ever offered travel commentary.

Which is good because you wouldn’t pay any attention.

by Robert McGarvey

Senators Jeff Merkley and John Kennedy want to make you wait in very long lines at airports.  That is a fact and the senators are seeking to amend the FAA reauthorization bill to include language to severely curtail use of biometrics to identify people at airports.

What Merkley-Kennedy ask for is to block expansion of biometrics at airports until 2027 and to make clear that passengers can opt out of it.  

That would call halt on the TSA plan to expand biometrics from today’s 25 airports to 430.  

Just what technology is involved? Per the New York Times, “Using kiosks with iPads affixed to them, passengers have their photographs taken and matched to an image from an ID, eliminating the need for workers to make such a match with their eyes.”

For his part, Merkley apparently believes it’s a god given right in the US not to have one’s photo taken without permission.  He is obviously oblivious to the many, many cameras built into people’s doorbells, for instance, but this is a guy who as a state legislator in Oregon fiercely opposed red light cameras

“The TSA program is a precursor to a full-blown national surveillance state,” said Senator Merkley. “Nothing could be more damaging to our national values of privacy and freedom. No government should be trusted with this power.”

Note: I did not make up that quote. It’s the Senator’s.

As for Senator Kennedy, he fumes that “Unless Congress reins in this program through our amendment to the F.A.A. reauthorization bill, I fear bureaucrats will start seizing and hoarding the biometrics of millions of travelers without explicit permission.”

Kennedy added: “Every day, TSA scans thousands of Americans’ faces without their permission and without making it clear that travelers can opt out of the invasive screening.”

I have to admit that when I’ve been aware of biometrics in use at airports I’ve applauded it.  Things just seemed to go faster, more smoothly.

I’m not alone. Far from it. Over half of us in the US use biometrics daily.  I know I use it multiple times a day, usually on an iPhone and in lieu of typing in a password. I much prefer to use biometrics and admit to scratching my head when I see the luddite idiocy from Kennedy and Merkley.

I’m not alone.

The U.S. Travel Association, a trade association involving many of the industry’s biggest players, bluntly says of the Merkley-Kennedy language: “According to a U.S. Travel Association analysis, the proposed amendment could result in travelers waiting an additional 120 million hours in TSA lines each year by significantly slowing both TSA PreCheck and standard screening lanes.”

The U. S. Travel Association adds: “Further, the senators’ proposal threatens national security by effectively banning TSA’s use of facial recognition technology for non-PreCheck passengers–which mal-intentioned individuals could exploit.”

Alexa C. Lopez, a T.S.A. spokeswoman, told the New York Times that photographs were not stored or saved after a positive ID match, “except in a limited testing environment for evaluation of the effectiveness of the technology.”

Besides, if TSA wants to hold my photo, have at it. Dozens of pix of me are readily found on the Internet. That privacy genie long ago fled the bottle.

“This proposed legislation threatens to turn America’s airports into the equivalent of college bars where fake IDs rule the day,” said Geoff Freeman, CEO of U. S. Travel Association. “TSA, to its credit, is innovating with the latest security technology and members of Congress are threatening to stand in its way–at the expense of the travel experience.”

At a glance, the Merkley-Kennedy language did not survive in the Senate’s latest version of the FAA bill. But don’t assume it’s RIP. Know that this Kennedy-Merkley language has been floating around the District for six months and it isn’t going away.  Like the Terminator it will come back even when you thought it was killed off, mainly because Kennedy and Merkley seem sincerely to believe the luddite bilge they spew.

Also know that over 18 million of us pay to use biometrics associated with Clear and that’s because they believe it speeds their way through the 55+ plus airports where it’s in use.

The winner in this battle already is known. But luddites got to do what luddites do, even when it is a hopeless mission.  
Write your senator and tell him/her to ignore Kennedy-Merkley. 

By Robert McGarvey

We all know that travel today is different and so is the traveler who in many cases, simply is much younger as Millennials and Gen Z elbow aside Baby Boomers.  A generation that for essentially its entire life has always been catered to suddenly isn’t the prime target, not in the eyes of many businesses, hospitality very much included.

So just who is the guest of tomorrow and how do travel providers need to respond?

Remember a key fact about the two prime generational cohorts, Gen Z and Millennials: they have grown up with cell phones, which became commonplace in the US in the fading years of the 20th century, and also with smartphones (introduced in 2007) and tablets (the iPad debuted in 2010). To them, ubiquitous technology is just part of life, it’s not “technology,” but how things get done, from ordering a delivery meal to summoning a car and driver or booking a haircut.

Deloitte UK decided to dive into what’s happening and issued its findings in a report.  Remember that the UK is in recession – the US isn’t, in fact the economy is the strongest among the G 7.  Fallout from Brexit may also mean that there aren’t happy days ahead for the UK.  

Probably the most interesting element in Deloitte’s musings is this: Technology enables the luxury experience.  This is a wake up call for those in hospitality who continue to think that plush fabrics, fawning staff, and lots of golden items are integral to the luxury experience.  They aren’t.

Technology has the potential to give each of us more of what we want.

Deloitte offers a sharp for instance: “using technology to tailor services to the unique demands of guests will be expected, for instance, by calculating average wait times for food delivery at airports to notify passengers who might be rushing to catch a flight.”  Haven’t you walked away from a busy airport counter because a delivery delay meant the food wasn’t going to be ready on your timetable?  And there is no good reason why a well run airport restaurant can’t calculate how long it will take for your order to reach you.

Multiply that idea out to hotels and the same principles apply.  I still remember the single worst hotel room service meal I wished I hadn’t had – I won’t name the pricey Manhattan hotel because this was 15 years ago and similar may no longer happen there – and that’s because it took an hour for the coffee, scrambled eggs and toast to reach my room and, even more staggering, everything on the tray was cold.  I pushed it all aside because I remembered there was a Starbucks a half block away.  (No, I haven’t stayed in that hotel since and won’t.) Service catastrophes of this magnitude just are unacceptable today and, hey, Mr. Hotel Man, if you can’t deliver a room service breakfast within 15 minutes at least tell the guest who has the right to curse and cancel the order. You must be able to forecast with some precision delivery times. Period.

Remember, Uber and Waymo tell you how long the wait for a ride will be and they generally are pretty accurate. If they can do it, even when confronting so many variables not in their control, surely restaurants and hotels can.

Another key idea from Deloitte is this: Creat[e] agile strategies that cater to future travellers and adapt to new market trends is crucial for the industry.

New is the magic word in that. When I reflect back on a half century of business travel I don’t see much difference between what I experienced in 1975 and what I experienced in 2000. Very little had changed.

Go from 2000 to 2024 and, wow, there are innumerable changes from the death of the taxi industry to the sharp rise of Sunday as a key business travel day and of course the generational shift. New is everywhere in travel now.

Deloitte’s point is smart however: don’t take what we see today for granted as tomorrow’s reality. It probably won’t be but what will prevail remains very fuzzy. Anybody who tells you they know what travel 2025 will look like is wrong and if he/she says they know what 2035 will look like they need psychotropics.

As for where Boomers fit into all this, do you remember that phrase that popped up everywhere from 1965 to 1975, don’t trust anyone over 30? (The phrase, incidentally, is attributed to U C Berkeley student Jack Weinberg who was not in fact a Boomer and who turned 30 in 1970.)

In 2024, I‘m expecting to start regularly hearing, don’t trust anyone over 60. Why should they

By Robert McGarvey

We’ve heard about it for at least a decade but now the warnings are getting louder: the robots are coming to hotels and restaurants near you.

Probably the loudest gong was rung at this year’s CES in early January.  Headlined AP: “Robot baristas and AI chefs caused a stir at CES 2024 as casino union workers fear for their jobs.”

Tech Times headlined likewise: “Robot Bartenders: CES 2024 Showcases Future of Hospitality, Sparking Job Security Worries.”

CNET got in the trenches with the robots: “I Tried Ice Cream, Stir Fry, Beer and Cocktails, all Made by Machines at CES ’24.”

Understand two facts: even though I am all for helping workers keep good jobs, I also am not opposed to replacing humans in many hospitality positions with robots.  

Will that in fact happen?

Headlines aside, no time soon.

The Hotel Tech Report has a summary that seeks to separate fact from fiction. It is a year old but much of what it reports remains true. Robots are coming our way but they aren’t here yet.

Case in point: housekeeping jobs are not presently threatened, although truth to tell most hotel managers would love to put a stake in housekeepers if in fact affordable machines could replace them.  It’s simply the case that we are far removed from being able to create a robot that can make a bed and that would have a clue between what’s trash on the floor of a hotel room and what needs to be preserved for the guest.  Is that dirty, torn white sock on the bathroom floor trash?

Yes, robots can deliver towels and probably can do a better job operating the slick window coverings I find in many hotels (and that I struggle to use properly).  But it will be some years before housekeeping jobs are endangered. I can see big hotels deploying robots to do some of a housekeeper’s work – vacuuming is another case in point.

But much of the present housekeeper’s job is beyond a robot’s current ken.

Another case in point: robot bartenders are real, they actually do work – see Royal Carribean’s Bionic Bar.  There’s also a plus to a robot bartender: it’s unlikely to steal from the establishment, either cash or booze.  But devices such as RCL’s robots are costly – prices are upwards of $100,000 for one device and humans would still be needed to replenish the bottles and do a clean up of the place.  A robot’s useful life expectancy is also unknown. So far, robot bartenders are deployed as conversation starters more than as replacements for people.

Can I think of jobs that actually are in jeopardy in hospitality? I can.  At least some dealers at casinos are not long for the world.  Robots already are in use at some Macau casinos, with apparently good results.

Aren’t humans needed to spot cheaters?  I’m not persuaded that dealers are good at that except in the case of the clumsiest cheats.  Eyes in the sky at casinos watch every move at the tables and there also are many casino workers whose jobs are to monitor action at tables. Dealers aren’t essential in this security and if casino management believe robots are better for the bottomline, bet on the demise of dealers.

How about front desk personnel at hotels?  The experts say yes – but, you know, I’d say it has largely already happened but it’s not robots who are replacing front desk staff but guests.  I can’t remember the last time I checked out at the front desk – it’s accomplished with a few clicks on my phone.  I’ve also used self check in at hotels and have no complaints. Hotel management has cleverly outsourced many front desk tasks to us.

The conclusion: the robots are coming to hospitality but so far it’s more talk than actual job loss by humans.  It’s taken a good decade for bots to adequately replace humans, most of the time, in providing customer service via phone – and there still are times when the bots completely strike out.

I expect to see human bartenders and waiters and cooks and housekeepers for some years to come. Whether we’d rather interact with machines or not.

by Robert McGarvey

I just counted the travel focused apps on my iPhone and take a guess about how many I have and how many I genuinely enjoy using.

The answers are 17 apps on my phone and zero bring me enjoyment. Most don’t even bring me satisfaction when I attempt to use them.

Turns out I am not alone in dissing travel apps.  The latest J D Power survey delivered excoriation to the travel industry: “Despite Ubiquity, Travel Apps and Websites Deliver Substandard User Experience, J.D. Power Finds.”

Yep.  Although I’d quibble that “substandard” is way too kind a descriptor of the woeful mobile tech shoveled at us by our travel providers.  It is clunky, unintuitive, and really, really frustrating to attempt to use especially when your travel has hit a snag and you are praying for a divine intervention via the app.

J. D. Power sums up our user experience this way: “Travel apps and websites are heavily relied-upon digital tools used by travelers, containing everything from the QR codes used to board the plane to rental car location and digital hotel keys. Despite this critical role, according to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Travel App Satisfaction StudySM and the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Travel Website Satisfaction Study,SM released today, travel industry apps and websites lag behind their counterparts in other industries.”

We most commonly turn to our travel apps when we are under stress, observed J. D. Power, but they let us down in those moments when we need them the most.

Note: J. D. Power believes the travel provider websites are as cruddy as the apps. I do not disagree. But I don’t use the websites in those on the road moments of crisis, I turn to the apps. What other choice do I have?

I have been writing about mobile apps for going on 20 years.  I have bricked phones (a brand new BlackBerry for instance) downloading apps.  I have had many, many bad experiences. But – and this is critical – in some industries (notably banking) the apps have gotten better and better.  The Chase app is simply great – lots of power but also easy to use.  It’s not alone. Most of the financial services apps on my phone have gotten very good over the years.

Also good are health and fitness apps, such as Google-owned Fitbit and the Apple Health app.

The shopping apps such as Amazon are good.

So why are travel apps clunky, unintuitive, and very far from the friend you need when your incoming plane arrives too late to make your connecting flight and your stress is exploding out your ears?

Even worse is that there is ample reason to be skeptical of the security of most of the travel apps on your phone. Given how often travel related websites are hacked it’s hard to have faith and confidence in the companies’ apps – despite the fact that to use them we have to input all manner of personal info from passport numbers to driver’s license info.

Worst of the pack, per J. D. Power, are airline websites and airline apps aren’t much better.

Hotel and rental car apps score highest: “Hotel mobile apps (682) and rental car apps (681) have the highest overall satisfaction scores compared with airline apps (672), rental car websites (662), hotel websites (646) and airline websites (640).”

Top ranked airline apps are Alaska and Southwest.

World of Hyatt (not on my phone) is the highest rated hotel app.

National and Alamo (not on my phone) win in the rental car race.

But, frankly, none of the apps are winners.

It really is a pity. We turn to apps most on our days of travel and they just aren’t very good.

Not ranked, incidentally, are apps via online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Booking and Expedia.  Personally I have had decent experiences with both.

I also have had success using Google Flights, the website.

Frankly, however, we deserve better from our travel providers.  Send any you know a link to the J. D. Power survey and ask why they are so awful.  You won’t get a response. But at least the opinion will register.

And maybe by the time of iPhone 34 the travel providers will get it together.

By Robert McGarvey

Hotel cybersecurity stinks.  There’s nothing new in that pronouncement.  I’ve written about that for years.  

But now there is more – and worse – news.  Tech company Akamai has reported that a new and super slick phishing scheme is now targeting hotel guests and successfully collecting credit card info for exploitation by cyber crooks.

The theft gets its start with an infiltration and hacking of the hotel’s computers.  It begins when the cyber criminal makes what seems to be a legit hotel reservation.  That is followed up with what appears to be a benign email about more info that is needed, nothing unusual.  Perception Point cyber researchers document what happens next: “Once the targeted hotel’s employee replies, the attacker ups the ante. Their follow-up email is carefully crafted to elicit both empathy and a sense of urgency. For example, they might claim that their son is prone to anaphylactic shock due to specific allergies. In other cases, the attacker could appeal to the hotel’s sense of responsibility towards elderly guests, stating they have parents over 70 and wish to print photos for them during their stay.”

Then the attacker sends an email with a URL – purportedly perhaps to their parents’ medical records –  but when that is clicked on malware downloads to the hotel computer and InfoStealer tools busily siphon off sensitive information from the system.  

Sounds bad? It is, very bad. But what Akamai has now reported is an update to the InfoStealer that directly puts you in the crosshairs of this cyber attack.

Picture this: you have a reservation for a hotel room in Manhattan during a busy week when you know rooms will be in demand.  You get an email that says: Due to an update of our reservations system we need you to confirm your credit card details.  We apologize for this but it is essential for us to hold your reservation. Please use this link: MyBooking.MyHotel@hotel.com

Understand: the crook knows you have a reservation. Probably the email even specifies the correct dates, maybe even your room rate. They have scraped that data off the hotel computers.

This email is not one of those idiot messages – I get them weekly – telling me a package cannot be delivered because of an inaccurate address, please update your delivery information here.  Aside from the misspellings, the message just screams: cretin amateur.

Not the message from your hotel. It has the facts that will probably persuade you this is legit.

But click that link and you just stepped into a world of misery because you have downloaded slick malware. Akamai tells what has happened: “This downloaded script is designed to detect the victim’s information and ensure that it would be difficult to analyze or understand by security analysts. This obfuscation technique speaks to the sophistication of the attacker(s) who are behind this.”

You did not even notice malware has been downloaded. It happened in the blink of an eye.

In this process you will be asked to re-enter your credit card info – number, expiration date, security code.

Why wouldn’t you enter that? You already gave the hotel this info and so in your mind you are just reconfirming what you already told them which you do because you really want to hold that room.

But when you do that, you are screwed.

So what should you do if you get that email asking for a reconfirmation of your credit card data?  Call the hotel.  Don’t email. Use the phone.  Call and ask to reconfirm a reservation.

Alternatively, go directly to the hotel’s website and find your reservation info.  All looks fine? You are ok.

Should you mention the email you got? Up to you. The hotel probably already knows this is happening because it is happening to many guests but if you want to be an Eagle Scout and blow this whistle, do it.

The bigger issue is: this attack dramatically ups the sophistication of the scam.  It is easy to see many of us falling for this.  You’re checking email early in the a.m., you see that hotel email, you’re leaving tomorrow for New York so, sure, you click the link.

If you had had that second cup of coffee maybe you wouldn’t have. But you didn’t and you did.

Before you click on any links in emails about your upcoming hotel stay, remember what you read here. And just don’t.

By Robert McGarvey

Google, make no mistake, is not in AI to be an also ran.  Its plan is to be the winner in this high stakes game and travel is emerging as a particular hot spot for AI innovation.

Case in point: Google just a few days ago tweaked Bard, its AI tool, so that it integrates with multiple Google products including Gmail, Docs and Drive and if you use those apps you are missing a bet if you don’t also use Bard.

The real payoff for travelers using Bard is that it can now scrape data from those core apps and it also is updating its database realtime including data from Google Flights and Google Hotels.

Faced with a realtime decision – should I book an Airbnb whole condo in Madrid’s Lavapies neighborhood at an attractive price, Bard told me to go for it.  Or, rather, it gave me a neighborhood thumbnail that told me this works well for me.

So I booked.

Next I asked what’s the best tapas bar in Lavapies – because time in Madrid without tapas is time not well spent.  It came back with a group of five and the bonus is that in addition to one sentence write ups about each Bard placed them on Google Maps for me.

OK, so now I want to know how to get to the Prado, really the centerpiece of any Madrid holiday. Back comes Bard with an 11 minute trip on the metro – and call me weird I adore taking subways pretty much wherever I go.  Of course there’s a Google Map view too.

Where to eat dinner – which, you’ll recall if you have been to Spain, isn’t served until 8 pm?  My choice from Bard’s group of five is Los Porfiados with its rescued furniture decor.  Of course Bard offers up four more options so I will eat eclectically during my stay. There’s a Google Map, natch.

Sure, I’ll want to eat in the Airbnb apartment, at least occasionally, so where to buy groceries? Bard offers up five choices and the expected Google Map. Probably my winner is Carrefour but you might prefer Foodland Madrid which Bard tells me is an Indian market.  

A question I should have asked long ago is how get there from the airport. Bard knows and tells me it will take 47 minutes, just 15 more than a taxi and lots cheaper. Also great fun for a subway maven.

Couldn’t I get most of this info through a simple Google search? Not exactly. Yes, the bare facts would pop up in search but what Google is cleverly and seamlessly doing is weaving in various of its tools.  The map integration is especially useful for a traveler as is the convenience of the integrated package especially if you are hunting for info on a mobile phone as I often will be doing on a mobile phone (thank T-Mobile for free data in Spain).  

The potential payoffs multiply when planning a group trip is on the agenda. Here’s what Google says: “For example, if you’re planning a trip to the Grand Canyon (a project that takes up many tabs), you can now ask Bard to grab the dates that work for everyone from Gmail, look up real-time flight and hotel information, see Google Maps directions to the airport, and even watch YouTube videos of things to do there — all within one conversation.”

Losers in this rise of very useful travel AI of course will be guide books.  I still see value in highly targeted guides such as John Brierly’s extraordinary Camino de Santiago books or Bebe Bahrami’s wonderful guide to historic places, sacred sites and more along the Camino Frances but when you want the Joe Friday, just the facts info Google Bard is hard to beat.

Incidentally, Kevin Roose at the New York Times is down on this new Bard which he describes as “a mess.”  I don’t actually disagree but what I see is a first draft that has immense potential and I also believe Google will get most of the parts working in harmony soon.  Probably very soon because Google is in overdrive on this.

So if you are heading to parts unknown next week, don’t be too quick to jettison your traditional info sources and put all your faith in Bard.  But if the trip you are researching isn’t until 2024…I know I won’t hesitate to give Bard a tough trial run.

by Robert McGarvey

File this under: What you don’t know that you don’t know can hurt you.

That’s my takeaway from a long conversation I recently had with Bryce Deeney, a co-founder and CEO of equipifi.

Deeney and I had talked about BNPL two years ago and I thought I knew all I needed to know about it – it’s interest free, short term, small dollar loans much loved by Gen Z who use it to pay for stuff like a Taylor Swift MP3. Default rates were unknown but thought to be double digit. And there’s no way to track how many active BNPL loans a particular consumer has so lending money is definitely a crap shoot. No wonder credit unions, most of them, are sitting on the sidelines.

Color me out of touch. What I knew had been true a couple years ago but no longer, Deeney patiently explained to me. Pretty much everything I “knew” was flat out wrong.

The more I’ve thought about what I learned in my talk with Deeney, the more I realized I needed to rethink my beliefs about many other hot credit union topics such as AI, instant payments, crypto currency and more. Down below these issues are briefly addressed.

Continued at CUInsight

by Robert McGarvey

Pick the odd man out that has no place in a discussion of where to get startup funding: angel investors, friends and family, venture capitalists, or a CUSO?

It’s a trick question because all four are good sources of capital for early-stage companies, but you probably pointed at CUSO because you hadn’t heard of it before.

Join the club: few startup entrepreneurs have a clue. But that is overlooking an important source of possible funding that may also deliver plenty of customers too.

Continued at Startup Savant

by Robert McGarvey

It occurred to me the other day as I packed for a trip that just maybe the biggest change in my packing isn’t in the clothes (remarkably similar to what I packed 30 years ago) but in just about everything else.

Remember, now I prefer a backpack – a 35 liter Cotopaxi or a 40 liter Osprey – whereas decades ago my bag of choice was a big garment bag, mainly because folding clothes has never been a skill of mine. Still isn’t but I have grown to accept wrinkles, in my face and my clothes. A backpack is a functional choice and it is a change for me but it by no means is the biggest change in how I travel.

Probably the even bigger change is in the tech I tote and that’s despite the fact that tech today is a near universal reality whereas 30 years ago it was something of a rarity.

Rare it may have been but back circa 1990 I always brought a Toshiba T1100 Plus laptop, a modem, extension cords, a power bar, a screwdriver, and still more to insure I could in fact plug into the hotel’s phones and access CompuServe and/or AOL which were the online networks I used in those days. I also owned an acoustic coupler that I occasionally brought. Sometimes I also packed a bulky tape recorder (with spare D batteries) and a three pound Tandy-100 notebook which ran on batteries, had a tiny 8 line display and could store data on audio tape (thus the tape recorder). I remember transcribing an interview with Gerry Adams, the legendary Northern Irish politician, as a sat in a Belfast guest house and pecked away on the Tandy (which probably is the only oldtime tech I wish I still had – it was genuinely cool).

Add up all that weight I had to be lugging 20+ pounds of tech.

Looking back I have no real idea why I was so fixated on staying connected. I got few emails (I remember when CompuServe charged for emails). The Tandy could do most of what the Toshiba could do and, well, I guess I was just exhibiting my inner tech geek in my fondness for bringing so much gear on my travels.

But now it is 2023 and I travel light. Very light. For a computer my choice today is either a 9th generation iPad which cost under $300 and weighs about a pound or a Samsung Galaxy S6 Lite tablet which also weighs around a pound and cost $250. Note: I used to buy iPad Airs with all the bells and whistles but it occurred to me I didn’t use those features so I went cheap this past year. Either device does just fine with email, web searching, and the occasional writing chore.

Oh, the tablet, whichever I bring, also will double as my portable library with around 2000 Kindle books on tap in my library. Just think about how much weight that alone eliminates from my baggage.

WiFi is built into both tablets, no modem needed.

If I want I can bring a $30 Fosmon mini keyboard (it fits in a shirt pocket) or a lightweight Logitech keyboard, also $30. I probably will only bring a keyboard if I anticipate writing lengthy documents.

Of I course there’s also an iPhone 12. On it is a $23 Hindenburg field recorder app that recorded five interviews on a recent trip – very good sound quality without using an external microphone. The iPhone also can produce a powerful hotspot to handle my devices if I prefer to avoid public WiFi at hotels, airports etc (which I often boycott – security issues make using them unwise unless you deploy robust VPN).

Add in a USB cord or two and a USB outlet plug and tech is handled.

In a pinch, of course I could take quite good, even printable, photos with the phone (but I don’t customarily do photography). But if I had to I could.

Total weight is maybe three pounds, max.

And of course I can actually do much, much more with today’s pared down gear. Less is more.

How has your packing changed in your years of business travel? Speak up in the comments below.