10 Things old Travellers Remember.

If you’re reading this and any of these ring a bell, you may have to admit — you’re officially an old traveller. These were the everyday realities of life on the road in the 80s (and for many of you, the 70s too). They shaped how we travelled, how we communicated, and how we found our way long before smartphones and Wi‑Fi made the world feel small.

1. Aerograms

Thin, blue, fold‑up letters with a pre‑printed stamp — the cheapest way to send news home. You wrote in the tiniest handwriting imaginable to squeeze in every detail. I still have the aerograms Gary and I sent each other whenever we were apart. They’re treasures now.

2. Film and grey film cannisters: Remember carrying rolls of film and praying they wouldn’t get ruined? I’ll never forget the Maasai warrior in Kenya who wore a black‑and‑grey film canister through the stretched hole in his ear — he kept his coins inside it. Or the day my backpack fell off a boat heading to the Gili Islands and six rolls of film were destroyed by saltwater. Entire memories lost in an instant.

3. Poste Restante

You could send a letter to “Poste Restante, Kathmandu” and the post office would hold it until you arrived with your passport. My poor mother sent letters all over the world, many of which I never collected because my plans changed. Imagine being a parent then — not knowing where your 20‑year‑old was for months at a time.

Many Poste Restante offices closed only recently. In Kathmandu, someone was tasked with sorting through 50‑year‑old unclaimed letters and trying to return them. What a job that must have been.

4. Public Phone Boxes

The holy grail was finding a broken one that gave free calls. I remember feeding 10p coins into phones in England, and once even camping beside a phone box in Johannesburg because word spread that it was free. Backpackers lined up all night. The teacher in me eventually created a roster — 15‑minute calls each. I managed four calls home before sunrise.

5. Smoking on Planes

If you checked in late and ended up in the smoking section at the back, you spent the whole flight breathing through your sleeve. Hard to imagine now.

6. Sleeping on the Floor of Aircraft

We made beds for the kids on the floor, feet tucked under seats, pillows stolen from everywhere. No seatbelts, no rules — just a cosy nest of teddy bears and blankets.

7. Carbon‑Copy Airline Tickets

Printed on telex machines or handwritten. I once bought a black‑market ticket where someone had erased the original name and written mine over the top. Luckily, no one checked manifests back then.

8. Buying Tickets at a Travel Agent

I once raced to Trailfinders in London the moment they opened and snagged the last seat to Johannesburg. A true sliding‑doors moment — because a few days later, in Johannesburg, I met Gary. And the rest is history.

9. Cassette Players and Tapes

Before my first big trip, I recorded all my favourite songs onto a C90 tape. I played it until the tape snapped and had to be repaired with sticky tape. The cassette player devoured batteries — none of them rechargeable.

10. Travellers Cheques

American Express cheques were your lifeline. You guarded them with your life and slept with them under your pillow. No credit cards, no ATMs — just paper money you hoped no one would steal.

11. Lonely Planets

Tony and Maureen Wheeler’s early guidebooks were every backpacker’s bible. Mud maps, cheap guesthouses, places to eat, things to see. I still have my originals from the 80s, covered in notes, taped‑in maps, and scribbles. They tell the story of our journeys.

12. Postcards

The only way my mum knew where I was. I tried to send one every couple of weeks — or whenever I crossed a border.

13. Phrase Books

Before Google Translate, you flipped through a tiny book trying to negotiate bus fares or hotel rooms. I still have mine, with key phrases scribbled inside the cover.

14. Paper Maps

The bane and the blessing of every traveller. They lived in your back pocket until they disintegrated. I once navigated in Japan by telling Gary to look for a sign that looked like “two sticks with a roof and a little hat.” Navigating in Russian, Chinese, and Japanese with only a map was… character‑building. Today, I celebrate Google Maps with all my heart.

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What’s Been Lost — and What’s Been Gained

Travel today is almost unrecognisable. You can go around the world without ever being lost. Flights, hotels, boarding passes, visas — all on your phone. In many ways, travel is easier.

But something has been lost too.

The wandering.

The randomness.

The magic of not knowing.

The unexpected delights that came because we were lost.

Today, travellers face more paperwork, more bureaucracy, more screens. Technology helps — but it also demands.

It will be fascinating to see how future travellers look back on this era and what they think we gained… and what we let slip away.