I love travelling but I have to admit that it hasn’t always been plain sailing up until now. It looks like current advances in rail travel technology are going to make things a good deal easier from now on, but where were these things when I needed them?

To see more clearly how our travel plans are going to change in the future I decided to think about a few of my most memorable travel situations and then see whether new technology could have helped me out had it been available.

What Will I Read?

This one is pretty easy, as it is about reading abroad, and we all know that e-readers now let us do that with a minimum of fuss. I went on a trip to the pristine fjords and to save room in my backpack I only stuck in a couple of books, for anybody interested in seeing this you can book a Baltic Cruise certainly matches Alaska Cruises for inspiration. It turned out that the two “classics” I had chosen were completely unreadable, at least to my eyes. There I was, stuck in hotels during long evenings with nothing to read. With modern technology I will be able to travel with all of the books I fancy.

Where Am I?

Have you ever woken up and not known where on Earth you are? It is a weird sensation which at first is liberating before it gets a bit scary. This has happened to me on a number of occasions due to the fact that I have a habit of making last minute decisions to go somewhere I had never heard of before. In the future I will use my GPS and a mobile with maps on it to make sure that I always know where I am.

What Should I Do Today?

Not knowing what to do is another side effect of travelling somewhere at the last minute without doing any research. I tend to go for the “take a wander and see what happens” approach. This sometimes results in great fun and the discovery of unexpected treasures.  However, it also often ends in a lot of aimless wandering around industrial estates and down dead end lanes. By using augmented reality applications I will be able to see what is around me and what might be of interest.

So What Does the Future Hold?

Well, it looks like a lot of the very latest travel technology has been designed with people like me in mind. As far as I can see the biggest benefit of a lot of the new stuff is that you can travel without doing a lot of that preparation and research business which I have never been keen on. Stick a mobile phone and an e-reader in your bag with a couple of bits of clothing and your passport and you are all set.