Let's think of a million different hypothetical situations in which not having a phone is bad. Result: you sound helpless.
Perhaps you have never had the experience of taking a close friend or relative with a disability, social dysfunction, etc. to their first ever concert and knowing it's partly enabled by the fact that if you somehow become separated you are both carrying electronic devices that will let you reconnect easily. (I find many people evaluate situations based on a default expectation that everyone involved is able-bodied, of sound mind, and socially adept, and then get defensive about "hypothetical" situations that are realistic considerations for a lot of us.)
- Save docs of maps for later. - Save docs of the names of place you want to go (translated into the local language and in your own language) - Similar for a few key locations (ok - mostly the hotel).
Makes a big difference when you can't read the local language... but yeah, being connected, not needed - and I could have done all that with bits of paper.