Comment by kitsunesoba | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kitsunesoba | Hacker News Reader

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This pretty much nails it, though in my case I wasn't a child.

In my early 20s I lived in Japan for a few years. Early on, before I had a phone of any type (let alone a smartphone), it was incredibly stressful – even though I had studied the language prior to arriving, it wasn't enough to handle more than the most basic situations and trying to meet and coordinate with others was a nightmare. If anything deviated from the plan, including me getting lost somewhere along the way, it all fell apart.

After having been there for a couple of months I got an iPhone 3GS and it was transformative, even though things like map apps were nowhere near as good as they are now (for example, all the location names were still in Japanese even in the English version of the app, and couldn't handle transit instructions). With it I felt much more confident in going places and doing things. Being able to text or be texted, "hey I'm going to be late" or see where I am on a map instantly such a huge thing.

This effect isn't going to be strong in one's own country of course, but it's still going to be there whenever visiting an unfamiliar area.

I was in Japan in the pre smartphone years and it was really hard. To go anywhere by train I had memorized a fixed number of routes, though its not like I would randomly cross the city to go to a famous ramen place or something, because I’d just get lost anyway. I honestly can’t remember how we found things in Tokyo since there is no consistent street address system, probably just getting close and circling for 20 minutes or asking someone, or trying to read numbers off telephone polls or local area maps. There was a sense of one’s “home turf” where you knew everything, and then leaving that was like exploring somewhere new. Now when I travel its an undifferentiated mass of places I can look up on google. I miss the serendipity of it all now, the excitement of finding something really cool and unexpected, but don’t have as much time to explore.

> If anything deviated from the plan, including me getting lost somewhere along the way, it all fell apart.

I hate to say it, but this is exactly why most people are tourists and not travelers: getting lost is the best part of traveling, it's only when you randomly find yourself in the most remote part of say Kyushu that you find the quaint ramen shop that you have the best bowl of Tonkotsu and meet a lot of people that were never mentioned in your AAA travel brochure when you realize what it really is all about.

Nothing about what you said was how I traveled all over Europe back in 2012 and I probably did more in 2 weeks than you did in a year as a result. (I lived there for 3.5 years, and I speak over 5 languages now for those reasons.)

Technology is fine, it's the person who makes it a replacement for Life that is my issue.

With that said, I just traveled half way around the World with 5 phones, none of which had any data (and sim cards weren't recognized in some networks) and I got home fine.

I too value getting lost while traveling sometimes, but that's for me to do in my own time, not when trying to honor commitments made with others.

Getting lost is how I found "Piss Alley" in Tokyo [1]. It became a must-stop after.

My fondest memories are steaming hot gyoza in the alley — and sharing a bench with a Japanese professor (whose English was very good), him recommending one drink after another (the first time I tried Korean makgeolli).

[1] https://youtu.be/g169m7SbmYU

Before the pandemic, I went to Japan for 3 weeks and my cellphone was absolutely a lifesaver.

I went to a lot of city where I would have been lost without Google Lens, Google Maps, HyperDia for trains, "Japan Official Travel App", etc.

But with it, I've traveled accross less touristic cities and I was feeling confortable visiting local places without ant knowledge of the Japanese language beside a few words.

I would never dare to do that without my phone.

It was somewhat joyful for me to be lost in Tokyo the moment my wife and young daughters stepped off the train. While I had a sort of crude printed map showing the location of our hotel from the station, I still had to approach several very shy Japanese locals and try with my English to get oriented with regard to the map (since there are of course maybe a dozen or so ways to have exited said station).

What came to mind, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

I thought it made for a good example for my children who might be otherwise afraid to simply ask someone for directions (even though they might speak a different language).

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