My husband and I are thinking about going overseas next year. We haven’t been on any long holidays (albeit for a weekend away to Inverloch and Castlemaine nearby or a week with family in Canberra) since 2018 (I went overseas to a conference in 2020).

So it’s fair to say that we are both hanging out for one, but at the same time extremely anxious because we have lost touch with leaving home.

In the time since we last went away, things have changed.

We used to go to a travel agent who would do all our organisation of trips and tickets. It was helpful to have a “travel concierge” when then went wrong. However since 2018, things have changed drastically as you can book everything online now.

I went into a well known branded travel agency yesterday to get a brochure or two from various guided tour companies. In the shop were eight consultants sitting at their screens with no clients. I was in there for about 15 minutes and didn’t see anyone else enter.

The young consultant giggled when I told her I’d like to take some brochures. Instead she sat me down and asked my plans and got quite excited and then tapped away at her keyboard.

I repeated that I’d like to get some brochures to have an idea – and a list of some reputable companies so I could check out their tours.

She insisted she could do it for me but I reiterated that I’m just in planning mode and as my needs are specific – and as I need to discuss with my husband – it would be appreciated if I can just have some brochures to take away.

Her colleague must have overheard the conversation so he came around and dropped one brochure of a company I’ve never heard of.

Then I asked “can I please have a list of some tour operators. Write them in a post it note”. A few minutes were spent around the office with four people looking for post-it notes. Once one – one sheet only – was found, she didn’t have a pen and then the whole rigmarole started again.

It was abysmal to watch. This is not customer service at all. Young inexperienced consultants in front of screens with no customer interaction let alone any stationery to take small notes here and there.

I left the office more deflated than angry but aware that the times had changed and it’s best I start getting onboard with how the new ways are in booking travel. My husband prefers the traditional ways in many aspects and sometimes, this is great for reminiscing, creativity and enjoying the world around you without any screens in the middle but in other ways, it’s putting us behind and the risk is we can become helpless, vulnerable or at risk.

Now it’s not difficult to overcome this. After all, I love to learn. Usually my view is that I prefer to keep to the traditional ways because it’s keeping people in jobs. However I’m now seeing that the jobs they’re doing are either useless in the face of new competitors, they are dying off and as a result, cannot offer any specialist individual support or service.

So it’s high time I get onboard and leave my obstinate thinking about using Amazon, Uber, AI, social media, etc because of some misguided idea that the Tech Bros have taken over the world at the expense of the smaller operators.

They already have!

So what am I doing except being difficult and a Luddite about it?!

Time I get off my high horse because the world has moved on and I don’t like the feeling of being left behind.

Now to convince my husband.

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Result: I contacted some tour companies directly and they don’t print out magazines anymore. (Pity, I was looking forward to rifling through one with a cup of coffee and post it noting it everywhere – like I did in the old days). They advised we check out their tours on the website and book them through there. I guess everyone uses tablets and iPads nowadays. (Which reminds me that I need to finally bite the bullet and get a decent computer. My iMac, MacBook and tablet are so old that they’re don’t work anymore and they’re more of a hindrance than a help. It’s another reason why I needed to find the brochures!)