Traveling without technology in Europe

• Are there still coin or card operated public telephones or post offices or hotels where one can make calls for a fee? - Yes, but they are rare and getting rarer.
• Do tourist offices with paper maps and pamphlets still exist? Yes, but they also have websites where you can download and print off all the maps and pamphlets in advance, a definite advantage.
• Is it still possible to visit tourist offices to book hotel rooms? Yes, but you are liable to find that most places no longer rely on bookings via the tourist offices, instead via the internet. Where previously you could rely on hotels etc. to have rooms on the day, they are now booked up weeks in advance via their website, which gives varying prices based on demand management. C'est la vie.

You do not need the internet while you are on holiday, but I think you will find you need to use it in advance from home to do your transport and accommodation bookings, and print out the booking tickets/confirmations to take with you.

And you need a cash machine (ATM) card and a credit card to pay for all this. Travellers' cheques are definitely stone age.

The short answer is the pre-internet tourist infrastructure that you reference doesn't really exist anymore. While I'm sure you can find ways do make your arrangements the "old school" way it will likely be more expensive, more time consuming, more frustrating and with less options in the end.

The good news is it's still possible to have a vacation without lugging your tech with you if you make all your arrangements before you leave. I've found the internet has actually made last minute reservation more difficult as the better accommodations tend to get booked on line first.

DJ

I would say that you will have a hard time with public phones. They exist but nowhere near as common as before (try to find one in the US. You may know of some in your town but good luck to a stranger to the area trying to find one!). You can ask at your hotel, or call from a hotel phone.

Post offices still exist - like at home.

Maps and tourist offices - fine. Still exist, fairly popular.

Hotel rooms book up earlier now because booking ahead online is so easy that many people do it. Even if "ahead" is one-two days in advance. You may have availabilty or price issues at the last minute. Be flexible and you should be ok but this is an area where, I understand, it is very different than pre-interner. I would at least book first night ahead - jet lag and a booked up town are a bad combo! Book that from home so no need for new tech.

ATM is pretty much essential. Travelers checks simply aren't used.

I personally would no longer go without a smart phone. Not for communication with home or between members of the party, but for tickets, weather reports, strike news, communication with landlords, restaurant reservations, locating grocery stores, checking bus and train schedules. It does not hinder getting away from things unless you let it.

I travel with a light, cheap Asus Chromebook, and my family and friends can reach communicate with me on it through Wifi in hotels and when I check messages when in Starbucks and restaurants. I can also make reservations and buy travel and museum passes on the fly just fine. I also use it to look at maps and get directions from point A to point B.
I gave up my cell phone when I realized in early retirement that I just don't care to pay for something I seldom even use.

I traveled in Europe twice recently for a total 14 weeks. I did not take a phone or an i-pad/tablet. I did take a small netbook computer which I used to keep in touch with family by email, to communicate with hotels via email, to do internet research, post on fb, upload photos,etc. I had arranged all hotels and most of my longer train journeys and rental cars ahead of time. I did not find it hard at all, though not sure what I would have done without the netbook.

And I'll disagree with a little of the above....

We do not travel abroad with smartphones (don't own) or phones at all. We do travel with at least one device (itouch or ipad) by which we can pick up our email at home, and our contacts at home know that's how they must reach us. If an emergency arises which may involve a phone call, we'll bite the bullet, use a hotel phone and swallow the fee.

So far we've never had to make a phone call but I would NOT count on coin-operated phone booths.

Are paper maps still available? Yes. Absolutely. We purchase some before we leave home - to help us with advance planning - and hotels and visitor centers have been able to supply them as well. We do not use GPS or online maps to find our way around. Visitor centers can also supply pamphlets but you can also find a lot online (you're online now, right?). Guidebooks are always good things to have! Besides listings of things to see and do, they often include maps and other useful bits.

We do not use tourist offices for our hotel bookings and I would not advise it. Booking through the internet, in advance of our trip, works best for ensuring the sort of room, for the sort of price and location, works best for us. It truly is NOT hard: take a look at www.booking.com (my favorite), venere.com or others which RS members may recommend. Some RS members prefer booking directly with their hotels over the phone or by email.

So other than checking our email and maybe a couple other details, our trips abroad (so far) have been very disconnected! :O)

Yeah, a lot of things changed. I only take iPad and cellphone (not smart phone) with me. I like to be flexible so I only book first few nights and then just few days ahead or just one or not at all. When you come to the airport or Main Train Station in practically every bigger city you will find information center where you can book your accommodation. I did it few times in Prague and Vienna and it was cheaper than when I booked it ahead. I also go to the Visitor Center sometimes called Tourist Information Center to get maps and pamphlets and also ask questions and for recommendations what to see. Many times you learn something which you did not find on line or in guide books, that's why I like to be flexible. It's good to have iPad and cellphone with you but it's not absolutely necessary. I also don't like to learn new technology that's why I still don't have smart phone.

The biggest problem you may have is booking a place that wants to know your arrival time, or has to advise you of a change. I have noticed that TI offices tend to be in the center of towns, more than at the train stations.

Some hotels have courtesy desks with computer access for guests.

I disconnect as much as possible, but I take an iPad mini for a number of functions: alarm clock, e-guidebooks, camera, journaling, calendar, online research, etc.; one electronic item can lighten your travel load considerably.

I travel for three months at a time, so I do feel like I need to check on things while I'm away. If you can do without any cords (and adapter plugs), bravo!

I agree with all previous posters that you will find coin operated public phones rare these days. That said, yes you can travel without technology. I wonder if you had planned to travel on the fly without advance hotel reservations and needed to use phones to make hotel reservations as you travel. This will be difficult. If you can make your travel plans while still in the US and book hotels from home, you should have no problems traveling without technology and using local tourist offices and paper maps. As pointed out by previous posters, you can also use technology while at home to download maps and make museum and tour reservations before you leave. If you had planned to drop in at Internet cafes while travelling to check your email, you will find these rare nowadays.

I'm a wing-it traveler, but I find that things have changed since the pre-internet era:

• Tourist offices are not necessarily located right near the train station these days. In modest-sized cities with just one T.O., it is often at the tourist center, which may be nowhere near the RR station. It's not a lot of fun to walk a mile to the tourist office only to find out that there's a decent hotel back near the train station.

• Some tourist offices do not book hotel rooms. I'm not sure how prevalent that is, because I usually book 1 to 3 days in advance via Wi-Fi. One city where the T.O. will only supply business cards, etc., is Palermo, Sicily.

• As previously mentioned, the ease of arranging semi-last-minute rooms via the Internet means that fewer rooms will be available if you only start looking when you arrive in town.

• The advent of the budget intra-European airlines and the improving economic situation in China have greatly increased the number of people traveling around Europe and looking for hotel rooms. Most of them will have booked rooms in advance. If you have not...

• The pricing model now used by most European railroads (Switzerland is an exception, I believe) sets promotional fares extremely low when tickets first go on sale, but as those special fares sell out, ticket costs ratchet up sharply. The day-of ticket price can be three or four times the price you would have paid for an advance-purchase ticket 3 to 6 months earlier. Traveling with a device that can access the Internet allows you to buy a ticket as soon as you can commit to a time and date (or to research bus routes as a cheaper alternative), which can save considerable money, though you will not approach the bargains available on very early ticket purchases.

• The vast majority of hotels provide free Wi-Fi service, as do quite a lot of casual eateries. As a traveler who makes spur-of-the-moment decisions, I find it extremely valuable to be able to check weather forecasts, opening hours for attractions, transportation schedules, etc., on my own electronic device.

• Electronic maps with GPS capability do not require cellular data and can be very helpful in medieval neighborhoods and other areas with twisty streets lacking signage. I travel with both a smart phone (which I carry around with me) and a tablet (which normally stays in my hotel room). If necessary I could get by with just one of those, but I wouldn't try to travel with no electronic capability.

• Having an electronic copy of a guidebook on your smartphone or computer can be very handy if you make an unplanned side trip to an area you know nothing about. Now you have some basic information that will get you started if you happen to arrive at a time when the local tourist office is closed.

It's certainty possible to travel without a lot of technology, but maybe not optimal. Wi-Fi makes it easy to check things on short notice. I always travel with laminated maps of big city destinations, and tourist maps are still routinely handed out for free (with plenty of ads from their sponsors). Sometimes it's nice to be able to check Google maps in my hotel room as a supplement to this. I book ahead so no need for a phone, I have a smartphone but the idea of tracking down a local SIM card never seemed worth the trouble to me. Actual pay phones are much scarcer in Europe just as they are in the U.S. Some people swear by GPS but especially since I don't use one in the U.S., I don't feel the need in Europe (and it would probably be dangerous to learn how to use one in an unfamiliar setting). The idea of showing up at the tourist office to book a room, as others have indicated is probably not a viable strategy in most cities. Book online from home using a site like booking.com. The best bet is probably to have some small tablet or a phone in airplane mode to check stuff over Wi-Fi, but that does not mean you are compelled to look at it except on an as-needed basis.

I'm connected to technology all day at work, so leaving the gadgets behind when I board the plane is very relaxing and part of my definition of "vacation". My husband is a realtor, so he does bring an ipad & phone, but we don't use them outside of the hotel. After all, how much fun would be miss if we couldn't get lost in Venice or avoided talking (or charades) with locals because we could jump on our phone for immediate answers?

I book all of our hotels/apartments on-line months before we arrive in Europe, purchased train tickets on-line as soon as the dates are posted, etc. Many of the high demand places due to great locations that I want are booked up before we arrive, otherwise. And, I do all of the research for months on-line to obtain a very good idea of what we'd like to do, i.e. purchased tickets to a ballet, cooking class, Eiffel Tower reservations, location of a bike shop, etc. and have train-to-hotel maps printed, etc. so we typically don't stop at Tourist Offices. We haven't needed to make any local calls because of all of this preparation. If your preferred style of traveling is to book as you go and being more spontaneous, I think you definitely need some type of technology.

Marc,

It's not absolutely necessary to travel with technology, but I find that having some technology makes travel so much easier these days. After experiencing a serious problem while in Europe, I found that my iPhone was the most useful and valuable travel accessory I had, and especially important for a solo traveller. I won't ever travel without it now.

"I'd rather not have to buy and learn how to use new technology just so that I can travel again."

Do you not own or use any technology at home?

A few thoughts on your questions.....

• As the others mentioned, I've been finding public phone booths to be less common each year. Most people have mobile phones now so booths are gradually disappearing as they probably get very little use.
• Making calls for a fee from Post Offices or hotels may still be possible but may vary according to country.
• Internet cafés also seem to be vanishing very quickly.
• Yes, tourist offices with maps and pamphlets still exist. These are listed in each of the Rick Steve guidebooks and there's sometimes more than one T.I. in each city. There's often a T.I. office in the main rail station. Check your local Library or larger bookstores and have a look at the guidebooks to see where the T.I.'s are located in each of the cities you want to visit.
• Hotels often have free easy-to-read city maps available for their guests. Unless you want a really detailed version, there's often no need to get a map from the T.I.
• I'm not sure if tourist offices still exist to book hotel rooms, as that's not an option I ever use? I vaguely recall mention in the guidebooks that some tourist offices are now operated by for-profit agencies rather than cities. These offices get a cut off the top from hotels that they deal with. You'll probably do better by looking at the hotel room listings in the guidebooks. Depending on when you're travelling, it's often wise to pre-book accommodations as many of the hotels are fully booked in the peak seasons. If you don't pre-book in peak season, you may find yourself in a dodgy property, in a less-than-desirable price range or in a location that's far removed from the city centre.

As someone else mentioned, you'll need to deal with the "technology" of ATM cards, as Traveller's Cheques are an archaic relic of the past, and you'll have trouble even finding a place to cash them. I'd suggest taking at least two ATM cards and at least one credit card. You might also have a look at Direct Currency Conversion (DCC) which is another way to scam travellers for a few bucks.

Travel these days seems to be configured for those who use technology, as that's the majority. These days I travel with a smart phone, a Netbook and camera gear these days as those are all useful for me. The smart phone is also my music player which I enjoy on long train trips.

Marc, I totally sympathize with you in wanting to be as free as possible of technology while travelling. As many others here, I do book hotels/B&Bs and train tickets ahead on the internet, but although I do not use any sort of mobile phone at home, I was glad last summer that I had acquired one for use when travelling. During the French train strike, many cancellations were not announced until 6 pm the previous day, yet I was able to use a SNCF ap for cancellation alerts on my planned journeys, and find alternative routes or timings (and in one case make an extra hotel booking) at the last minute.

But I found it is worth choosing your SIM card carefully: I was in France first and then in the UK and I had understood that the 3 SIM card I had picked would give me free phone calls in France as well as in the UK. This proved to be not the case, but while I couldn't let the next B&B know by phone of my changed arrival, I could at least send an email. Also, I found that all self-guided tours expected me to have a mobile phone number for possible emergency contact. In the last resort, I found people were willing to call a taxi for me, and the taxi willing to let the hotel know when I would get there, so I didn't even look for a payphone, but I do prefer to be independent and without technology as far as possible.

Hi,

In Germany you can still find plenty of public phone booths, the train stations have them for sure, same as on the streets. You can call cheaply by going to an internet cafe , called "call shop" in Austria and Germany. I don't have any problems getting to a pay phone in Germany and Austria. In Germany I use a phone card, which are easily gotten for 5 or 10 Euro. Munich Hbf sells phone cards. I've seen pay phones in hostels, the private, independent hostel.

You can travel without all the electronic gear, I have absolutely no problems doing just that in going all over Germany and Austria. You have to know what you're doing. The pay phones are both coin operated and phone card operated...no problem. I rely on public phones to make domestic calls in Germany. I don't bring any of this electronic gear with me on trips, it is first thing thieves go for. The cell phone is on me because the family insists on it. If they didn't, I would not even carry a cell phone in Europe. Of course, tourist offices have brochures, tons of them, esp the one I saw in Vienna near the Albertina, same as the two in Berlin am Pariser Platz at the Brandenburg Gate and at Berlin Hbf.

If you are familiar with Savignyoplatz, Kantstrasse, Grolmannstrasse, Wielandstrasse, Knesebeckstrasse, Uhlandstrasse, (just as an example) in Berlin-Charlottenburg, I can tell you of numerous pay phones (at least ten all within walking distance). Bottom line..no need to be concerned with finding a pay phone in Germany.

It wasn't that long ago that we used phone booths in France with phone cards. Now, finding one is not easy, and finding one that works is even harder. The other big change is using TI offices to book hotel rooms. I'm sure some of them still do, but we stopped doing that many many years ago. Some of them may give you a booklet listing all the hotels in town and then make a call for you if you find something you want to reserve.

I'm glad to see there are a few others out there who travel without electronics. We do much as Jean does, booking hotels and much of our transportation (trains, buses) from home before the trip. So far, we have never taken any device with us as we travel. (This may be changing, since my elderly parents want me to stay in closer contact. The last two trips we took in the States, my dad insisted I take his cell phone.)

As several people have noted, both pay phones and internet cafés are getting more scarce. It used to be fairly easy to find both, but every year there seem to be fewer. We have found that our hotels have always been helpful when we've needed to make a call, and almost never charge us for trans-Atlantic calls. And many hotels have a computer available for guests to use. Ask; they're often tucked away in a quiet spot.

And you will want to take an ATM card (at least one); our bank doesn't even issue travelers' checks any longer.

So unplug, and have a great trip.

If you plan to rely on maps picked up from tourist offices, you need to verify their addresses on line before you leave home. I have encountered several that were not in the locations specified in my guidebooks.

I love paper maps, and I am very uncomfortable until I have one in my hand. An electronic map is very useful on day of arrival in helping you find your way to either your hotel (where, yes, you will normally be able to get a paper map) or the tourist office. I'd suggest anyone traveling without a smartphone or tablet print out a map of each city on his itinerary before leaving home. It probably won't be as good as what can be picked up on site, but it will help you find your way to your first stop after you leave the train/bus station or airport.

Speaking only for France: telephones were removed from post offices twenty years ago when PTT was split into separate companies. The telecommunications company, Orange, is the incarnation of the T of the old PTT. Tourist Information offices are run by private companies, no longer government run, which explains why maps are loaded with advertising.

As I keep saying to a very close family member, the world has changed. But often when we get into an informal tug-of-war over the best method of finding our way, this other person does better with the paper map than I do with the electronic one. Good luck!

I have a smartphone and as a solo traveler with elderly parents I do need to have that connection. I play scrabble on it in the evenings with a friend because that helps me relax but otherwise not being on the internet is indeed part of my vacation. I don't use the map apps as I much prefer a paper map and I'm very good at finding my way, plus would rather not have my phone out that much. As for booking hotel rooms, I won't leave home without reservations in place, but I'm sure you can get guidance at tourist offices.

If you plan everything online and with email you will have a hard time changing plans on the fly without internet access. If you want to go old school I suggest doing all your planning that way so you are not reliant on technology. I understand people's desire to turn the clock back to simpler times but for me, you'll have to pry my devices from my cold dead hands before I travel without them. I do however carry a paper map and a compass (and sections of RS guidebooks).

"I planning on making another European trip...." Does this upcoming trip include going to Germany? If so, going to Berlin, Munich, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig, Dresden, Cologne? You will have no problems locating pay phones (Deutsche Telekom), I'll tell you where.

When I arrive at a train station in Germany, which is totally new to me, ie, never been there before, three things I check out first, where the WC is, pay phones, locations of the coin lockers, if needed. Those stations without lockers I already have a list of many of them. Bottom line...you can count on pay phones in the big city stations, likewise with the internet cafes.

I agree with the gestalt of the previous messages. Mostly, you don't need advanced technology, but it's good to have something when you do need it.

I travel with a tablet and a smartphone, but I don't use either of them very much. I make my reservations for lodging before I leave home. I prefer to get along with paper maps. The ones that come in guidebooks are usually fine, and they will certainly get you to the TI where you can get the local version.

I don't use a cellphone much at all in real life. I own them, but they stay turned off most of the time. I do take one on trips, because you never know when you're going to really need to make a call. The one I carry had a pay-as-you-go plan. It can access the internet, but I've never needed to use it for that. My tablet is wifi only, which is fine for checking train and museum schedules from a hotel room.

So, yes, you can do what you propose, but you might want to bend a little bit.

Thank you all very much for your responses. I'm impressed that so many of us spent part of our New Year's Eve and New Year's Day online when so many people were celebrating, watching American football on TV, and sleeping it all off! Your feedback has been just as I expected. It's possible to travel in Europe as I used to, but it takes a lot of Internet based advance planning and can be difficult and inconvenient (except, perhaps, in Germany and Austria).

I'm here, so I obviously have laptop based Internet access from home. Since my last European trip I've traveled extensively in Ontario (Canada) with a laptop and taken a Caribbean cruise, so I'm aware of the disappearance of traveler's checks and the need for each of us to have at least one ATM card and one widely accepted bank card. We've also encountered the chip and pin card situation though so many from the US travel in Ontario that most everyone seems to know what to do with our archaic US cards. Of more concern is that my husband's Visa seems to be much more widely accepted there than my MasterCard, and every year fewer and fewer merchants are accepting my AmEx because of the fees. I'm beginning to think that I may need to invest in purchasing and learning to use a notebook or tablet. How different can it be from the brand new HP laptop that I'm using now, after all? At least, I've already made the Windows 10 transition.

Alas, most tablet computers run non-Windows operating systems. My Samsung tablet and phone both use the Android OS, and I find it very different from Windows. I still don't know how to do much with my devices, though I wouldn't want to travel without at least one of them.

While it is possible to buy tablets that run Windows (my wife's Lenovo tablet does), those are more expensive, more capable machines. For travel, I take an android tablet that cost $70 or so. It connects to the internet (using wifi) and will run travel-related apps. However, it's inexpensive enough that I wouldn't be terribly upset if it were lost or damaged during a trip. The conventions of using an android-based machine aren't that difficult to pick up.

--Dav

most tablet computers run non-Windows operating systems

Not so. Microsoft's latest line of tablets (running windows) was one of the best sellers in it's category over the holiday season.

"I'd rather not have to buy and learn how to use new technology just so that I can travel again."

Do you own any form of cell phone? If so, which model, and from which carrier? It's very possible that you can use the phone in Europe, which would be very handy in emergencies or to change plans, as said above.

And how big is your laptop? If it's not too big, you can certainly bring it with you. That way, you have something you can check when needed, but don't need to look at it all the time.

Yes, if you prefer not to learn how to use Apple or Android devices, you can get Windows phones and tablets. If you just want something cheap, there's a very basic Android model that my sister is pleased with. The salesman called it "my first tablet," implying it was only suitable for children, but again, it does all she needs (she has a computer and a smartphone, so she uses the tablet for limited things only when away from home). If all you want is something to find a hotel or look at a map, it will do fine. It's $40 at Best Buy: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/digiland-7-tablet-16gb/5246601.p?skuId=5246601

Last summer's trip to France was the first with any kind of smart phone. I experienced the new technology as something that made things easier rather than a burden.

I think the old infrastructure is pretty much in place. Sounds like you might have to spend more time than previously locating a pay phone, or perhaps make use of your hotel's phone if available.

My tech story: I don't think I would have made use of the bike-share systems in Paris or Lyon without the app that shows the location and status of all the docking stations. I could have done so, but it would have been a huge pain in the neck.

(No, I take that back, because I had to buy my day-pass online because the U.S. has no modern credit cards.)

Having a scaleable map in my pocket that could show my location was similarly a boon.

Just watched "American Werewolf in London". I read some trivia that when this film came out on DVD recently, the producers cut out the scene where the main character used a phone booth to call home collect. The producers felt the scene dated the movie too much because today everybody has a cell phone. The funny thing is that there are many scenes in the movie where there are old cathode ray tube televisions.

Microsoft Surface Pro tablets are very expensive. However, there are other manufacturers like Asus, Acer, etc which make affordable Windows 10 tablets. But unless it is bundled with the particular device, you will have to pay for Microsoft Office software. On Android and Apple, you can get free versions, both the original Microsoft versions or fully compatible apps. We own almost everything in our household. We have Windows PC's. My son uses a Surface Pro 4 for university. I carry an android phone and a 7" tablet. We have a few Apple iphone users. And I like using an ipad at home. I found that it is possible to do the same things or use similar apps on all of them. You just have to figure it out, which is usually not too hard.

In case these points weren't already mentioned: Another old-fashioned method that still works for finding hotels is through guidebook listings. Then you can choose whether to call or to book online. And many hotels will provide the same or similar city map that the tourist office will give you. See also https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/phones-tech/sans-mobile.

I have used the guide book listings several times for Germany and France since I don't use Trip Advisor. The hotels and Pensionen were those recommended in Let's Go and Rough Guide, (mostly # 3 and 4 in terms of price), very easily done by making the reservation over the phone. None of the recommendations was ever a disappointment

Coin-operated phones are a rarity. There are "gotcha" credit-card phones, they charge a fortune in terms of cost per minute.

Tourist Offices are in a blind, and trying to reinvent themselves into "discovery centers". Their original function of making reservations or having catalog of guides and accommodation has become obsolete with the Internet. They might still be helpful in specialized destinations, such as those small towns with plenty of trail heads in the Alps. There are still plenty of physical maps around.

It is possible to travel without any gadget, as others commentators pointed, but it will be more expensive, riskier in regards to availability of accommodation, and more time-consuming.

This does not mean you need to keep yourself 100% online all the time, or that you need to check TripAdvisor before entering any restaurant. One portable internet-capable device (a big-screen smartphone or a tablet) can work wonders in the few moments you use it to optimize your trip and solve problems. You can keep it off 98% of time when you are not using it then.

These days I have my hotels arranged before I leave...this started after 2001. I don't see any reason you need a tablet with you. I rarely make calls if I'm with someone. My iPod I use for my entertainment, not for the travel aspect, so in theory it is not necessary for travel. The hotel computer can print out my boarding passes. That being said, on my last trip, which was solo, I did buy a smartphone partly into the trip. It ended up beneficial as I connected with some locals and they then had a means to get in touch with me. Now, when alone, I'll keep it. Otherwise, I have no reason for a phone other than when I arrive back to my hometown airport. So, while it is superficially convenient, it is certainly not necessary.

It is possible to travel without any gadget, as others commentators pointed, but it will be more expensive, riskier in regards to availability of accommodation, and more time-consuming.

If you make your hotel reservations ahead of time, I don't see how traveling without gadgets could be more expensive or time-consuming. In fact, I suspect that for some of us, having a computer (or equivalent phone) would lead to spending even more time looking stuff up, falling into the pit that is the internet.

So I'm pretty much with Wray on this one. We've always been able to find a computer when we needed one (to email the folks at home, for example), although I will say it's getting harder to find internet cafés. But most hotels and public libraries, and some tourist information centers, have computers that are free (or cheap) and easily accessible. Rick's guidebooks usually tell where internet access is available.

If you're traveling without hotel reservations, winging it (so to speak), then yes, I can see that having a connected device would be convenient.

While this thread has focused on hotels, there's another, new, potential issue when not traveling with a device - trains. In another thread, there is a discussion about how paper train information is being removed from stations in the Netherlands, as it's assumed people will get that information on their devices. They will work with Wi-Fi, so you don't need data, but if you had no device, it sounds like it could be inconvenient.

That thread is here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/netherlands/netherlands-train-system-report

This is just further confirmation of what people have said in the posts above - while it's certainly possible to travel without technology, certain aspects of travel are getting less convenient and/or more difficult without a device of some kind. Can you still do it? Sure - but you need advance planning in ways you didn't before (like looking up train information before you get to the station).

OMG!!!!

I just had a full on panic attack!

I can not imagine traveling without technology. I use it for so many things - apps with my itinerary, translators, maps, train schedules, online guide books, restaurant reviews, camera - virtually any question I might have while traveling. For me it is a very useful tool - I use my phone and a lightweight chromebook. I can blog and catch up on emails in the evening. We usually travel for 30+ days - our next trip is 90 days - I can use my wifi connection instead of public ones to pay bills securely.

Just my 2 cents.