I have 630 posts on WordPress describing my travels over the past 22 years. Some old posts, for reasons unknown, lost their photo uploads. I recently reloaded the photos on the problem posts, and re-read them. I noted many changes in how I travel.

One of the biggest changes is the length of trips. Our first trip to the UK was 9 days.

Our last trip to the UK was 17 days. My last two trips were 39 and 29 days.

Solo travel is another change. I started travelling on my own for part of a vacation in 2010. In 2016 I went without family for an entire vacation as part of a group tour about Caravaggio. I started travelling truly solo, not as part of a group, to take Italian courses.

Another big change has been carry-on only luggage. After 2008 when I went three days without my bag, the only time since that I checked luggage was in 2013 when we went to Japan for Christmas. The checked case only contained gifts and baking–things that could go astray and not leave me without essentials.

My old luggage was heavy. Reducing to carry-on only reduced luggage weight — essential when travelling solo. Weight lifting over my head is not one of my strengths.

Taking only luggage that I can lift overhead means limiting the amount of clothes and doing laundry on vacation. When we rent an apartment, I make sure there’s a washing machine. Otherwise, I hand wash a few things at a time and let them dry over night. (Never had a dryer in Europe.) Bigger clothing items may get sent for hotel laundry service–more cost but less hassle.

My travel clothes have changed to easily hand wash and hang to dry. And many have anti-pickpockets features. Trousers have zippered pockets and blazers and skirts have at least one security pocket. One of my pet peeves is that women’s clothing rarely have large pockets–if they have pockets at all!

I don’t wear heels anymore and don’t pack (or buy) them. I am always searching for flats that are comfortable for walking and look good. They seem to be like unicorns. These days I also need them to accommodate orthotics 🙁

With Scott’s new knees, we should be able to walk more and not take taxis so frequently. On the other hand, with rolling luggage instead of a backpack, I may take taxis to avoid the noise and effort of dragging wheels over cobblestones.

I do a lot less shopping as I no longer buy souvenirs for others or myself although looking in stores can be fun.

We carry less cash. More places take credit cards including taxis and museums. Tickets for trains or events can be pre-bought online. And I can always use an ATM as long as I remember the PIN for my bank card; something I forgot in 2023 (DUH!). Because of pickpockets, I divide up cash and credit cards and downsized to a credit card-sized wallet which fits into small pockets.

The technology I take has changed. I no longer bring a camera but use my phone. I no longer pack a second mobile phone to use with a SIM card. Unfortunately using my smartphone incurred international roaming charges that added up to a huge amount. Next trip I plan to try an eSIM.

I take my iPad but no longer take a separate e-reader. Noise-cancelling ear buds have become a new essential. They work better than ear plugs to drown out crying babies. Taking the minimum electronic paraphernalia is difficult because of varying outlet shapes and charging cables with different ends. I had a travel adapter for Europe and the UK but it only takes USB A and now I also need USB C.

I have to pack more pills. In addition to sleeping pills, I take glucosamine for arthritis, Lactaid for lactose intolerance, peppermint oil and probiotics for IBS and recently, eye drops for glaucoma. Aging does not make travel easier.

A recent addition to my packing has been sketching supplies. In 2023 I took a sketchbook with A6 paper (approx. 10 x 15 cm or 4 x 6 in), pencils, pens, watercolour and brushes plus a pouch to carry it all. I was inspired by people who document their travels with their own drawings instead of photos. I like that I can add commentary about the sketches — kind of like adding text to photos in a blog–and can add restaurant business cards or admission tickets.

I have not quit taking photos but sketching forces me to slow down and observe. I noticed details and sights that I might have missed and might never photograph. I did not produce much but I attempted some on location sketches. A glass of wine while sketching has been a relaxing new activity on the travel schedule.

Our upcoming travel includes an art walk with workshops. We are changing to travel more slowly and hopefully, more mindfully.

I quit bringing home receipts to calculate trip expenses. I still track expenses, but started using an app called Trabee Pocket to enter expenses (preferably) as they are incurred. Once the details are saved in the app, I can toss the receipt. It’s a good memory exercise to remember details for cash payments with no receipt. The app generates a report that totals expenses and organizes expenditures under categories. The reports should help with future travel budgeting.

Our travel expenses have changed over the past 22 years. Not surprising, they have generally increased, but the increase hasn’t been linear. The daily cost for Switzerland in 2022 for two of us was more than either of our trips to Italy in 2023, including Rome where we paid for everyone’s flights, rental of multi-bedroom apartments and numerous meals for five to seven people.

We started out travelling with our children. Now we almost always travel without them. Has that changed our travels? We had hoped travel would educate our children about geography, history, language and culture. It would challenge their assumptions by experiencing places that are different from home. Their view of the world would broaden by learning that people can be different and yet the same as us. Those purposes remain unchanged. The focus now may be more on ourselves but we travel to learn, challenge ourselves and appreciate the world.

So I am looking forward to adding new posts; I hope they will be ones with photos that remain uploaded.