ILLUSTRATION FERNANDO SAFONT
Long-distance travel used to be a real luxury, something only the super rich could afford. Today it is cheaper than ever, meaning it’s becoming increasingly easy to satisfy our wanderlust. With the emergence of various new technologies, we are set to explore the world in a way that previous generations could only ever have dreamed of. From crowd-sourced accommodation to virtual reality trips; the key to unlocking the world is quite literally at our fingertips.
“For most of us, our smartphone has become the remote control of our life,” said Lee McCabe, global head of travel, education and consumer services at Facebook, speaking at the World Travel Market in London last November. Representing a company that dominates the mobile app market (Facebook owns four out of the five most downloaded apps of 2014), he is of course right; we are increasingly managing our lives through our mobile devices.