How did we travel without cell phones?
 

Do you have to have a cell phone while traveling?

I have to have one anytime I am in the car - I now consider it a necessary safety item. Not willing to listen to speeches about "we didn't need one when I was a child" since I remember cars without seatbelts, emergency flashers, and airbags - some things change for the better. It also allows us more peace of mind to travel since we both have elderly frail parents and makes us more reachable.

But I rarely use it on vacation except for periodic check-in calls to mother and I use it for that because it is cheapest way to call. Even work-obsessed husband does not use his on vacation.

And when we go places without cell coverage, it does not stress us.

It makes life much, much easier. Especially when we go in different directions and want to meet up again. No guessing where somebody is and when they'll be ready to meet you. Even just a trip to the mall with my daughters becomes much more pleasant this way.

I'm with you, Nikki. What I wonder is how our parents raised teenagers without cell phones!

Our parents made sure we had a dime in our pocket and knew how to use a payphone! :)

Payphones are disappearing - they are not cost-effective for companies. Only one pay phone at our dtrs 2,000 student HS, and it is often broken. No visible pay phones in downtown area of my town. Sure, pay phones were good enough for us, but they only work if you can find one.

And how do they call me on the pay phone when I'm also wandering around the city or the mall?

I take a cell phone with me when I travel domestically, but it's usually turned off. I don't pay extra for international coverage, and sure don't miss one when we're out of the country.

I'm guessing cell phone usage in my family is way, way below the average.

I guess I wasn't clear. Growing up, "we" used payphones. You'd be hard-pressed to find one now.

Of course they are disappearing! Supply and demand.

Geez.

And Niki, I'll let you try and figure that one out on your own.

seetheworld, I'm sorry, have I said something to offend you?

You are right, Seetheworld. We did use pay phones and they were plentiful at the time. But that still didn't make it possible for our parents to call us. (Of course, I am sure we liked it that way!) I do remember having to check in with my mother at pre-determind times.

I think cell phones, as annoying as they can be, have made raising teenagers a little easier or at least taken some of the worry out of it since you can always check on them.

I was a late bloomer and didn't get a cell phone until 1996!! :-O The plan I had in 1996 only allowed 30 minutes of free talk time because I was sure I would only use it in emergencies. And the phone I had then was so bulky I hated carrying it in my purse.

Now I use my tiny little cell phone more than I use my land line. (obviously I have a better calling plan now) In fact, we would have got rid of the land line by now except the service is free with our cable/internet package.

Now I wonder how I ever lived without a cell phone.

Just a simple add-on to the initial post. In Ft. Lauderdale during Hurricane Wilma, we lost our "new and improved" digital phone service. T-Mobile lost 200 towers in our area, so we had no cell phone. On the morning after the storm we ventured out to find pay phones so we could call our family to let them know we survived. The coin slot was jammed with money on the one pay phone we could find. So, we used a credit card to call our kids in VA and MD. When we got our bill we almost fainted as one call for 8 minutes and one for 11 cost us $75!!! Word to the Wise, never use a credit card to make phone calls. We never travel without our cell phones as my DH tends to disappear at times and it's the only way I can find him :)

Technology changes, today just about everyone has a cell phone and bringing it with you when travelling is just common sense. There's no "rule" requiring you to be constantly using the cell phone when on vacation, and I certainly don't, but it's nice to have it handy. Many years ago when I was a kid we had to rely on payphones (it was the state of the art for the time and we wondered what people did before we had them) - time passes things change. Of course, I'm old enough to remember when not everyone had phones in their home - now that was really a different time.

I'm reminded that just after we started using cell phones we met up with friends in New York. They were going to The Producers and we were to meet them after the show. We somehow missed them coming out of the theatre and spent nearly two hours trying to find them at the suggested places we'd go afterwards. Meanwhile do you think either they or me would get the idea to call the other on our cell phones? (yes we both had them and had each other's numbers) No.
How easy they have made things like that.

I still hate them and have yet to go anywhere near my minimal 300 minutes per month. In fact last month I did a total of 18 minutes. But they sure can be lifesavers.

How did we travel without cell phones?....


In blessed and serene peacefulness.

:)

To answer the original question:

Same way we planned our travel before there's internet.

Cell phones don't work EVERYWHERE!

Before there were even cell phones we always had a CB radio.

Utahtea

I take my cellphone with me whereever I go. However I do not turn it on and will not unless there is some serious emergency I need to hear about. I prefer to have my phone conversations in privacy, not in the middle of the supermarket or restaurant, LOL.

I use my cell phone for my convenience, an emergency. I like to have peace and quiet when I am out of my residence.

At least here in N CA public payphones started getting eliminated as the drug dealers were using them. Now of course everyone has cellphones, even those that basically don't need them as there are so few payphones.

Remember when we didn't have answering machines? I remember older relatives refusing to install them in their homes, LOL.

.