Video of three train types taken at Østerport Station, Copenhagen on 30 August 2024:
I love travel, I love planning travel, I love researching travel options. But mostly I love travel. I first travelled overseas with my parents in late 1978 / early 1979 to the Phillipines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. I travelled to New Caledonia on a school trip in 1983. I first travelled to Europe in 1985 as an exchange student. My most recent trip was in August-September 2024 to Copenhagen, Denmark, after a 10-year break from international travel. This is my jumping off point to discuss changes in travel from the 1980s to now.
Nyhavn canal with multi-coloured buildings and boats. Photo taken August 2024.
When I first travelled to Europe, it was on Yugoslav Airlines (an airline that not longer exists) from Melbourne. The flight stopped in Singapore and the Middle East to refuel, before a change of aircraft in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (a country that no longer exists), then stops in Zagreb and Stockholm, before finally landing in Copenhagen. It took roughly 36 hours.
Our most recent trip to Copenhagen was on Singapore Airlines, with a single stop and change of aircraft in Singapore. It took roughly 30 hours, although 8 hours of that was a long layover in Singapore. Admittedly this is faster, more direct and on better / more comfortable aircraft than in 1985. Even in 1985, there were faster, more direct and more comfortable options. The 1985 Yugoslav Airline aircraft appeared to have been leased or purchased from an African airline - not a comment on African airlines, but an observation that the aircraft was old.
Nevertheless a 12-13 hour flight leg in economy is still hard work. Jet lag from crossing 8 or 9 time zones still sucks.
Wheelchair users are first to board the plan, and last to disembark (by a long shot depending upon the availability of airport assistance staff). We need to pick our airlines carefully for those that provide the best support, and getting that assistance requires a visit to the GP and filling in a form to disclose our diagnoses, even though a diagnosis is not really germane to the provision of support.
Hotel accommodation is still hit and miss. More hotels have accessible accommodation, but the nature of accessibility varies enormously, as does the ease with which the availability of accessible rooms can be identified and booked. The Hilton and IHG chains are standouts in generally allowing their accessible rooms to be identified and booked from their websites. Scandic Hotels have lots of accessible hotel rooms, and great information on their website about accessibility features, but customers need to email properties to confirm bookings for accessible rooms.
Public transport is the bright spot though. More accessible transport options are good news for getting around your travel destination as a wheelchair user.
Travellers entering Australia need to complete a hard-copy incoming passenger card. Singapore also requires completion of an incoming passenger card - SG Arrival Card (SGAC) with Electronic Health Declaration - but the Singapore card can (must) be completed online.
I'm guessing that the Australian incoming passenger card information is digitised at some point to perform risk assessments and share data with other agencies. See Collection of Passenger Name Records. In which case, having incoming passengers complete the passenger card online could expedite risk assessments and data sharing. From a passenger's perspective, it would be much easier to complete an incoming passenger card online before a flight, rather than scrabbling around to find a pen and fill in the information, much of which is redundant to provide for Australian passport holders.
When we travelled to Europe 10 years ago, we took only one iPad. However, in the intervening 10 years, using digital devices to interact with the world around us has become ubiquitous. This time we took 2 iPads, 2 iPhones and 2 Apple Watches. We probably could have left one or both iPads at home, but the iPad is my preferred device for interacting with the web. Having an iPhone was not essential, but highly useful in the following ways (noting that these are obviously many of the same ways that having an iPhone is useful at home):
And in a strongly digital economy like Denmark, having Apple Watches for digital payment was hugely convenient.
The 2 iPads, 2 iPhones and 2 Apple Watches were not in themselves sufficient - we needed the following accessories to get best use out of them:
When we downsized in preparation for moving a couple of years ago, a handful of Lonely Planet travel guide books were amongst the items we donated / gave away. The internet has made dead-tree travel guide books largely obsolete. When I looked for up-to-date information about visiting Copenhagen, I consulted official sources, like the Visit Copenhagen website, but Facebook and YouTube as well. Specifically, a Facebook group for visitors to Copenhagen, with diverse membership comprising both recent visitors and current residents.
When I needed advice about the best way to pay for public transport during our stay, I posted a question to this group and got very helpful advice about an option that I had not previously considered, and which ultimately saved us money. (For the record, it was the DSB app.) Want advice on hotel options? Or best day trip options from Copenhagen? Which bakery has the best pastries? Feasibility of schedule of planned activities? Should I cross Øresund to visit Malmö? The Facebook group for visitors to Copenhagen will generate plenty of responses and opinions, although not necessary a consensus view. It does take a critical eye to sort through the responses to decide what is useful.
The Facebook group does get lots of visitors asking how to get from Copenhagen airport to their hotel, and whether they should take a taxi, an Uber or rent a car. (Hint - the answer nearly always is take the Copenhagen Metro or train. And Uber does not operate in Copenhagen.) There are several user-generated YouTube videos describing in detail how to travel from the airport to central Copenhagen. Like this one or this one or even this one. Such videos a very useful for wheelchair users, as even though they are not created specifically with wheelchair users in mind, being able to 'walk' the path via a video assists in identifying whether there are insurmountable access barriers. It is not perfect by any means, but definitely better than a printed guide.
In 2011, we travelled with travellers cheques, but found it hard to convert them outside of larger cities. Ten years ago, we took a combination of cash and cards, including the Commonwealth Bank Travel Money Card. This card is a pre-paid credit card which can store cash in up to 16 different currencies. The idea is that you watch exchange rates prior to travel and convert and store cash when exchange rates are most favourable.
I am a big fan of the Travel Money Card, but mine gets most usage not for travel, but as a risk-free credit card. When I need to enter credit card details into a website, e.g. when there is no PayPal option, I will transfer cash to my Travel Money Card and use it rather than my actual credit card. I keep a minimal balance on my Travel Money Card, so that if it gets hacked, little damage can be done.
The Travel Money Card has two drawbacks for travel though:
With these drawbacks in mind, I started looking for alternatives. A little bit of Googling surfaced the concept of a neobank - digital-only financial institutions - and Wise as an example of a neobank. I looked at other neobanks, but was attracted to Wise because it is an authorised deposit-taking institution in Australia (initially registered with APRA under the former business name, TransferWise).
My Wise account has the following advantages over my Travel Money Card:
In addition, the Wise app and website are really easy to use, and their exchange rates beat the bank's exchange rates. Wise charges transaction fees to load and send money, whilst the Commonwealth Bank does not, but for transactions not in Australian dollars, Wise still comes out in front.
For example, at the time of writing, the Commonwealth Bank would charge me $AUD153.37 to put $USD100 on my Travel Money Card, whereas Wise would charge only $AUD148.04 to put $USD100 on my Wise card, including fees of $AUD1.13.
Assuming you do not have a third-party paying into your Wise account, Wise needs an account from which it can debit funds when you add money. I use my Travel Money Card for this, and transfer money onto this as needed to top up my Wise account. In this way, the Travel Money Card is not obsolete; it is just relegated to being a supporting player for travel.
This blog post could easily have been titled 80s to Now: How Technology Has Changed Travel, because the common underlying theme to changes highlighted here is technology. Whether it is mobile technology allowing travellers to navigate to places they would otherwise be unable to go in unfamiliar cities; or social media technology providing a waiting pool of local experts to answer travel questions; or fintech solutions to make it easier and cheaper to access funds whilst you travel. There are undoubtably downsides to technology and travel - having to dodge selfie-taking tourists at popular spots comes to mind - but for an individual traveller like myself, the positive change aspects outweigh any negatives.