So did we really lose a day of our lives

Not quite Dr Who and time travel but you have to be impressed when you can walk out of home one afternoon and 24 hours later (local timings) be sitting on a train in France skimming across the countryside towards Lyons. Just what William Kingsley, guest of HM judges in 1827, would say about that compared to his own 108 days of relocation, travel beggars belief.

As we sat in our brasserie awaiting our summer salads and transform into boomers grappling with the power of our smart phones, fearful of data download cost implications from using Mr Google when accessing the power in our palms.

By morning our travel world has now changed-thanks to our smart phones. In the old days, we used to get a local map from Reception, ask a few questions about direction to so and so museum, gallerie, cafe etc and be on our way exploring. A couple of arguments later, a few stops to check maps and an encounter or two with locals and we get around for our orientation day.

Not any more. We visited SFR telecom where we bought new SIM cards and loaded up with 'special' French and data. So now I have lost my wife who is walking along using map functions, checking reviews of cafes and restaurants and telling me off for not checking before we left the hotel that the Musee des Beaux arts is closed on Tuesdays. What used to be “fun” is now more efficient and easier. Wonder when my wife will return to me?

In the mid afternoon we sat for a quiet drink in Brasserie Georges, a huge brasserie where lots of well known people have been. As I drink my beer, Yvonne is texting home on viber. Where will it end or are we heading into new and different travel experiences?

If I thought my day of moving with travel technology was over, then I was mistaken. On returning home for a break before heading out for dinner, I decided to post this blog. In the morning I had been unable to re-establish wi-fi and so I was very pleased to find that whatever the problem was, it was now gone and all was working perfectly. So with phones and computer up and running we were set.

Yvonne stopped working her phone long enough to warn me that you, my clients, preferred blogs with associated pics. That meant I needed to download today's pics onto the computer. No problems. Before leaving for the trip I had cleaned up the computer from previous trips pics wise and erased all photos from my camera. But now the computer was delighted to find that Yvonne only has 2573 pics on her camera and went into overdrive downloading before finishing with the ones taken today. Great.

So hope the pic selected meets your needs.

Actually, our day with technology combines well with first impressions on how France is 'moving forward'. The cafes, brasseries and bars are still stuck with tradition-we found it difficult to move beyond the idea of croissant and coffee for breakfast. And the cafe manager with no clients assured us that although he could and does make a mean croque madame, he could not make us one before 11:30 as that is not how it works in France. So we left him to his old world ways.

But then there were plenty of people getting around by bike and there were plenty of racks with rental bikes around for locals and tourists. We saw quite a few people using scooters, even older women. And plenty of 'green' oriented shops doing good business.

Is it better to preserve your culture, keeping to old ways? Or do you globalise your shops, ways and services so we can all 'feel at home' wherever you are?