First of all, I aplogise for using the cliche “2.0″ to follow a post about the latest technology. Forgive me! So I am traveling in Greece and Turkey right now (blog: susancline.wordpress.com) and I’m dying to talk to some of my nerds about the tech world of backpacking. I did the western European thing back in 2001 and some or eastern Europe in 2003 and my oh my, some things have changed. Here are some of the things I’ve noted from staying in hostels around Greece and meeting other backpackers:
- Tired: “We have internet at this hostel” Wired: “We have wireless.
The new must have features for hostels and internet cafes is to offer wireless. A lot of backpackers are traveling with their laptops these days. That’s right, they are carting them around from hostel, to train, to hostel, to ferry, etc. I wonder how they feel about the whole security thing but perhaps the cost of a laptop is somewhat negligible these days. - “What myspace? Tag me on facebook”. Perhaps it’s just because I’ve been meeting a lot of university students but even the older generation is hip to Facebook and no one is talking MySpace. A common line when someone is snapping a photo - “Please don’t tag me on Facebook”.Â
- I don’t know how they all exist but there seem to be about 250 different websites that book hostels. It’s a really great way to easily find a hostel, reserve and pay online. A lot of these websites also employ the 2.0 aspect of having other users rate the hostels and suggest local activities.  My favorites are hostelworld.com, hostels.com and hostelz.com
