The internet has certainly changed the way that D and I travel. Gone are the days when we hauled thick, heavy travel guides in our back packs, one for each country we planned to visit on a month-long trip. We used to have to purchase calling cards to be able to call family in Canada from the road, and also to call hotels and restaurants from pay phones. We had our itineraries carefully planned, and compiled a binder of maps, hotel reservations, train tickets, plane tickets, and assorted other paper necessities before leaving home.

We also did not always have immediate access to news, as we often stayed in hostels or low-budget hotels whose rooms did not have televisions. If we were in a country where we did not speak the local language, we could not even buy a newspaper to check up on world events. I also hauled around a camera with several canisters of film, both colour and black and white, snapping dozens of rolls of film, hoping that most of them would turn out.

How things have changed. Now, we stay in apartments when possible (always through VRBO or Vacation in Paris), or in better hotels, and free wi-fi has become a normal feature in most places. The backpacks are thankfully gone, replaced by small rolling duffle bags. My iPhone travels with us, and not only do we use it to text and phone and take digital pictures, but it is practically a necessity since it is nearly impossible to find a pay phone now in the European countries we have visited.

Access to the internet has shrunk the world. Now, we check the news on our laptop daily, staying in tune with what is happening everywhere. Particularly on this trip, so close to the Nov 13 attack on Paris, we have been careful to stay apprised of local news, checking for updates and any warnings.

There was an excellent piece in the Globe and Mail over the weekend, by one of their correspondents, Mark McKinnon (please click here to read it). In the article, he links the recent terrorist attacks across several countries (the bomb that blew up a Russian jet over Egypt, the deadly attacks in Lebanon, and the Paris attack) and gives us some excellent background on events in the Middle East, and how the region came to be in such a terrible state of lawlessness and instability.

Brussels was on high alert over the weekend, thanks to some credible threats of a terrorist attack. With that in mind, D and I ventured out last night in Paris (we returned yesterday afternoon from Strasbourg), to have apéritifs at a packed café on Rue Montorgueil, then rode the métro to the 14th arrondissement to have dinner at another one of our favourite bistros. More on that in another post.

We were delighted and proud to note that every café was filled to over-flowing last night; we managed to grab one of the last outdoor tables at a café, to enjoy a couple of glasses of kir pêche (almost always my apéritif of choice in Paris).

No one forgets what happened here on November 13, and Paris (and likely the rest of the world) will never be the same again. Much like the events of Sept 11, these terror attacks affected us in a way that heretofore was unthinkable, and the future seems a bit terrifying right now.

However, life must go on, and Parisians seem to have gathered their courage and strength. They live.