What’s ‘untrending’ in travel? 7 things that are hilariously dated or over-done

Travel trends come and go. Some we’re glad to see the back of, while others we wish were reinstated. Here are seven things that will make you laugh (or more likely cringe), writes Anna Sarjeant

The Discman

There was nothing like sitting in the back of the car on a family road trip, listening to your Christina Aguilera CD on repeat. Lyrics would be memorised by the fifth play because you’d always forget the other 20 (illegally burned) CD albums. In those days, the headphones were small, foamy and barely touched your ears. Thus ensued an argument with your mother about how loud the car radio was, and her harking back that it was to drown out your “tinny” music. Later, you’d go for a sulky walk but Discman couldn’t cope with bucolic surfaces and the CD would skip itself to death. Cumbersome to carry, the “portable” player was too big for a pocket and would conk out by day three. Dad wouldn’t fork out for any more expensive batteries, and you’d still have to wait eight years for Steve Jobs to invent the iPod.

International phone cards

Before smartphones and the World Wide Web, travellers on their OE would only touch base with their worried parents once a fortnight. It was a process. Having first frequented the local internet cafe where you’d be greeted by a barrage of emails from your mum insisting you “ring home”, you’d have to find a cash machine and a dairy. One to extract $10 and the second to pay for an international phone card. Reluctantly, you’d traipse down to the nearest phone booth, likely half a mile away. After fiddling with scratch-off panels, calling codes and automated instructions, you’d finally hear your mum’s distant voice, and the thud of her elbowing your dad so he’d feign interest. Ironically, while insisting you were safe, happy and eating well, you’d be standing in a back alley telephone box with myriad shady characters eyeing up your Reebok Classics.

Ironing your hair straight

Was it really “party night” at the holiday park if the cool girls weren’t lying flat in the toilet block and having their hair ironed? Hair-care company ghd hadn’t been envisioned yet and Frizz Ease didn’t cut the mustard in the balmy Mediterranean. Someone would have to steal the caravan iron while the less-popular individuals looked on in awe, too scared to let one of the “mean girls” attack their tresses with 220 degrees of steaming metal. It was with twisted satisfaction that days later, after one too many days in the chlorinated pool, the iron brigade’s once Jennifer Aniston-straight hair started to resemble tumbleweed.

Term-time holidays

As a child, you’d hit the holiday jackpot if your parents took you out of school during term time for a vaycay. These days your mum and dad would get slapped with a fine. Back in the lenient 90s, teachers would welcome one less student in a class of 30, and half-heartedly dig out some text sheets for you to work on. Mum would justify the crime by saying she’d ensure you and your siblings wrote a “travel diary” which would involve sticking foreign lolly wrappers in a notebook and rating them 1-10. Now, while you’re rapidly approaching middle age and your parents watch on (in horror) as you pay for a $6 coffee using Afterpay, they ponder where it all went wrong. Probably those half-dozen package holidays – while the rest of the school was learning maths.

Photo ops on a cliff edge

“Gosh, look at that brave soul sitting before a precarious yet mightily picturesque backdrop” is what we used to think when photos of daredevil travellers straddling rock ledges littered our Insta feeds. Perhaps most recognisable was Pulpit Rock in Norway, a plateau 604m above sea level that affords jaw-dropping views of Lysefjord, a particularly dazzling fjord. However, by the time we’d seen someone risk life and limb for the millionth time, the marvel wore off. These days, most of us roll our eyes; more inclined to think about someone’s poor mother, worried half to death, than applaud madcap photo ops.

The obligatory airport brag

We’ve all done it. Mostly because it used to be obligatory: arrive at the airport for your impending holiday, buy a coffee and carefully line up your latte with your boarding pass and a background view of a plane. Take a photo and post to Facebook with an outrageously smug caption such as “Holiday Mode: On.” Or attempt a little humour to downplay your smugness: “Are you really going on holiday if you don’t do this?” Wink emoji. Fortunately, printed boarding passes are almost obsolete, eliminating one of the major props needed to execute this outdated social brag.

Wearing your ‘Sunday best’ for a flight

Ask your grandparents what they used to wear on an aeroplane and they’ll likely say their “Sunday best”. Grandma in her nicest dress with her red lippy; Grandpa in a blazer and wearing not just a tie, but a tie clip too. Fast forward to 2024, and the smartly dressed traveller is in continuing decline. These days, instead of a neatly pressed shirt, most of us are donning leisure wear. While you could argue air travel is now readily affordable for almost everyone, rather than solely the well-to-do in their feathered hats, there’s also the fact that grandma didn’t have access to a pair of Lululemon leggings. For anyone who’s ever dared to fly in a non-forgiving waistband and suffered the injustice of blowing up like a whoopee cushion, ditch the formals and pull on your trackie bottoms.