In a nutshell
Smartphones have transformed how we travel, removing everyday frustrations through maps, digital payments, ride-hailing apps and instant connectivity. Now AI is making it even easier to navigate unfamiliar places and make decisions on the go. Alphero's Principal Consultant Digital, Stelios, reflects on what this teaches us about good digital experience design: making complex things feel simple, giving people confidence and knowing when to remove friction. Because sometimes, getting a little lost is part of the experience.
How did we ever travel without our smartphones?
I recently got back from a trip through parts of Asia, and somewhere between installing an eSIM, jumping into a Grab (an Uber equivalent available in parts of Asia) and booking something on Klook, I had one of those slightly unsettling thoughts:
How on earth did we used to travel?
That question is probably showing my age. I am 99.99% certain that at least half the people I work with have always had this as the norm. I'm old enough to remember travelling before smartphones. Before Google Maps. Before Grab. Before having the internet permanently in your pocket.
Obviously we still managed. We found our hotels. We got taxis. We ate. We generally made it home again. But there was a surprising amount of effort involved.
You'd arrive with a printed hotel confirmation and maybe a Lonely Planet guidebook. You'd change money before leaving New Zealand. You'd have written down your hotel address to show a taxi driver. And you'd probably limit data use on your smartphone to avoid bill shock.
It wasn't that long ago that this was the norm.
On this trip, I bought an eSIM before leaving New Zealand, installed it and switched it on when I arrived. Within minutes of landing, my phone worked. From there, everything else followed.
I could order a Grab and know who was picking me up, where they were, where we were going and what it would cost. No explaining the hotel address. No wondering if the meter was on. No questioning whether we were taking a ‘scenic’ route into town.
Google Maps meant I always knew where I was.
Klook meant I could decide over breakfast what I wanted to do that afternoon and have it booked minutes later.
Wise, Apple Pay and contactless payments meant I barely needed physical cash… or a physical card! Google Translate could tell me what was on a menu by pointing my phone at it.
None of this feels revolutionary anymore.
Technology has removed so many little points of friction from travelling that we've almost stopped noticing they were ever there.
And now there's another layer. This was one of the first trips where I found myself regularly using AI while I was actually travelling.
I've got three hours free. What should I do around here?
It's raining. What can I do instead?
I've already been to these places. What am I missing?
Google gives us access to a heap of information. AI is doing something different: I'm asking it to understand what I'm trying to do and help me make a decision... and maybe this is where my day job starts intruding on my holiday. Working at Alphero, I can't help looking at all of this as an experience rather than a collection of technologies.
When I order a Grab, I don't care about location services, mapping, driver allocation and payments. I want to get to my hotel. When I use Wise, I don't want to understand what's happening behind the scenes when I pay in Malaysian ringgit - I want to buy lunch. When I activate an eSIM, I don't care which telco systems are talking to each other. I want my phone to work.
A lot of the experiences we design at Alphero are the same. Underneath them can sit legacy platforms, identity, payments, data, business rules, regulation and multiple organisations.
But that's not how people experience them - they experience a journey.
The challenge is making all that complexity underneath feel remarkably simple on top. Not simplicity because the problem is simple. Simplicity despite the fact that it isn't.
And perhaps that's what all this travel technology has really given us: confidence.
I know my ride is coming. I know where I'm going. I know what it'll cost. I know I'll have data when I land - tiny reassurances that make being somewhere completely unfamiliar feel easy and comfortable.
That's a pretty good test for any digital experience: do I know where I am, what I need to do and what happens next?
There is one downside to all of this.
I can now optimise almost every part of a trip. I can find the fastest route, choose the restaurant with 4.8 stars, translate the menu and ask AI what I should do tomorrow.
But some of my favourite travel memories have come from getting slightly lost. Trying - badly - to communicate with someone. Taking the wrong turn. Choosing somewhere to eat because it looked interesting rather than because 2,000 strangers on Google told me it was.
Good experience design isn't about removing all the friction. It's about knowing which friction is getting in the way - and which bits are worth leaving alone.
For all the convenience technology has given us… I sort of miss the chaos of the old days… next trip I may just try and limit the use of my smartphone. For old times sake.