Holidays and the internet

Continuing the theme of my last post—I’ve been doing more looking into family holidays and realised that there are actually far more factors at play than those my kids generate. The internet, for example, is a great enabler but also a great inhibitor.

So, I’ve found some holiday apartments that actually fit our requirements—more or less—in terms of price, location, swimming possibilities, etc. The next stage is to check out the guest reviews, which usually involves going to TripAdvisor, and therein lies another problem. These days there is just so much information out there. So many reviews—often conflicting. So many candid photos—nowhere looks great one hundred per cent of the time, does it?

And once again I’m left scratching my head in despair. How can I be sure of making the right choice when faced with so much detail and so many opinions?

In the bad old pre-internet days we faced no such dilemma, of course. We picked our accommodation from the glossy brochures in total ignorance. There were no guest reviews and the photos bore no resemblance to reality—they were air brushed to perfection.

But there was some comfort in being at the mercy of the travel companies in this way. We set our expectations far lower, for a start. And it was so much easier (and quicker) to make a decision. After that, we simply crossed our fingers and hoped.

On reflection, perhaps those were the good old days...