" In those years before mobile phones, email and Skype, travelers depended on the rudimentary communications system known as the postcard. Other methods--the long-distance phone call, the telegram--were marked " For Emergency Use Only." So my parents waved me off into the unknown, and their news bulletins about me would have been restricted to " Yes, he's arrived safely," and " Last time we heard he was in Oregon," and " We expect him back in a few weeks." I'm not saying this was necessarily better, let alone more character-forming; just that in my case it probably helped not to have my parents a button's touch away, spilling out anxieties and long-range weather forecasts, warning me against floods, epidemics and psychos who preyed on backpackers. "