Maeda's SIMPLICITY

Tel-A-Trip

Faster than a Google search.

In the old comic book series The Atom, there was a neat trick that this superhero would use to get around quickly. The Atom would dial the telephone number of the place he wanted to go, and then he'd shrink to "atomic size" and jump into the telephone transceiver. At the speed of a voice call, the Atom managed to instantly zap himself to the other place.

For circumstances that I cannot explain, I myself do not have the power of shrinking myself to such tiny scales and enjoying the power of teleportation. Instead, when I wish to vacate to say Maine, I must engage in automobile-based transportation.

At the hotel at which I stayed, I learned two important lessons about the power of the Internet. First of all, that any picture you might see on the Internet of a potential place you might habitate, is potentially close to one hundred times better than what you will actually get. One could say a similar thing about a hotel's lobby, as in the ultra-trendy-ish hotel I stayed at in Rome last month with an over-designed lobby and contastingly drab, unexceptional rooms that I would have traded for a Motel 6 room any day of the week.

The second lesson I learned about the Internet, was how unresponsive it really is. While sitting in the Maine hotel's outer lobby I chanced upon this device pictured above, which is called a "Tel-A-Travel." You dial a place with the knob on its right, and you are instantly given an optimal route to that place from your current location. Operation is incredibly smooth, and there's no wait time at all to retrieve the information you desire. I felt ... simplicity.

The device appeared to be an antique, but in pristine and operational condition. It even doesn't appear google-able. I offered to buy the shoebox-sized device, but alas the hotel didn't want to part with it. They felt that their customers really find it useful. So I walked away, lamenting the overall quality of the hotel's facility, but respecting the staff's wish to deliver fine customer service. I'll wait for one to appear on ebay I guess.

Posted by maeda at August 14, 2005 11:57 AM