Sat, 03/03/2012 - 16:43 — Anonymous Travel writer Jason Cochran looks back
on his first travel blog: It was 1998. People were still paying for Netscape.
Few of us used the Web regularly, and all of us had dialup, but I was
determined to try it: I documented my journey online as I went. I'm ashamed
to admit I began by using Courier. Everyone logs their trips online now, but
no one was doing it then. I was a pioneer. It took real effort. Flashpacking
didn't exist. I had to seek out Internet cafés and without WordPress or
Blogspot to rely upon, I had to hand-code everything in basic HTML, and I was
forced to seek out crude FTP programs (Fetch!) to get my writing online. I
didn't put my travels online for Web fame or to garner a following, the way
so many backpackers do now. There were no affiliates or appeals for free
lodging, and I was years away from collecting my first paycheck for travel
writing. Then, it was simply so my family and friends could follow along and
know I wasn't lying dead in some South African ditch. It's amazing to
think about how much has changed in the years since. Cochran's blog is
still live, in all its retro glory. World Hum
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