Technology brings you places; not as an armchair tourist, but the kind where you really put your foot to the pedal. But can someone equipped with just a smartphone travel and explore the world? For 18 days in the past half-year, I set out to put this theory to the test while I was in the U.S..

Armed with an iPhone and a data plan, I flew four hours out to the West Coast. Without any maps or guidebooks in tow, it was pretty crazy stepping foot in a foreign land for the first time; I’d be damned if my phone had ran out of juice or if the data connection was spotty. I had a backup plan though flawed as it may be – painstakingly detailed routes typed down, on my phone.

Before long, I realised things don’t always go as according to plan. So I threw contingency preparation out the window and travelled hit-and-run style mostly. With Google Maps’ ability to plot routes on the fly, travel plans became much more flexible. Apps like Yelp also make food hunting a thing of the past.

Two months after my first foray, I took to the East Coast with equal success. While the mobile apps lacked in-depth coverage of less visited cities, detailed overviews at popular travel destinations more than made up for it. I practically travelled like a local and blended in with the crowd. In fact, the mobile may have just smashed the map-wielding tourist stereotype.

Such a scenario was probably unthinkable three to five years ago. But fast forward to the present day, and you see the mobile revolutionising the travel industry. To a certain extent, in those 18 days, I somehow managed to travel the U.S. with just an iPhone – lest my wallet, identification, and boarding passes.

Someday in the future, foldaway maps may well become passe, as could guidebooks. Portable GPS devices, too, might go the way of the dodos. The wider proliferation of mobile devices and the tighter integration of mobile services may just promise a future where all tomorrow’s traveller need to see the world is a mobile device at the palm of his hands.