Behold the return of the humble CD player!

It seems some Britons just can’t let go of that holiday nostalgia. Portable CD and DVD players and overly complicated maps all took the role of holiday essentials before the rise of the smartphone.

However, it turns out that 1 in 30 Britons are still packing CD players on their flights overseas, a survey has found. So, it seems traditionalism is still alive and well (just about). Although there are over 70 million songs to choose from on Spotify at the touch of a fingertip, some people just can’t let go of what they know and love.

Although much more scarce, the portable DVD player is still just about kicking with 1 in 50 British holidaymakers packing the device. Much like the CD player, with the inclusion of streaming services like Netflix on our phones, the device has all but become irrelevant. Good on the few keeping the nostalgia alive, though. 

One category where the past remains supreme is novels, with 54% of Britons preferring to pack a paperback over e-readers like the Amazon Kindle.

Nowadays, long-haul flights are nothing but a mere inconvenience. We easily distract ourselves with our limitless technology and can read, play video games, listen to music and watch movies instantly. The research also found that 53% of those travelling with young children said digital entertainment saved their trips, keeping their little ones happy throughout.

Those distractions were not always in place before the smartphone, with not everyone lucky enough to own a portable DVD or CD player, you were forced to sit there and endlessly gaze out the aeroplane window. While the nostalgia may be lost, at least we don’t have half as many crying children to deal with.

The survey, commissioned by YouGov for the mobile phone network Three, was completed by 2,259 adults from across the UK.