Originally Posted by BearX220

It may surprise some of the younger folks here to learn there was once a time when personal water bottles pretty much did not exist. There was no such thing as Aquafina or Dasani, Poland Spring only came in gallon jugs, and Evian was a sort of snob joke. Nobody thought of toting one-liter water bottles onto airplanes or anywhere else.

This ancient era was ended fifteen or twenty years ago by genius beverage marketers. Now we have a culture where everybody seems to believe debilitating dehydration is always seconds away and has to insure a constant personal supply of water. In the old days, believe it or not, we went around without water bottles in our grip, trusting that (a) there would be some where we were going if we wanted it and (b) we wouldn't dry up and die in the meantime.

If people from the 1980s, who somehow managed to survive air travel, were to hear today's travelers insist they absolutely must have one, or two, or four liters of personal water at their disposal at all times, they'd think them insane.