There used to be two diverse positions when it came to online connectivity while off traveling. Some people were completely disconnected whereas the others lugged around the ancient versions of 5 kilo laptops. Now we’ve got phones, digital guidebooks, and laptops thinner than a fat piece of paper, making it hard to escape the web, no matter where we are.
Including email, Facebook, and Skype: When you’re traveling, what’s the longest you go without being online at all?
As you might imagine, my answer is less than 3 hours when I’m awake, on average. And since I’m always traveling, that’s pretty much all the time. Most of my Internet hours revolve around foXnoMad in some way, although I’ll likely be getting two hands or four soon to help out. Still, I imagine I’ll be online more often than not; though I think I may not be the only one with a travel online addiction habit. I’d be interested to hear how much – or little – you’re in cyberspace when traveling in the comments below! I’ll share some of your responses in an upcoming post – or therapy session.
I’m not what you’d call a traditional travel blogger (or travel blog traveler for that matter), so I like to switch off as much as possible when I’m on the road. For me, travel is the “here and now”. I’d say once every two days for Internet-related work and that being as brief as possible. That said, I’ll edit photos every day, which can take multiple hours.
I can imagine the photo editing taking up so much time but I’m not sure about you but find it relaxing. I often listen to podcasts while editing my pictures and of course, enjoy not having to be online to do it 🙂
When I was a wilderness guide in Tasmania, I somewhat downplayed the availability of phone signals to customers, urging them to leave their phones at home. Maybe that’s wrong, but when guiding people on a tranquil walk in a remote rainforest, the last thing I wanted was for one of my clients’ phones to ring and an ensuing conversation about shares or the like… and most people would stay switched on, given the chance. I also wanted to give those people a taste of what it was to disconnect from the buzz and connect with the natural world.
For a travel blogger, there are enough means to keep your content flowing whilst you’re taking a break from the net. Perhaps we should practice it once in a while.
haha, I bet most of your customers (hopefully) enjoyed the surprise time offline. For some of us it takes a bit of a force to get and stay offline 🙂 You make a good point though, I suppose a second starring down at a phone in those surroundings would be moments lost experiencing something unique.
Learning to take a break from the Internet is something I think many bloggers should try to work into their routines; one of the reasons I began giving myself 6 weeks of leave a year. We all could use the recharge!
I have to confess… I am addicted to being online. It’s a damn shame, but true. I don’t know why I feel the need to have to check everything like once an hour (while I’m awake). By everything I mean personal Facebook, blog fanpage Facebook page, twitter, my blog email, my personal email, my blog comments & I’m sure I am missing a few more things. What makes it harder is that WiFi is now available everywhere so it makes it easy to have our addiction. I was just in India for 3 months and what I hated yet loved about it is that WiFi was not everywhere and many guesthouses didn’t have it. So when I wanted to get online I had to make sure I was going to be able to get everything I needed to get done within that one hour I was online a day. It was hard, but it made me realize that I can be off line, but an hour a day and survive. To answer your questions the two longest times I have been off line during my RTW trip have been two of the most amazing memories of the trip. The 1st time was 4 days while doing a Sahara expedition in Morocco & the other was 3 days while on a houseboat exploring the backwaters of Kerala. In both I had no choice, wifi wouldn’t be there and I loved that about it.
I too find it difficult, it’s scary to admit that if I have to wake up at night to go to the bathroom, I’ll often spend a minute or two checking email before going back to bed. I don’t respond usually during those times because my groggy mind might make too many mistakes, but like you have found that I’m not saving myself much time by frequent checking.
I’m glad to hear though you’ve gotten in some quality offline time during your RTW and like the lessons of them being some of your most memorable travel moments 🙂 A good lesson for many of us.
Ugh I am guilty of that too!!!
Jaime,
I am exactly the same as you!! I am always checking everything all the time!!! It is liberating to me when I am having fun and totally disconnected (those rare times). I didn’t have a phone for the first time when I backpacked Europe in 2010 for 4 months and it was incredible. Consequently, I don’t allow myself a smartphone. Just to make it a little more difficult to stay constantly connected. I also experienced the thing where I had to walk a ways to use the internet and get everything done in an hour or two. I was so much more productive!! I want to cut down on being connected so I don’t miss anything around me!
I am online all the time, and have no shame whatsoever. I enjoy checking Facebook and watching youtube videos better than the great outdoors. While not trendy, I am not going to lie about what makes me happy either!
Why lie to yourself 🙂 But it seems you’ve got some balance based on your latest posts…and I hate snakes too!
We only stay offline where it’s enforced. Afraid to say we’re the people who lug the laptop, tablet, phone everywhere with us. Quite sad really, I guess, as a chunk of our time in Rome was spent hunting for wireless connections (we have no 3G despite having various gadgets!). I’m sure we could have spent that time more wisely…although we did eventually find a connection in a pub. It wasn’t a bad place to sit for a few hours. 😉
I’m with you in the online addicts club 🙂 People who pick up my bag full of clothes often comment, “you travel so light!”; then pick up my day bag with my electronics in them and change their minds!
Pub + wifi = some strange version of blogger heaven 🙂 Perhaps the search for wireless though lead you down some Rome streets you might not have seen otherwise? Or I’m just rationalizing online addiction…
Sadly I am quite the opposite and I tend to take all my pictures and videos when I go out exploring during the day then when I get back I just do a massive upload to my facebook and such. I guess I won’t be using it during the day but I still get on at least once a day during my trips. I did experience not having internet for more than a few days in Japan and that was really hard to get around and plan my day trips.
The Internet is like a massive (yet mini) guidebook you can carry with you; and can be difficult to get by without when it’s hard to get online. I usually cache a few important pages beforehand just in case I can’t find a wireless connection in a new city right away.
I’m really saddened by all of these responses. It seems like most people can’t go more than a few hours without checking in online. I take pretty much every weekend off – so that’s two days out of every seven – and I have no problem unplugging for a week if given the opportunity. The world won’t end without me, and it’s so concerning that everyone thinks they have to be online all the time. How can you live when you’re mired in technology all the time?
I almost feel guilt responding but a very good question. I think what adds to the difficulty is that all of our gadgets now can connect to the Internet. When I’m reading, my eReader is online. Phone, same thing. I use technology so regularly and frequently have access to the Internet. Then there’s the blending of travel and career… I have trouble not checking email whenever it’s possible.
Judging by the other comments, I must totally be addicted to my gadgets then! Well, for one, I hardly travel to rural areas, so I think the longest amount of time spent offline (while awake) was probably a couple of hours too or when i’m flying. My previous trip brought me to Singapore, where I stayed at a smart hotel called Capri by Fraser. High speed wifi everywhere, and a even their check-in was done via the internet through iPads. Outside of the hotel, there’s either 3G or Wifi. I think this is the norm for most travellers that come from big cities, really!
I’m closer to your end of the spectrum – rarely offline for more than 24 hours – though I’m trying to work in a few offline vacations from time to time. It’s so far not going that well!