It seems we’re a mixed bag of Internet addicts who do our best to stay offline when traveling but have a hard time agreeing on what “offline” means. Some of us, *cough, cough me* feel like any day without a minimum of 3 hours online is like living in the Stone Age while others routinely don’t connect to the Internet at all when on the road. These are some of your responses the question I asked a few weeks ago, how long do you stay offline when traveling?
I've gone 5 weeks with minimal access. Via @foxnomad How Long Do You Stay Offline When Traveling? http://t.co/VojPirOE
— Heather Knight (@RenegadePilgrim) June 23, 2012
Maddy: “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…” [reply]
Jaime: “…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.” [reply]
Julia & Barry: “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…” [reply]
@foxnomad I'm attached to my smartphone when I travel, but not as much my ipad..so I'm more often on email than websites..which is better.
— You Somewhere Else (@YouSomewherelse) June 22, 2012
JoAnna: “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.” [reply]
Someday I’ll Be There (via Facebook): “Well, I stayed almost 5 weeks offline, I couldn’t believe I was doing it…” [reply]
There are a host of other responses in the full thread here and whether your online addiction follows you on your travels or your gawk at people that do, it’s well worth a read. I suspect that ‘offline’ doesn’t quite draw the line at talking and texting on mobile phones so perhaps the more ubiquitous the technology, the fuzzier things get for our travels.
