For the first time in recent memory, I went on a trip without my laptop. (This post is being composed on my husband’s computer, which we brought along with us to enable trip-planning. Someday we might begin a trip with the entire itinerary arranged ahead of time; this is not that day.) For a writer, leaving your laptop at home is akin to leaving a limb behind, but I compensated by bringing a collection of notebooks and pens. I also brought my iPhone, which doubles as a camera and a method of connecting to the internet.
But I wasn’t planning on spending much time on the internet. This is my honeymoon, after all, and your honeymoon is arguably the best time to unplug and disconnect.
But you certainly do not have to be on your honeymoon to benefit from spending time offline during a trip. Traveling affords us incredible opportunities to experience new cultures and to see parts of the world that are very different from where we live. If we spend our time abroad behind screens (computer, tablet, or phone), we are wasting those opportunities – and who knows when (or if) we will get them again. When you are traveling with a partner, friend, or group, sharing these new experiences with your traveling companion(s) gives you an invaluable opportunity to connect on a new level and forge bonds that will last for years to come.
As a reminder of this, we were walking along a busy street in Seminyak in South Bali the other day, and I saw a chalkboard sign outside an ice cream shop that read: “We have wifi so you don’t have to talk to each other.” (I’m kicking myself that I didn’t get a picture of that clever sign.)
Getting offline on vacation is not always as easy as leaving your laptop at home. As long as you have a smartphone or a tablet (and is there anyone who doesn’t have some sort of wifi-enabled, handheld device in 2015?), there almost always exists the temptation to get online. We spent the last couple of days at this ecolodge, this perfect, serene space in the rainforest in Western Bali, and I were surprised to find that they had wifi. Granted, it was only available in the restaurant and each table bore a sign reminding visitors that wifi was limited at the lodge, and that we shouldn’t Skype, stream, or leave our devices connected to the internet when not in use, but it was still wifi. The lodge boasted some of the most amazing panoramas of rainforest that I had seen in a long time, but I am a modern human and therefore could not help but switch on the wifi on my phone each and every time we walked into (or even just by) the restaurant. “I’m just going to check my email,” I reasoned. “Just in case there’s anything important.”
But checking your email is a gateway drug. First you’re just going to check your email, maybe shoot off a quick note to your mom, and then you’re just uploading a quick picture to Instagram, and then, well, you’re just going to check Facebook for a minute, see if it’s anyone’s birthday or if anyone has had any cute babies, but then you’re clicking on a link someone posted and, before you know it, an hour has passed. It was a struggle to avoid this trap, and, frankly, I credit part of my success to the fact that there was another couple at the ecolodge who were glued to their phones the entire time they were in the restaurant. They would be sitting across from each other over these delicious, candlelit dinners or over lunches with breathtaking views, and they would not be talking to each other or looking around; instead, they would be chewing silently, each staring at their individual device. Just watching them was enough to remind me how easy it is to spend your (incredible) vacation (or, in my case, honeymoon!) wrapped up in the world that you left at home.
Just yesterday, after we had hiked for a couple of hours around the ridge surrounding Ubud, strolling through picturesque villages and farmland, we took a lunch break at a restaurant with a dramatic view. I sat down, opened the menu, and saw that there was free wifi. Free wifi! It had been hours since I had checked my email; what if something interesting had happened? I was about to flag down the waitress to get the wifi password, but then I remembered where I was. I set aside my phone, ordered a pineapple-green smoothie and a salad, and enjoyed the view.
And, as soon as I hit publish on this post, I’m going to get right back to enjoying my honeymoon and my time on this beautiful, lush island.
Happy adventuring,
Katie.