Electronics unplugged
How tempting is is to pack your cell phone, iPod, digital camera, laptop, GPS and who knows how many other electronic devices when you go on a trip?
After all, you want to take pictures, have some good tunes to get you through airport delays, a way to access your voice mail and e-mail from afar. Not to mention the feeling of security that comes with GPS.
But this story from the San Jose Mercury News might make you reconsider.
I especially liked this graf:
"When you have a gadget that's taking your attention, you're losing out on a potential conversation with a local or an interaction on the bus," noted Christina Tunnah, director of marketing for the Americas at Lonely Planet, which publishes travel information online and in guidebooks. "There's enough stimulation. Taking a lot of gadgets tempers the experience of a place."
Traveling without a camera is not an option for me. The rest, I can live without.
But cell phones don't often work if you're headed abroad, and if you're vacationing, isn't the whole point to disconnect a bit? Get over your separation anxiety from the iPod and try listening to the crazy music the bus driver is blaring as he takes you on the ride of your life through a foreign city.
Sometimes, it really is amazing how much more plugged in to a new place you can be if you're a little more unplugged.
