Dear Dawn,   

My family has the ‘travel bug’.  (Don’t know whether to thank you or slap you!)    ha ha!   We’ve been saving our money and trying to plan this trip, transportation, great hostels, available food, and we’ve kept in contact with the US State Department for travel alerts.  It’s all coming together.   My greatest concern ( I’m embarrassed to say) is to be without my cell phone for the duration.  I guess I’m addicted, but it feels like I’m cutting off one arm.  How did you do it?”  

Dear Disconnected,  you are not the only one who could use some electronic rehab. This phobia even  has a name:  Nomophobia – fear of being without your mobile.   In part,  the purpose of our family trip was to get to spend quality time with our kids.  And we knew quality time ain’t sittin at a table eating dinner with everyone on his own device.

Back in 1779, Ned Ludd, took a stand against technology.   Convinced machinery would eventually take over his job, he smashed two time-saving machines at work.   His followers, the Luddites took up his cause arguing that technology replaces humans. I am no Luddite!  But I can tell you excess in anything destroys.  But seven months without mobiles was our choice.

Beside saving huge amounts of $$ on sim cards, here are a few of the benefits we enjoyed without cell phone service in the thirty countries we visited:

We practiced our map skills.We found India!  And met a wonderful family who helped direct us.

Polished our relationship skills, person-to-person.  Trieste, Italy

And eventually, we found our way home.  And we discovered,  being without cell phones for seven months enriched our experiences, made us more sensitive to those around us,  and strengthened our bond.

Someone once said:  “Life is what’s happening when your cell phone is charging.” Go experience real living!

Dawn