When you travel, do you stay connected?

June 14, 2012

Last week when I was in Florence, one of the most frustrating things about the trip? It wasn’t the crazy number of tour groups. Nor the aggressive merchants at San Lorenzo Market. Or getting lost every 10 minutes.

It was the lack of free wifi.

It was included where I was staying, however, for some reason it wasn’t connecting properly at my last hotel. And if I were a cartoon, I’d be drawn with my head exploding. It drove me bonkers being unable to read Twitter, to check Facebook, to know what’s what. And, yeah, I totally wanted to share the most delicious meal I’d just eaten.

Admittedly, I’m probably too connected to my iPhone. A friend who I’ve travelled with, from whom I demanded the wifi code the moment we stepped into our hotel room, has called it my version of crack — indeed, I did (and do) need my fix of being connected.

I’m not alone, though. A new study from Ryerson to be published in the Annals of Tourism Research has found that smartphones and the like have made the digital divide disappear, with our use of IT affecting our vacations (and how we plan them).

Truth be told, I admire people who have the ability to disconnect when on holiday.

But. I. Just. Can’t. Do. It.

How ’bout you? Do you stay connected or shut it down while on vacay?

(That’s the new Nokia Lumia 900 above, btw, which I’m testing out for a couple of weeks — can it convert me, a diehard iPhone user? Or will it affect my “addiction” in any way? Will it only cause me to feel I need TWO phones to get my fix? We shall see…)

Filed under: Healthy Swellness

Tags: Travel Swellness, vacation, wifi