Couple of years back I hiked in Himalayas and there was no access to Internet for 15 days. Not just Internet but no cell phones, TVs, iPod etc. For first 3-4 days when we were still in rural towns of India, we had electricity but after that we had no access to electricity. I must say it was the best experience of my life. I don't think I missed anything at all. As far as author goes, 1 year is a really long time. I'd love to hear after 1 year.
but how did you plan the vacation? I imagine you used the Internet pretty extensively.
You didn't give up the Internet, you just went somewhere that didn't have it. Your time was spent doing something else, and you (probably) had plans on how to get around already.
If you gave up the Internet before you planned your trip, could you have gone?
No. I went with the specific purpose of living life in its purest form. No technology to interrupt life. I did it as an experiment too. The only thing that I missed was GPS but rest other things were superfluous. So I've realized only GPS is a "painkiller". Rest other things are vitamins.
In fact I did exactly that. I scheduled one way trip using Internet. But I came back home without any help from web. Asking indigenous people solved that problem. And I also had those good ol' printed maps (instead of Google Maps) of that area.
I highly recommend this type of adventure. Its a lifetime experience.
That's a great story. I went to Nairobi in 2004 and had the opportunity to stay with host families for three months. In 2004 there, slow Internet was available in Internet cafes for about $1/hr and some people had cell phones but mostly a family would have one and share it amongst them.
Because the landline phones were so poor due to government monopoly, many people didn't even bother using them. It was common for friends to just suddenly show up at your home. It would have been the same way in the Western world before telephones. For me, it was pretty nice. Everything seemed much more social and there was much more spontaneity on a daily basis instead of everything requiring planning.
Now that cell phones are more common there, I have no idea if people still just show up at friend's homes. Unfortunately, I would assume it would be something that will die away.
