One thing I shoved to the back of my mind as we planned for our cruise was the loss of WiFi we would inevitably experience. Not that we would have used it, but I learned early on the costs of using their internet cafeteria (60 minutes for $39 and 100 minutes for $55), and began to mentally prepare for my time completely disconnected from most of the world.
I’m always attempting separation from social media, but this time it meant making sure to finish out my blog posts for the upcoming week while we waited to board our plane.
I always expect to find myself waiting in the airport with nothing to do to the point that I resort to things like shaving my legs in the bathroom sink or making a bed out of seats like Tom Hanks did in ‘The Terminal’. And yes, I realize he was in the airport for much longer than the average wait time for a flight, but this is the drama my mind relates with waiting and airports.
So it should have been no surprise that we ended up boarding our plane after an unexpectedly short wait time*, leaving me one blog short for the week.
*I’ve taken longer showers than the amount of time we waited.
Then an angel in the bodily form of a Jet Blue flight attendant informed us of a connection between Jet Blue and Amazon offering Amazon Prime customers free WiFi while flying Jet Blue*. I’m pretty sure a chorus of Hallelujah was sung in this moment.
*And this was after she sent down the aisle the blessing of Jet Blue’s complimentary snack and drink service.**
**For those of you who fly cheap flights like Frontier and Spirit, you know the importance of this.
To make things even better, despite saying they had a ‘full flight’, I ended up with an empty seat next to me*. I finished up my blog posts and even had time to watch a movie.
*And on the return flight, too!
This unplanned internet didn’t help with reminding me that in only a short matter of time our WiFi connecting gadgets would only be good for non-WiFi related things.*
*Which is basically…nothing.**
**Alright, not true. I used my cell phone to keep time and take pictures.
After boarding our ship, Hubby and I got in our final moments of social media and texting, then we put our phones on airplane mode and released sigh of relief for the freedom we were about to gain away from our phones, social media, and the world.
Here are the people who really know what the cruising life is about
Our last minutes before logging off from the world
Though I’m already one who admittedly cannot stand social media and the negative impact it has had on the way we as people interact, I am also admittedly a hypocrite who still continues to use many forms of social media despite my distaste for it.
Four days where I was unable to have any connection to anyone else outside of my shipmates and the islanders was absolutely, positively the most freeing experience. In being separated from social media, ironically, I found myself more social.
I was forced to look at people when my hands held nothing to distract my attention.
I was able to take in my surroundings and appreciate the beauty of the world before me.
I found myself experiencing less aggravation and more relaxation.
I really wanted to come back home and keep my phone on airplane mode for a better part of each day. Then Hubby reminded me that if I did so he would be unable to reach me if he needed me. Still, since returning to the not-so-social world of social media, I have made attempts to drastically limit the number of times I scroll through a piling number of social media accounts.
I know it is the world in which we live now, but, oh how I wish the world of social media was truly as social as it makes itself appear.
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