A while back, I wrote a post all about the fact that I am a deviant travel blogger and recently I discovered another aspect in which it appears I am downright odd. When I travel I cast technology aside and embrace digital detox. Yes, I am aware of the irony! A travel blogger who shuns technology, how does that work? But just hear me out and I may just convert you to my way of life.

So here’s how I do it. I do travel with a phone and occasionally a kindle. But I do not seek out WiFi, I do not buy internet packages and I definitely do not use the roaming on my phone. If I have a free moment and free WiFi I might pop a picture on Instagram but that is about as technical as it gets. Mostly, when I travel my phone functions as a camera and a clock.

I am a blogger and I am very much a part of the Instagram generation. But frankly I think it is sad when people can’t part with technology; to fully embrace the place they are in. Life should not be lived through your camera lens, it shouldn’t be about what will get you attention on social media or what is Instagramable. Put that phone down. Stop trying to prove to everyone that you have a life. Live in the moment. Just live!

The memorable moments of travelling often aren’t worthy of social media anyway. Travelling is not the glamorous affair we see online, anyone who travels often will tell you that. The truth is none of us are so important that the world will explode if we don’t answer our emails. None of us will die if we don’t get attention on social media. As much as we would like to be Tinkerbell we are not and we don’t need people to clap for us to stay alive. You will remember these moments regardless. You will remember the feeling of sun on your skin, the sticky foreign food you have dripped on yourself, the laughter that creased your eyes and the exotic sounds that fill your ears. You don’t need to post on social media for those feelings to be valid.

Go on, I dare you, try it my way. Let yourself be cut off for a bit. Forget about the outside world. Pretend it is 1965, talk to each other. Remember that people traveled for years pre-technology and they remember it fondly all the same.