A few weeks ago, I was speaking with my 80 year old aunt who, except for a spell in Canada, has lived in the U.K. since 1954 – way before I was born.

I’m not sure how the conversation veered towards her trip from Kingston, Jamaica to London but for the first time I heard that she and 16 others had traveled on the Reina del Pacifico, the ocean liner aboard which a former British Prime Minister, James MacDonald, had died and King Peter of Yugoslavia had sailed.

But that’s not what caught my attention. According to Aunt Connie, her voyage had lasted three weeks. Three weeks?!

Could I survive being unplugged for that long? I doubt it seriously.

When did I get so connected? Every so often, I leave my phone at home intentionally or turn off the television.

But I’m getting ready to go on vacation and remaining connected is my biggest concern. Always has been.

Living in the U.S., I’ve become so used to being always ‘on’ that I take for granted the limitations of technology elsewhere.

On my last trip, my laptop traveled with me as it always does. However, in two and a half weeks, I got online for only a few minutes. When I did, it was like winning the lottery – miraculous and unexpected. My first few days had been tortuous. Like quitting smoking cold turkey, I felt ‘whole’ again once I got online.

So how will I be able to postaday when I’m on vacation?

I plan to have a few posts queued up and ready to go but I love to share my experiences shortly after they happen – not when I get back. So I’ve spent the last day trolling the Internet to make sure there’ll be free WiFi hotspots near my hotel (T-Mobile tells me I can turn off the data service and connect using WiFi but I’d rather have my phone off completely) that I’ll be able to find a convenient location to buy a SIM card when I arrive (I have an unlocked phone that I use whenever I travel) and that my adapters will work (They didn’t in South Africa). I’ll buy a few minutes on Skype so I can call home in case there’s an emergency or use GoogleChat.

I’m confident these steps will keep me connected so that I can keep my commitment to postaday while I’m away. I’ll know for sure once I arrive.

How do you stay connected when you’re traveling outside the US?

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