For the next week, I will be completely unwired as I embark on a camping trip with several friends (an electrical engineering student and three pre-law students) in the Middle of No Where, Texas (about 2-3 hours from Austin). According to AT&T’s coverage map, I won’t have much of a cell signal and paired with the iPhone 3G’s horrid battery life, I won’t be getting much use out of it. As far as geeky survival tools are concerned, I’m bringing the 150mW green laser I reviewed last year, a 12 gauge flare gun, a Solio solar charger, 5 or 6 LED flashlights, a propane-fueled lantern and white gasoline for starting a campfire in case we find an area not under a burn ban.
Should we ever get stranded on a day-long hike or rafting excursion (or more likely, encounter mountain lions), the charger would be used to power my iPhone to publish/Twitter GPS coordinates if there is a cell signal present. The laser could be used as a beacon for alerting rescuers (note: not pointed at aircraft, which is highly illegal in the U.S.) to our position at night, with the flare gun reserved for daytime use. Of course, I’m just playing out unlikely scenarios in my head. We’ll have plenty of water, food and be sufficiently distanced from any sort of stress-inducing, information-overload-producing piece of technology.. real vacation.
What is the longest you have been completely without an Internet connection? The last I can remember was in 2004 when I was at my uncle’s place Greece, couldn’t get dial-up to work on my laptop and only found an Internet café every 3 or 4 days.
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
2 weeks when hiking in the middle of nowhere in Tasmania. First days were hard but then it’s a real pleasure not to “have” to check those emails or rss items… ;)
Have a good one!
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First 31 years of my life!
Wow… sounds… risky? Seriously, ditch the gadgets and go tech-free, it’s more exciting that way. =)
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two weeks in Kenya. The closest I came to technology was a fax machine. It cost approx. $11 to send a one-page fax.
I was dropped off by a float plan in a remote area of Alaska last year, where it would have been a very difficult multi-day trek back to civilization. I rented a Satellite phone OutfitterSatellite.com. (MobalRental.com was cheaper, but they called the day my phone was to ship and said “too bad, no rental for you”; OutfitterSatellite came though with next-day delivery.) It was somewhat expensive at $9/day + usage, but I still felt it was money very well spent. I only used it twice, for a couple of minutes each time, and left it turned off otherwise. But it’s a much more reliable safety backup than any of your other options.
As for being unwired for a couple of weeks, I had no issues with that. It was nice getting away.
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wow you guys are a lot more adventurous than I am..
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Last year on a cruise, plus the traveling time both ways. ended up being 11 days i think.
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2 months. It was rough, but really gave me time to put things into perspective.
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I’m deploying to Iraq next month and I heard they have wifi there
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I’m assuming were talking post 1996 or about….
Probably about a week on a number of times. Camping out near Mt. Baker in WA (2004), camping north of Lake Tahoe (2003), and my honeymoon in British Columbia (2006). If it wasn’t for my iPhone, I could add my travels in WY in 2007. EDGE was painfully slow out there I should have just turned the iPhone off anyways.
I enjoy not having a connection every so often. Good time to get away and just reflect.
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Max. offline time was probably around 5 days on one of my travels, but I couldn’t say whether that was in Taiwan, Peru, Bolivia, Mongolia or Russia…
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Why is the flaregun reserved for daytime use? I’ve never used one before, so forgive the ignorance, but wouldn’t it be easier for people to see the flare at night?
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Recently (that i can remember) was the 8 days i was in hospital for the other week.
Recently (that i can remember) was the 8 days i was in hospital a few weeks ago.
gud luck
Just got back from a 10 country tour in Europe. 18 days unplugged.
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I spent 7 weeks in the wilds of Ontario, Canada, last summer, canoeing around the lakes in the Temagami area. Looks like I’m second only to brenton walker, above, and only by a week or so. :D
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I was without an internet connection from 1964 to 1994 and other than Madonna’s Material Girl that whole time period sucked.