A Wi-Fi World Adventure: Travel in the Age of Twitter
How to hit the road without anyone ever knowing that you're gone — and have friends everywhere you visit.
Some people yearn for a more innocent time — you know, the agrarian past where people immersed themselves in the joys of using a washboard, hand gathering eggs, and milking cows on their own little plot of heaven while living organic, using the outhouse, and cultivating rare kinds of corn. I am not one of those people.
When my parents bought their first PC back in my teen years, I eagerly learned Basic, Word Perfect (which still has the best editing feature of any document program — what is so difficult about adding that functionality, Microsoft? Hmmmmm?), and DOS. The thrill of not having to retype a paper so exceeded the learning curve that I was hooked.
The new tech that comes along still excites me. Though I’m by no means an early adopter, I’m usually in the second wave. I like waiting for bugs to be worked out. My only exception to that rule is with my iPhone, because the iPhone is innately cool.
I love technology because it makes life easier, more connected, and smarter. It’s incredibly useful when it comes to distances. I know because I traveled a great distance to Australia for winter break. I wondered if I could use my phone, blog, Tweet, stay connected via Facebook and email, and upload pictures so seamlessly that no one would know I was on the other side of the world. Why, yes I could. It would just take a bit of extra work and money.
Before leaving, I disabled my Facebook and Twitter updates so that I wouldn’t be hammered with excess texts.
Next, I wanted to make sure my iPhone was fully functional; to receive data, texts, and phone service that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. Well, it only cost an arm. Note to Steve Jobs: Dude, it’s all well and good that you’ve made the best phone ever, but AT&T’s inane billing absolutely sucks the joy out of the ease of phone use. In your next contract with them, demand simplification. Please.
But I digress.
AT&T has a complicated phalanx of confusing parts and pieces in its billing. It took me over an hour on the phone with three different people to ensure that I didn’t end up spending $25,000 in data charges (yes, that happened to a customer). Why can’t this be easy? Why is it so blankety-blank expensive to have phone service in a country where you have a network and sell the phone, like in Australia? I should be able to get local rates while I’m there. What’s wrong with a flat fee per week that’s full service? If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that AT&T keeps things complicated to make loads of money by screwing unsuspecting customers — and even well-informed ones — with all the roaming and data fees.
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Dr. Melissa Clouthier is a chiropractor who blogs at MelissaClouthier.com and Right Wing News.
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7 Comments
1. Robert Graham:Thank you for the interesting article. I would be interested in more details on just what you arranged with AT&T. I just returned from a trip to Australia and finally gave up trying to convince AT&T to allow me to use my iPhone without sending me to bankruptcy.
I noted many iPhones in use there and the fact that they operated on different networks. In Singapore one could buy unlocked phones and use any network sim card. Very frustrating to be bound by a non-cooperating network who limits my ability to use a phone I own.
Feb 12, 2009 - 7:41 am 2. Delia:I get my phone, cable and internet via a “package deal” through COMCAST.
My cell-phones via AT&T.
The websites I have are 100% free but don’t allow for a HUGE traffic area or BIG files, must be myname.yadda.com <–[fake for the sake of example] and that works fine for my needs as a webmaster for my business since we only use image files and html and the FTP service works great. Cheap, free and RELIABLE AND you can upgrade at any time or just have them host your already bought domain name for free.
Feb 12, 2009 - 9:29 am 3. Roger Clague:Vacation is supposed to be about getting away, right?
Your answer to this question is no. You want to stay ‘connected’. I have found that travel becomes memorable when the unexpected happens.
Are locals who twitter really locals at all?
Feb 13, 2009 - 4:38 am 4. JohnC:Jerome Is this in your future?
Feb 14, 2009 - 6:41 am 5. Scott in CO:A gentle security reminder – nothing says ‘I’m NOT home’ like a twitpic of the adventurer getting cuddly with a ‘roo. Some criminals are pretty clever and prefer to burglarize homes that are vacant for a time. Have fun but be smart.
Feb 14, 2009 - 9:22 am 6. Fantom:[i]“A gentle security reminder – nothing says ‘I’m NOT home’ like a twitpic of the adventurer getting cuddly with a ‘roo. Some criminals are pretty clever and prefer to burglarize homes that are vacant for a time. Have fun but be smart.”[/i]
Pick your home sitter well. http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa165/antonia80/monkey_glock.jpg
Feb 14, 2009 - 3:30 pm 7. tawan:Thanks, that was a very interesting read. The history behind the facts…
Feb 21, 2009 - 1:12 am