How I Coped Without The Internet For A Week

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Spoiler Alert: I didn’t.

I’m recently back from a 2-week trip to Chile. It was a really amazing time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The first week we stayed with a family and they had WiFi, so I was able to connect and share photos, keep up to date with the world news (a lot seemed to happen while I was away!), send messages to friends back in New Zealand, and post all those travel pics to Instagram.

Enter week 2: no WiFi. Not only was there no WiFi, but there was no internet, so I couldn’t even connect my tablet up. With still a week to go on this trip, I knew it wasn’t going to go well. I thought I should probably document each day and see how I would cope with the week with no WiFi.

Day One – The Realisation

We arrived in the evening to the next place we’re staying in Chile. And surprise! There’s no WiFi. I repeat: there’s no WiFi. I triple checked the entire house for any signs of internet, and triple checked with our host. There’s no WiFi.

Okay. Mild panic. That’s my only connection to the wider world that not’s Spanish speaking nearly-elderly people that we’re spending all our days with. Breathe. You’ll be fine.

Day Two – The First Day

Woke up and remembered there was no WiFi. I wonder how many emails I’ve accumulated in 12 hours.

Okay get up. You got this! You can go a week without the internet! You did it in the 90s, you can do it again. It’ll be good for you to be disconnected from the entire world. It’ll be a good week of no pointless scrolling, pinning, liking and sharing. It’ll.Be.Fine.

Day Three – The Quiet

It’s cold and dark. There’s tumble weed and crickets.

Day Four – The Replacement Internet

I’ve finished my book; I regret only bringing one. I’ve flipped through all the coffee table books and have learnt 20 new Spanish words. I’ve played 2048 on my tablet about 600 times, and am super mad at myself for only having that one game. My thumbs have never been twiddled this much before, and I’ve repacked my suitcase 6 times.

Day Five – The Acceptance

This is what my life is like now. I’ve fully accepted that I will no longer save recipes to Pinterest boards, or post another sunglasses selfie, or even write a blog post. That’s it. Gone. Done.

Day Six – The Waiting

Tomorrow we leave Chile, which means we have to go to the airport, which means there will be WiFi. Which means I just have one more day to wait.

Day Seven – The Reconnecting

Arrived at Santiago airport and there’s WiFi. I have 212 emails, 51 Facebook notifications, 153 Instagram likes and follows, and 24 new Pinterest followers. There was an earthquake in Mexico, and Vanuatu’s volcano is about to blow. The New Zealand government is still a hung parliament and there’s been no final decision made, and Shania Twain’s comeback album finally dropped. And I missed it all.

It’s funny; I always thought I would be fine without an internet connection. And to be honest, I think if I were home it truly would be fine. I could still ring and text friends, make plans to go out and explore somewhere, I could read more books, I could chat with people, or go out for a drive.

But the fact that I was in a foreign country, with only a little language and not enough confidence to go out into the city and explore by myself (which no way of contacting anyone if I were to get lost), then it was definitely hard. Would not recommend. Perhaps if I were prepared before hand it would have been okay – I’d had brought another book, or downloaded another game, or tried to make more plans. But because it was a surprise, it definitely was a shock to the system.

How long have you gone without internet for?