van Marley

There was a time when traveling abroad where your needs were simple: a hot shower, clean bed, and maybe a Post to mail some letters back home. Perhaps, if you were a true high roller, you might even develop some of your photos while you were there rather than wait until your return home. Nowadays you play hopscotch from one internet wired hotel to the next, and if that fails, you dart into an internet cafe on-the-fly and catch up on your email. At night in the hotel the darkness of your room is interrupted by little green and orange lights, like thirsty little fireflies that desperately need recharging: camera, ipod, computer, cell phone. Check.

This age of fast-charging, ultra portable, interconnectedness is both a godsend and the curse. I love it and hate it, but it is what it is. I can say that I didn`t feel like I was truly on vacation until I was unable to access to any of it. One doesn`t realize how much background noise it creates in your life — we`ve become so adept at tuning it out. I think now I just want to go spend a week with a good book camping out at a beach. Hmm, except, I wonder if I`d be able to recharge my camera there, and what if I need to change my hostel reservations? And of course, how would I update my blog!? Sigh.