The beauty of unplugged holidays

Are you more than ready to swap virtual tweets for real ones? Ready to create unfiltered memories?

Regardless of what you’d like to call them - unplugged holidays, offline breaks, off-the-grid vacations, digital detoxes, tech-free escape - a break from the internet, the 24 hour news cycles, the texts, messages, calls, dings and pings can be beneficial and beautiful for all the family.

We seem to be constantly recharging devices these days but how often do we recharge ourselves, our connections to friends, family and nature? It’s probably fair to say that none of us do this often enough. The thought of an unplugged holiday can seem a bit daunting, right? But really it’s not as impossible as it may first seem.

Why is an unplugged holiday a great idea? Constant exposure leads to stress and a feeling of disconnected from reality. It can be bad for our mental health and our relationships. Convinced? Right, so how do we achieve an unplugged holiday and how do you show the rest of the family the beauty of the idea?

Planning

It’s a little unrealistic today to expect everyone to simply log off without warning - let everyone know the expectation of when the digital detox holiday begins and ends so they can let work/clients know, set autoresponders to emails etc.

Get everyone to suggest an analog activity they’d love to do while on holiday - grab a gelato, walk the beach at sunrise, ride bikes to the lookout, learn to surf, have a daily nap, roast marshmallows. By getting everyone’s input they’ll be much more likely to get involved and excited about the idea.

Get a lock box - it doesn’t have to be that full on but a box/bucket/cupboard where all the digital devices can be placed out of sight for the duration of the holiday. Just hope someone remembers where you put it when it comes time to return home.

Set a specific check in time - if a complete offline vacation isn’t possible set times when you can quickly login, deal with anything that’s popped up, and then log back off. Let people know that these are the only times you will be checking in - you are on holidays after all.

Oh, one last tip - if the kids are acting like their lives are over because there’s no wifi - you could always accidentally/on purpose leave the device chargers at home!

While Holiday Haven Tourist Parks have wifi - we’re happy to tell the kids it’s on the fritz if that helps you to enjoy some unplugged holidays.