Connected: Why I make no apologies for traveling with my iPhone

Note: This post is meant to address the philosophy of connected travel, watch for a future post on some of the cost issues and unforeseen pros and cons of traveling while connected including the story of how Ish’s iPhone met an untimely death in an Ecuadorian toilet. 

There has been a lot of discussion online about whether one can really enjoy travel to a foreign destination with an iPhone in your hand.  The argument is that that electronic tether to home keeps you from truly experiencing the destination you’re visiting.
Is there room, greater minds than mine ask, for the internet in an authentic travel experience? Or does the very act of connecting to the internet mean that you really haven’t left home at all?

After a lot of thinking (and some googling on my iPhone) I’ve come to the conclusion that… I have no idea.

At the top of the world (Banff) with my boys and my iPhone

I can only tell you what I’ve experienced over the last 80 days of traveling with my technology along for the ride.

Before we left Toronto I convinced myself that the gadgets we were carrying were a necessity of my work. My trip is different, the argument with myself went, because I’m blogging , writing articles for newspapers and magazines and educating two children as we go.  I need to stay connected.

But along the way I’ve learned something else.

I like being connected while I travel.

Not just in the hotel room but while we’re experiencing the world as well.

sharing the moment high above the Kananaskis Valley

Being able to share our plans on Twitter (@greenwooddavis) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/globetrottingmama) has enhanced our experience. Instead of simply taking our map and hitting the road – which probably has its benefits too – we’ve carried our friends and family (and the electronic map!) with us. Sharing our highs and lows and funny/emotional moments as they happen or shortly after with the people we would’ve shared them with at home.

We have Twitter to thank for inspiring us to go meet the pandas in Chengdu, China

We Skype with the grandparents and I get to see my girlfriends online. The boys send emails home or play online video games. Ish can check his sports scores and source out a good place to watch the game.

And there’s been another benefit.

Strangers.

Along the way we’ve met people – mainly Ish again – who are also traveling, who have been to the places we’ve been or to the ones we’re planning to go. We’re able  to  keep in touch with them and develop those friendships  through email and social media as well.  And because the phone is with us, we don’t have to stop moving and exploring to do it.

There are also the people we’ve never met but who have answered a question on Twitter or contributed to our hashtag (#RTWFam) which has allowed us to benefit from their experience as well.

We’ve found great restaurants, amazing tour guides, unique accommodations and new friends – all because we stayed connected.

And of course having the phone adds a bit of security to our trip. We know we can call the hotel, a taxi, the police in any city we’re in without fear of not having the language to ask for a phone or explain our situation.

Mastering one-handed riding...with my iPhone

I can’t pretend that our time online doesn’t take away from our time with each other but here’s the thing: I see it as a pro.

There may be people on this planet who are capable of 24/7 every day, all day with no one but their spouse and children. We have discovered we are not that family.

Even the kids need the break from time to time.

And really when you think about it isn’t 22/7 still enough?

We’ve connected with each other in ways we had hoped for and ways we never imagined. But we’ve also come to see that without our connection to the rest of the planet, this trip would be a very different experience.

I don’t know if it would be better or worse.

I just know it wouldn’t be what it is now.

And I like where this trip is going.

What about you? Would you take your PDA on your next trip?

Disclosure: Heather’s Roaming plan is sponsored by Rogers Canada. Her obligation is to review the roaming options but there is no restriction on whether she does so in a positive or negative light. All opinions,as always, are her own.