6 Things I Learned Without Having a Cell Phone for a Week: Spring Break Edition

This past spring break I boarded the Explorer of the Seas cruise ship for a 5 day journey across the Caribbean with 900 other UGA students. I soon learned that running out of tequila would not be my only concern, immediately after boarding the ship I realized that I was going to have to experience what it would be like to not have any phone service or wifi for close to a week--basically no phone at all. Honestly, I do not know how our parents made it through the majority of their lives with only landlines. However, being without a phone for a week teaches you a lot about yourself and is somewhat of a breath of fresh air. 

Here are a few of my take-aways:

1. Travel with friends you really, really like. You will be spending a great deal of time during a cruise stuck as a group of people because no one wants to lose each other, or get left behind. And if someone is kinda picking at your nerves, there is no escape. Therefore, you will either all become closer or all hate each other. Fortunately, our group managed to depart from our whirl wind of a trip with only one broken mirror, thanks to the boys we decided to bring along. A few couples were in the group of friends we traveled with and they managed to make it out alive as well, so I guess a broken mirror is better than any broken hearts. At least money can fix one of the two. In the end, all of us did actually all end up closer than ever, and that gave me a comforting reassurance that I have chosen some great people to surround myself with. 

2. BOYS TAKE FOREVER TO GET READY. They always give girls so much crap for taking a long time, especially Brad Paisley during "Waiting on a Woman." I spent 18 years living with my younger brother, we are only two years apart. He would always take so long to get out of bed, get his stuff together, BS around, get dressed, etc, etc. Even though I have traveled with other guy friends every spring break since freshman year, this was the first spring break we were not just able to text the boys where we were for dinner or to meet up with us later. This year we had set dinner times every night and set excursion times two of the days. We had no way to communicate to them, so we would literally have to go physically check up on them and make sure they were awake/ bathed (note to self: don't have kids). You would have thought getting 4 boys to a dinner table on time was pulling teeth...us 4 girls had to tell them we were meeting at their room on the dot at 7:30pm in order for us to make it to our 8:30pm dinner (normally 20 minutes late). I swear, I don't know what boys do with their time, but ignorance can be bliss I supose. . 

3. Lack of social media can be refreshing. It was nice not to have to check pointless Facebook notifications of events I don't care to attend, or post the regular photo to Instagram to remind people I am alive, or even coming up with a caption for that matter. I don't Tweet, but I can imagine if I did, it would have been nice to go without hearing about the rest of the world's life for a few days. No bad news, no bragging, no fuss. 

4. Being social towards strangers is normal and we should all try it more often. Talk to someone new, meet a new friend, make the first move. Don't sit on your phone waiting for the world to approach you, if you choose that path, you'll be walking an empty road and the world will be far ahead. You may think the world is at your fingertips on your phone screen, but the world of people that actually matter will pass you by. 

5. No cell phones made people more polite. I don't know if exuberant politeness is normal on a cruise or if it was just a coincidence (this was my first cruise), but everyone was extremely polite on this trip. I have never experienced strangers being as polite, or seen my own friends even be as polite as they were on the boat. I really noticed these nice gestures when ordering food and drinks. I swear it must have been because all of our faces weren't buried in our phones worrying about worlds that were beyond our reach. We were able to live in the present, and focus on where we were at that moment, and the person serving us. It was quiet nice to see that we all have the ability to be functional, well-mannered, young adults. 

6. A fog was lifted. I was finally able to live in the moment and enjoy the ones around me, and the memories that we were making together. Most of us are graduating in May, and some of us don't know when we will get to spend more than a week together again, it might never happen. So on the cruise, with no phone, it was nice to have all my friends' undivided attention. We could all just live in the moment, with no distractions, and fully absorb each other's love and presence.