Explore More Monthly Challenge: No cell phone/no internet

Typically when I travel I stay just as connected with my life back home as a normal day. There’s wifi in the hotel. My phone is never far from me with access to social media, maps, and anything else I need. There is usually a TV in our room, at the bar, and even shows on my tablet. 

This time though it was really about disconnecting. No TV, no cell service, and no internet. And that is my challenge to you – spend a weekend without internet and cell phones. It is amazing how in a short time we’ve forgotten how to do that. 

How we did it? 

The challenge is really only for a weekend, but we took this one to an extreme. We spent a week on a houseboat on Lake Vermilion in Minnesota. The lake is in a beautiful part of Northern Minnesota hours from any major cities. That meant out in the middle of the lake there was no internet and cell service the majority of the time. Which meant plenty of time for naps, reading, and going on walks when we found a piece of shoreline to tie up at. 

You don’t have to escape to a lake in Northern Minnesota though. Just tuck your phone away for a weekend and turn off the computer. Now think about what you did before everything was constantly at your fingertips. Where did you enjoy going? What did you spend your time doing? Now go do it! 

What did we learn?

First, I remembered why I always carry a pen and notebook with me. I am an inquisitive person and usually when a question comes up I just hop on google, but when I can’t do that I write it down for later. The perk of doing that ended up being longer conversations about things we were curious about, digging deep into our memories because turns out we often already knew the answer, and retrained myself to not need the answer right away. 

We discovered how beautiful this region really is. We would climb to the top of a bluff and sit there just watching the world go by. Not hunched over our phones, but watching the trees sway, the water move, and spotting beautiful little scenes we would have missed otherwise. 

We spent more time – quality time – with the kids. We try to maintain boundaries around screen time at home, but with our jobs and highly inquisitive kids, we often bend those rules for ease and entertainment. On the houseboat though there wasn’t any of that. We read books, told stories, swam, and just enjoyed the craziness that is childhood. 

And to be honest I think I feel more connected (in all the good ways) now than I ever have before. 

What’s next? 

I hope you will go out and explore. Use this as inspiration for taking your own little weekend hiatus. If you do I would love to hear from you  afterwards – tag me onInstagram! 

The beginning of next month is just around the corner and we’ll be posting a new challenge in our stories so be sure to follow along.