General Holiday Enquiries, Hints and Tips

General Holiday Enquiries? Got General Hints & Tips? Post Them Here.
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I sort of do and don't ! I always pick accommodation that has wifi now and browse a bit each day , on our last holiday we were out and about quite a bit so I didn't spend as much time if I was just sitting/lying around relaxing . It was very useful for researching places we wanted to visit and help plan our days , quickly check up on restaurants to go to and even make reservations , I even finalised plans and payment for our transfers with our agent in the UK which was useful .
I send the odd email / text to family , the only work related contact is sending a pic of me making full use of the lounge to some colleagues who usually reply with go away in stronger words :D So I do , reminding them I'm just about to board , and keep working hard while I'm off !!

About things being less stressed before mobiles and tablets , I suppose we didnt know about anything going on around the world when away , I always remember when on holiday on an island in the Maldives ( around 97 ) there was a public phone box in the middle of the island and I phoned my mum and dad and the line was really clear , it seemed magical to be connected from a tiny island in the middle of the ocean , and now it seems normal and usually expected to be connected 24/7 and knowing everything that is going on around the world .
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I'm not bothered about it tbh. If it was there and had a decent signal I may have a nosey about if hubby was sleeping or something but if the signal is bleurgh, then it would just bug me too much. :tup
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There was a thread fairly recently, about the use of the internet & mobile phones whilst on holiday. As I said then, the worse case I'd heard of, was the guy in a beach hotel in Mombasa ,who was logging on to his work intranet virtually EVERY morning for an hour or so -now I'm retired ,can't think of any way better to give you an ulcer and ruin your holiday :rofl
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Never when I am in Cuba - the roaming charges for using the Net on my mbl are horrendous and I can't be bothered queuing up outside of Etecsa (the state phone company) to use their ancient public access machines. WiFi is simply not available on the scale we have become used to. Even where it is available in the big hotels many charge for it. So it's a case of txt or nothing.

Elsewhere I will occasionally use it but only rarely - the research is always done in advance because it's part of the prep for the holiday. I always had separate email addresses for work and private use and simply never ever logged on to the work one - now I am retired the distinction doesn't matter but I still keep a separate one for personal use and another for stuff related to my voluntary work. Part of any holiday for me is the spontaneity of living in the moment and taking each day as it comes.

SM
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The phone may be used twice on a two week holiday, my tablet maybe three four times for the internet but may be used more for reading a book
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A very easy question to answer. For myself...none. I am on holiday and that means, no e-mails, no facebook, no forums. The phone is even left off and only used in case of an emergency. Just a relaxed two weeks.
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Same here Peter D, although hubby takes his mobile incase the kids need us in an emergency.
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I do remember years and years ago, before mobile phones, we met up with a couple, where the wife had banned her OH from any contact with home. work and even from reading a newspaper. He used to wait till she was off somewhere and come over to have a sneak peak at our paper!
However, it is reassuring that you family do have a quick way of contacting you if anything happens. I leave my phone in the room safe and OH checks his phone daily. His work now know not to contact him if he is away( but of course they don't always stick to it)
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Don't use it at all on holiday. The mobile is left switched off as well.
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I don't at all - I text my son once a day to let him know I'm ok but that's it
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I proberly spend about hour or so each day as I have to keep up with my mafia wars on facebook. also keeps a check on family and what they are upto.
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Remember once, before retiring I worked in IT and had planned to do some IT testing on a certain day but needed a colleague to adjudicate the exam. I e-mailed him at work and received a reply within 30 mins that he had put it in his planner. Problem was he was in Tenerife at the time. Sad....
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The campsite we go to in France doesn't have free wifi so we occasionally pay a Euro for an hour's access to check Facebook (and in my case HT). We never check our email though.
One of the friends we go with is a doctor and this summer she was continually checking her work email on her ipad.
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Wifi can be really useful if I can arrange to travel to a property Thursday evening. Then I can be online Friday connected to the office and "working from home". Then come the end of the working day close the laptop for the weekend and I'm already on holiday! :)
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Charlie2k, welcome to the forum, you do sound as if you have life sorted :sun2
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Erm, probably more than I should nowadays. A few years ago I may have trotted off to an "internet room" and logged in a couple of times over a two week holiday. Now we have, Iphones/smartphones/ipads and free wifi in rooms it's very difficult not to. I constantly upload photo's and check in from destinations on my phone..

It's even got to the point now if we go on a city break I leave a huge chunk of destination research until we get there.. out comes the Ipad when we are back in the room or over breakfast or I down load the tourist board Apps to my phone.

My husband on the other hand has never been a big internet fan. He uses his phone for calls and brief text only and his ipad for google searching.. It gets turned off, left at home and he doesn't turn it back on until the morning he goes back to work. I drive him mad..
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I try and limit the use of it on holiday, as I want the holiday to be different from what happens at home.

In both the villas we had in Majorca and Menorca the wifi was rubbish which I think was a blessing in disguise, and I can't be bothered with Internet on phones as the screen is to small, an iPad is the minimum screen size I will surf on.

I tend to do restaurant and attractions research before we go and then type it all up and take it with (how nerdy :D ).

It was odd watching the younger ones get twitchy with no wifi DD's boyfriend was constantly seeking it out in various locations.
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None. Can't see the point.
Phone locked in safe and checked daily for voicemails. Also used in case we need it. But nothing internet wise.
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The question should be re phrased to "how much time do you spend on electronic devices lol. There's internet, TV, computer games and mobile phone distractions. It's not that you have to ct yourself off from the outside world, maybe just check in once a day for anything important.
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