Disconnected and Discombobulated

My life is wired.  Or at least it is when I’m not connected wirelessly!  Emails, VPNs, on-line collaboration, Google searches, the NY Times and Wall St Journal, Skype video and phone calls, brokerage and bank accounts, bills, travel itineraries, calendars, etc.  Not to mention the daily, online Universal crossword puzzle that I was addicted to with my morning cup of Joe.  Or is it a morning “taza de José” here in Spain?!?

We’ve been overseas for some time now, and despite our extensive and persistent efforts, it’s still an enormous chore to get online.  None of our lodging has had Internet access.  So, we’ve had to rely on the Internet cafés and occasional free Wi-Fi hotspots in town.  The connections work just fine when we can find them.  But having to traipse across town navigating the tourist traffic with the kids in tow just to check email or make a Skype call is getting rather burdensome.  Not to mention the fact that we are paying for the service, either directly (€2-3 per hour on average), or indirectly through the coffee, beer or food purchased during the session.  Plus, my life can’t function around an outing everyday to the Internet café, or can it?

We’ve decided that a wireless Internet card should solve our family’s problem.  Yeah, that’s the ticket!  I’ve seen advertisements in the U.S. for laptop cards that give you access to the Internet even in the backwoods.  Let’s do some research online to figure out the best alternatives.  Ooops, disconnected.  How about looking up the local wireless vendors’ addresses and phone numbers.  Oops, disconnected.  We read about the new “dongle” rage in a magazine on British Airways flying into Barcelona.  Maybe that’s the key.  Need to do some research on the pricing and providers.  Oops, disconnected.  We’ll do it the old analog way.  Head to the local tourist information downtown and ask for help.  I’ll just bring up a quick map…nope, disconnected.

I thought the Internet was so ubiquitous, at least in 1^st world countries, that The World is Flat?  I consider myself a rather well traveled individual.  But now that I think of it, it’s mostly been on business when I was overseas.  And on those occasions, I typically stayed in hotels that cater to the business traveler.  It was never a problem getting online or being reimbursed for the exorbitant connection fees.  News flash…the world isn’t as connected as we hear from all the media hype.  The local Spaniards in Javea, Nerja and Frigliana certainly aren’t.

Maybe it’s a good thing…not being “connected” 24/7.  Force me to slow down.  Be more purposeful.  Plan things out better each day.  Concentrate on the real priorities, instead of mindlessly responding to all the emails as they ping me like Pavlov’s Dog.  Is that the right reference?  Let’s quickly check Wikipedia.  Ooops, that’s right I’m disconnected.