Are you planning a long holiday far from home and need to have digital materials? Make sure you have digital tools!

[Preston Sosa]

I'd like to be able to share a tale which happened to me during a vacation I took on a cruise ship through the Arctic. It sounded fantastic, National Geographic trip through the ice and back , with Polar bears as well as other wildlife. It would be ice wherever eyes could see , and snow all around. Man-made machines were going to take on the elements and move through the frozen wasteland of northern Norway. It was breathtaking, as if an epic battle against weather, the north and the pole.

I was advised to carry the maximum amount of technology I could fit in my suitcases. I did pack my laptop, but added a large display screen to increase the workspace. The the electricity was not a problem. I was not quite sure what was ahead for me. I was unaware that just two days into my 14-day trip I would find that my Internet connection would drop and I would be without internet for 10 consecutive days. It happened. I was just stunned. Every trip should not, however difficult or remote, cause me to be disconnected from the world of technology. I did not plan the time off, and not only did I have an unfinished project that I needed to attend to over the next week as well as other tasks to complete.

Today, no one cares if they are forced to be offline. Internet is everywhere. https://ytmp3.ooo If your home internet connection fails then you could always go to a nearby McDonald's and obtain the free WiFi connection you require. You can bring your laptop to the nearest Starbucks and use the WiFi free connection to browse the Internet whenever you want. However, no restaurant or cafe can help out there, further north, and a few hours from the closest shack with the electricity generated by an ineffective generator.. There's not a free Internet. There are only two choices in these circumstances: get a satellite connection or turn off the internet.

I cannot afford a sat phone. It's just too costly, particularly to use for Internet access. When I venture out into the unknown, I will have a large audio and video library. Last time I had only 2 songs. The songs were downloaded in the day so all I had to listen to was 3 jazz songs and a song I had no idea the name of. That's it. Four songs over two weeks of complete silence. I'd have planned ahead had I knew that this would happen. I would have loaded my computer with television shows and movies as well as lots of music videos. My favorite podcasts were the ones I would listen to for hours. It's simple to download them, convert them to MP3 format and save them to my laptop. I then simply lay in my room and listen to everything I love listening to while at home, yet I rarely have the time. This was supposed to be my golden hour or two weeks of gold. It ended up being two weeks of gazing at the ceiling and running for passengers whenever there is a sound within the hallways.


It was empty physically and figuratively. Never before have I been this bored. The ice was thick. I was aware that this would be the problem. The boat was forced to be turned around and return to the shores of civilization. This was not a surprise, but it meant that many hours of unproductive time could be used for listening to podcasts or watch videos for DIY home repairs, as well as simply listening to music. Next time, I'll convert YouTube videos from mp4 to MP3 format using my laptop. Bring them along and you can listen to your favourite songs right from your laptop. Music can help lift your spirits. Hulu as well as Netflix apps are able to download offline movies and shows. You can also bring them with you for your long trip across the Arctic. Just make sure don't waste from the boredom. Have fun!