So it would appear that the summer holidays are officially over with everyone back in the office nostalgically sharing photos and memories about their two week escape from their normal routine, myself included. There’s nothing like a change of scenery to recharge the batteries and have you daydreaming about opening up a B&B in Italy. In case you haven’t guessed, my two weeks were spent in that beautiful land of la Dolce Vita. Amazing food, great wine, some of the most picturesque countryside you will ever see….and terrible Internet and Wi-Fi access!!
By terrible I mean that, in general, it was either horrendously expensive, didn’t work properly or was inexistent. So when by some miracle we found that we had free wireless access in a hotel that actually worked, we were like kids in a candy store. OK, so I know the whole point of a holiday is to disconnect in all senses of the term but it is quite handy to be able to check out reviews for a restaurant you want to go to, look at the weather forecast for the next day or check in for a flight. And I guess easy access to information is just something we’ve come, rightly or wrongly, to expect and when we don’t get it we are a little frustrated. Granted, some of the towns we visited were quite small so maybe the lack of connectivity should not be a surprise although they were quite popular tourist areas. But when you’re a resident in an upmarket hotel in Florence I think it’s pretty fair to assume that the Wi-Fi will be free. Wrong! It just goes to show that attitudes to Internet access can be extremely different even in two countries that are European neighbours. Then again, apart from their love of food and wine and perhaps a certain appreciation of the female anatomy, the French and Italians couldn’t be more different so I probably shouldn’t be that surprised!
Of course this little hiccup didn’t in any way spoil our holiday; we were just “forced” to go even more with the flow and adopt a more Italian approach to life. Now we’re back and fully connected again and of course reminiscing about our ‘go slow’. But I am curious; have you ever found yourself forced to give up a techie toy or habit on holiday where you were really not expecting it?
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