Are you planning a lengthy vacation away from your home? Don't forget digital materials!

I'd like to tell you a story from my last Arctic cruise. It sounded amazing National Geographic's expedition through the Arctic ice with polar bears. There would be ice everywhere, snow everywhere. Machines made by humans were set to battle the elements and cut through the frozen wasteland of northern Norway. It sounded like a huge task, a huge combat with the weather as well as the pole.

I was told by my supervisor to bring with me all the technology I could. I did take my laptop with me and also put in a larger display to expand the space. The staff assured me that power was not an issue. I was still not sure what was going to occur. I didn’t know that just two days into the 14-day trip I would find that my Internet connection would stop and I would lose internet access for 10 days. I was completely devastated when it was over. Any trip, no matter how difficult or remote, shouldn't result in a surprise disconnection from the technology world, not in 21st century. Not only do I have unfinished business and I'm not prepared for it.

Nowadays, nobody cares that they're forced to go offline. Internet is available no matter where you happen to be. more info In case your internet connection is not working at home and you are unable to connect, there is always a McDonalds close by and avail of their complimentary WiFi to access what you require. Even better, you can bring your laptop to Starbucks to take a seat at the table and surf the Internet as much as possible. North of the border, there's no restaurant or cafe to assist you. You're a long distance away from the closest electricity source. You won't find any internet service that is free anywhere. Two alternatives are available in these circumstances: turn off your internet and bring your satellite access.

I'm not able to afford a satellite phone. It's too costly, particularly to get Internet access. However, I plan to build a huge audio and video collection for the next time, before venturing into the unknown without Internet access. Last time I had only 2 songs. The songs were downloaded in the day so all I had to listen to were three jazz songs and a song I had no idea what it was called. This is it. Four songs for two weeks of nothingness. I'd have planned ahead for this if I knew that this was going to happen. I would have packed my laptop with shows from TV movies, music videos and simply audio files loaded with music and podcasts. My favorite podcasts were the ones I would listen to for hours. https://ytmp3.guru/ It's easy to download them, then convert into mp3 then save to my PC. After that, I could simply lie in my couch and listen to podcasts I love at home. It could be my gold hour, or two weeks' worth of gold. However, it turned out to be two weeks of staring at the ceiling and running to catch passengers whenever there was a sound coming from the corridors.

The trip was empty, both literally and metaphorically.. I've never been so bored. The ice was thick, which I knew was a possibility which is why the boat had to turn around to pull back to the civilization. While this was not unexpected, there were many other options. The hours and hours of downtime could be spent listening to podcasts and DIY videos on fixing issues at home, or simply listening to music. Next time, I will convert Youtube videos from mp4 into MP3 format on my laptop. Bring them with you and listen to your favorite songs right from your laptop. Music can lift your spirits. Hulu, Netflix and other apps allow you to download movies and shows to watch offline. It is also possible to take them with you when you go on long trips to the arctic. However, don't let it get you down. Good luck!