I’m Up A Mountain, Mostly Cut-Off From The World…And It’s Fantastic!

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Some of you may have noticed that, for the past week-or-so, Traveling For Miles has been posting 2 blogs a day rather than the more usual three…and there’s a very good reason for that. I’m not at home and I’m not even traveling.

Right now I’m on a Mediterranean island helping a friend renovate his house. The weather is fantastic, the food is great, the beer is cheap and life is good…but that’s not the best bit.

The best bit is that the house is 2,000 feet up a mountain and with no access to the Internet or to a consistent mobile phone service.

Occasionally we get a 30-minute window of mobile service during which time we may or may not be able to download an email (notice the singular!) or receive a text or two but, for the rest of the time, it’s like being back in the 80’s.

We don’t even have radio or TV up here so World War III could break out and I would probably be one of the last to find out about it…and that’s turned out to be incredibly liberating.

I’m used to working with the Internet most of my waking day so suddenly having absolutely no access to it at all (unless I drive down the mountain) should feel strange and possibly even uncomfortable…but I love it!

I’m not able to check my emails every 5 minutes to see if someone has asked me a question or if an airline or hotel chain has released a press statement worth reading, I’m not able to check news feeds to see what’s new in the world of miles and points and I’m not even able to read the regular news (the biggest blessing!).

But none of that is bothering me.

I’m finding that being out of touch is actually a really nice feeling and life is a lot more relaxing.

Sure, being away from TFM isn’t ideal but, as you can see from this post, I occasionally get time to type an article and then post it to the blog when I drive down the mountain for supplies.

Traveling For Miles shouldn’t go dark for the three weeks that I’ll be up this mountain as I still have a lot of reviews to write and share. I have my notes and my photos with me so, hopefully, I’ll still be able to churn out enough posts (before and after doing some work on the house) to keep you all interested 🙂

Here are some of the things I’m hoping to write about in the next few weeks:

• An introduction to the trip I took Joanna on last month with details of how I booked the hotels and flights and how much the whole trip cost.
• A look at why I deliberately cancelled a reservation at the Park Hyatt Tokyo in favour of a less upscale property
• A review of the JW Marriott Hong Kong
• A review of the JW Marriott Singapore
• A review of Cathay Pacific A330 Business Class product
• A review of Singapore Airlines suites on a short-ish regional flight
• A review of Singapore Airlines suites on a true long haul route

I took a quite a few pictures on our trip to Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore so I may share some of those too – they’re three fantastic but very different cities and some of the contrasts are fascinating.

If I have time I’ll also finally write up my reviews off the Qatar Airways A380 First Class product and the Etihad First Class A380 Apartment too – both cabins I’m unlikely to be flying in again anytime soon but both well worth trying out.

Naturally I’ll try to make sure that any big pieces of news get covered here on TFM…but they may be a little delayed 🙂

But all that blog-stuff aside, the biggest thing I wanted to share in this post was how great it can be to be free of emails and the Internet – everyone should try this.

While being without access to the Internet at home because something isn’t working can be a very frustrating experience (because you know you should have access), here there’s no such frustration.

My mind appears to accept that the lack of Internet access is just how things are so I’m not feeling anxious or experiencing any kind of feelings of withdrawal.

I’m surrounded by beautiful scenery and views and the worries that come with the 21^st century will just have to wait for a while because there’s not a lot I can do about them right now.

Ironically, although I’m not here on vacation, this could be the most relaxing 3 weeks I’ve had in years!