[pards]

I did it for about 3 months while backpacking around South America in 2007 (before smartphones). I occasionally use the internet via 'internet cafes' to send a few emails and to research destinations. I kept a hand-written journal every day.

[biswaroop]

I'm surprised backpacking isn't a more common answer. Pretty much every time I go backpacking, I'm essentially isolated from the world. My phone is just a camera/reference device at that point. Like you, I spent a few months backpacking before smartphones, and it was amazing.

I ended up losing my camera charger too, so I had to sketch everything I saw in my journal. I got pretty good at it, and realized how much more methodical, thoughtful, and slow sketching is, compared to photography. It was an enlightening experience. I bet you treasure your journal a lot. I certainly do.

[crimsonalucard1]

I backpacked through the Himalayas for 2 weeks to Everest base camp.

I had internet access throughout the whole trip, so I'd say it depends on where you're backpacking.

[biswaroop]

That's true EBC is quite the metropolitan hike. I ended up traveling solo in the Indian Himalayas, through Uttarakhand, Himachal, and Ladakh. It's far less developed. I spent a few days without seeing a single human. This was also back in 2013, so it may have changed by now.

But more generally, I'm often out of the service area when I'm backpacking here in the US, so no internet for a week or more. I suppose by backpacking I strictly mean multi-day wilderness camping on remote trails, and not well-established treks between huts or campgrounds.

[luddite99]

Yeah it seems like backpacking is a great opportunity to do a bit of reset in terms of technology, limiting it to those essential logistical tasks, but allowing one to get the majority of their social and experiential needs fulfilled in the physical world.

Do you think if you were to do the same trip today (let's assume no covid nonsense) you would use the same balance of technology, or do you think that things have become much more integrated over the last decade?