Happy (almost) summer! Hopefully everyone’s catching some sort of rays, even with all this rain. I spent the last 5 days with Carnival Cruise Lines sailing the beautiful Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. I’m taking a minute to brag about how absolutely wonderful every person on the ship was, from the spa and fitness staff all the way up to administration with my cruise directors. It’s incredible how hard these people work on these boats guys, absolutely incredible.

I’ve been planning to start running basic blonde again after this vacation and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what I was going to write about. However, looking back on this past week I realized that what made it so enjoyable was my lack of contact with the real world. Yes, I know, there’s a thousand other people on the ship, plus three different news stations on the television in the cabin, so I wasn’t completely out of the reality realm.

I’m talking about my cellphone. It literally (and yes I mean literally) stayed in airplane mode for the duration of my cruise. I sure as heck wasn’t about to pay the international charges, nor the money for wifi when I honestly didn’t need it.

I didn’t miss my phone except for once. Don’t get me wrong, I totally missed my friends and family and normal (comfortable) bed, but I didn’t crave social media like I thought I would. I, a newly 21-year-young, sorority girl, survived a week without my cell phone.

Culture
One of my most favorite activities is people watching, which is super easy to do on a ship holding roughly 3K people. Now had my phone been in use, I most likely would have sat by the pool scrolling through my Facebook feed and taking every single quiz posted to Buzzfeed. Instead I actually interacted with people from across the globe. I was amazed with how different families acted, especially children. I  went on a spa tour with this family who was Hispanic-American, my mom and an older couple (who pretty much became my bff’s, but that will come later.) The mother of the family didn’t know the word “scar” in English, and talking to her and listening to her explain it was actually different in a fun kind of way. Same goes with the island natives – they live so differently than we do and it’s just amazing to think that we’re only a few short air hours away from that style of living.

People are Nice
Like, extremely nice. Anybody who knows me can attest to my saying that I hate going to any grocery store. Honestly, I love grocery shopping, but people can just be so rude – it’s ridiculous. Typically when I’m traveling somewhere new I stick to my phone and the people I know. Without my little computer though, I actually talked to different people and stepped outside what I would consider my super comfort zone. Like I mentioned above, I met a wonderful couple celebrating retirement at the spa tour on the first day – we ended up having dessert in the Casino together one night and participated in beach yoga two days before that. I actually left customs a little upset that I wasn’t able to say goodbye.

I dare you to try it. I know there’s a million articles out right now about how you should stop using your cell phone – what’s one more going to do? Shut the wi-fi off for a week, or delete those social media apps off your phone; do whatever it takes to just try a few days without your phone. You’ll appreciate it, I promise.

I also highly suggest a cruise to anyone who’s thought they wanted to take one. I know there more so on the expensive side, but the experience you’ll get out of it is incredible. You get to visit places you probably never would, meet people that you’d normally have no contact with and maybe even learn a little bit about yourself while kicking it back, poolside.

Another final I just want to add – I didn’t dry or straighten my hair for a week.
I deserve an award.