Alexia Tsotsis currently works as a writer for TechCrunch. She is also a blogger who attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. She majored in writing and art, he moved to New York shortly after the end of the work in the entertainment industry and media. After four years of his life in New York and to attend courses in New York ... ? Read More
"They have the Internet in Europe?" my friend in the United States, joked via Facebook Messenger, as I checked into Foursquare from Athens airport.
Yes, Virginia, they have the Internet in Europe or Greece specifically. In my case I had to buy expensive plan worldwide data for my iPhone before I left the United States and then watch as a hawk, so I don't go over my allotted 340 MB of data. $ 99 to stay connected.
Upon arriving at the House of my brother in Athens, I was told he could not speak Greek mobile phone from our stationary as they were too expensive.
My brother consultations could buy a dumbphone for 15 euro ($ 21) and then use credit € 10 call to cells. Another 25 € ($ 36) remain connected. One call to my friend cells to confirm our travel plans at a later date and that credit is gone.
In this way until I plunk down another 10 euros ($ 14) remain connected I basically stuck with the iPhone's airplane mode by default as my only way of communicating with the outside world. And as I frantically down napkins, my Twitter feed and desperately try to reload the Instagrams from the beach, only to meet up with taunting messages over and over again, dumb phone sits in my wallet. The game has, I think.
Mark Zuckerberg once said that he knew that Facebook was successful when his friends told him that they saw it open in European Internet Cafe while traveling. Although much has changed since the painful pulse to check Facebook or what your social media drug of choice while you're trying to allegedly avoid has only strengthened their positions.
For many of us with # firstworldproblems ubiquitous Internet became a program, such as electricity. So it seems odd to visit family without wi-fi connection, it's almost like mind, saying "we have no lights, and you're only going to do it properly without them.
But as anyone who has traveled knows not everyone lives in # firstworld. So I spent most of my vacation island Greece chasing connection using my iPhone as a kind of Internet divining rod and meeting obstacles at every turn. CONNECTION. CONNECTION. IS NOT CONNECTED.
Greek WIND USB stick data? Incompatible with OS X Lion (really). Something called "free Internet", which appears as I drink my morning coffee in the town square? Turns out, not so free and not the Internet.
Finally yesterday night, I saw some guy in a cafe, working on his laptop at the bar and rushed over, hoping that I came across a few wi-fi hotspring. "As you have Internet?", I asked him in Greek. "I brought my own."
This weak link with the outside world I missed out on all the details of the resignation of Steve jobs as CEO of Apple and have any idea about Hurricane Irene. Someone apparently leaked Greek Wikileak, and I was too afraid to go over my data plan to download it. Yes, what with Twitter recent pictures?
IPhone in Greece is 650 € ($ 936) and Cosmote unlimited data plan is 50 euros ($ 72) a month. The average salary in this time, the overall economic crisis is 1000 € (1441), but still enough people own expensive smartphones, Foursquare crowded with obscure Greek sites. My Greek friend also has a similar dumbphone my newly purchased one for when she goes for her iPhone data allocation.
"So," you say "get offline and your rest you Dork." of course, but at present if the trip is not taken into account in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and it makes sound?
Thus I began to be jealous of anyone more online connections rations than I, mobile or otherwise. Yesterday as one of my travel companions fingered her phone under the table I whispered, "Instagram or Twitter?" "No," she said, are satisfied. "Neither?!", I said incredulously. "Yes, I'm on a Foursquare, trying to figure out that this Taverna is called so I can check".
The Right. I am typing this from a hotel room without an Internet connection and plan on Walking down to something called "Privé Internet point in order to post it on TechCrunch. "Internet point Prive" actually sounds like you should be getting bottle service or champagne with the Internet. This course is worth enough.
Connection.
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