I just got back from a few days away with my kids; three nights on the high seas on the coast of California. I had been wanting to take a cruise vacation and was incredibly fortunate to book a weekend away on the Disney Cruise Line. You may be wondering why I would go to all the trouble, for just a few days. This blog is not going to be 
about the magic of Disney, if you know me you already know I am a huge fan of all things Disney and the cruise line is no exception. For me, the cruise was about doing something different. It wasn’t a weekend at the beach or a theme park, or any of the activities we usually do as a family. I had something in mind that was different and that I was hoping would be special. Something that would allow us to create some memories we would cherish for a while. And I think this actually fit the bill.
Sailing on a cruise ship means leaving some things behind: land, wifi and along with that some of the stresses of everyday life. Our phones are our constant companions. Emails arrive at any time of day or night, and with that the urge to respond. Our children (in my case, teenagers) are connected by social media; instagram, Facebook and snapchat that keeps them closely involved in everyday life. We know this causes a number of stresses but it is increasingly difficult to disconnect from. Unless you are on a cruise. When we arrived in our cabin, luggage in hand the first thing we did was open the safe. While we didn’t have many valuables with us, we did place our phones in the small box and lock it, because we would not be needing them for the next three days. And just like that our internet access was gone. We were free from all things that required a wifi connection.
You may be wondering if we survived, and the answer is yes we did. We ate dinners together and had great conversations, we played board games and bingo, we listened to music. And we laughed. Until the morning we docked back in San Diego. The safe was opened and the phones were back. Faces looking down, and fingers swiping screens…me included. And while I know and accept that this is part of our lives that is here to stay, it was a wonderful reprieve to have a few days of disconnect. I look forward to doing it again soon.
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