Westworld Alberta

travel smarts Cutting the Cord Unplug the gadgets and connect with one another on your next family vacation by Curtis Gillespie I f you ' re a parent and have ever had this experience, put up your hand (I would ask you to Tweet me, but that might defeat the purpose of the article). You're on holiday and pass through an incredible landscape or see an astounding sight, so you holler into the recesses of your vehicle at your kids: "Look at that amazing mountain/cloud/elk/ tree/exploding volcano-with-lava-spewingdown-the-hill-toward-our-van!" To which the response – once earbuds/ headphones/smartphones/laptops/DVD players have been unplugged or removed – is invariably a half-glance followed by a bored, "Oh . . . cool." Cue reinsertion of devices. But here's a question: What would a holiday be like if, in fact, we didn't use our electronic gadgets for a spell, or, heaven forbid, if we didn't even take them along? With the right attitude and approach, unplugging might just free you up to experience your family adventures instead of obsessing over capturing them digitally. There are many ways to pursue a low-fi holiday. The simplest and easiest is to go cold turkey and remove the temptation: camping or backpacking in a remote area with no cell reception, much less wireless; taking an RV into the Alberta wilderness. If your family is not in need of such a dramatic statement, then a simple cottage rental without Internet access or an activityfocused resort could do nicely. Given the ubiquity of technology in our lives and worlds, it's most likely that any sort of wirelesslessness will require a family contract. Heck, you could even write it up with a pen and paper (for younger readers, please ask your parents to describe these artifacts). Mom decides to forgo Facebook for a day. Daughter does without smartphone for same period. Dad agrees to hold off on checking his work email. Or how about: no Internet one day a week. All devices go into a suitcase for an afternoon. 10 W e s t w o r l d p10-11_Travel Smarts.indd 10 >> may 2013 Physical movement and fresh air: two keys to unplugging on family getaways. Go, go gadget-free: Visit ama.ab.ca/ Westworld to download a fun unplugging contract that your family can sign together. The family goes for a hike with no cameras, phones or video equipment. Agree to do one thing every day that you will commit to memory, to create shared stories that you tell back to one another in conversation, sitting around the campfire – metaphorical or otherwise. There is also the "surrender control" option, which we pursued when visiting Australia a few years ago – we let the kids decide what we were going to do on any given day, as long as it was new, active, outdoors and something we could all do together: swimming, hiking, penguin watching. You're likely to be on safely unwired ground if the activities involve two things: physical movement and fresh air. A key factor in the unplugged vacation is that parents need to set the example, since slouching on the couch watching golf on TV with a brew in one hand and your smartphone in the other is just as powerful a message at the lake as it is at home. If we tell our kids to unplug, we must do the same. So remind yourself: as important as you no doubt are at work, you are more important to the people you're on holiday with. If we're able to unravel, even for a day, the wires, circuits, signals and transmissions that surround us, our relationships to the world and one another might actually improve. So I give the unplugged vacation a thumbs-up – the original "digital" communication. AMA MEMBERS SAVE MORE Before you go: Unplug the family on a six-day pre-planned U.S. Rocky Mountains & Glaciers driving itinerary that includes accomodation. Start in Montana and wind through Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. From US$369 per person. 1-866-667-4777 While you're there: Earn Member Rewards at more than 164,000 partner locations in 63 countries. AMARewards.ca Michael DeYoung/Maxx Images 13-04-12 12:35 PM

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