With ten days left on my Algarve holiday, my iPhone 6, after being dropped a few too many times, finally succumbed to the same state as Monty Python’s parrot.
You never fully appreciate things until you have to do without them. The following are eight reasons why I ended up suffering cold turkey in the Algarve.
1. Email
As a sole trader I check my business email three or four times a day while on holiday. It is sooo convenient to access Outlook at a restaurant or bar rather than having to trek back to the apartment and boot up the laptop.
2. Radio
I’m an avid radio listener, especially as we don’t have TV access in our apartment. It was a huge loss not to be able to access the TuneIn Radio app for home news or the BBC Radio iPlayer app for UK news programmes, drama, comedy or whatever floats your boat.
3. Dictionary
One of my habits on holiday is to head out for poached eggs on toast in the morning with a Portuguese language book or newspaper. Relaxing over a fresh orange juice and coffee I use the Collins dictionary on my iPhone to help increase my Portuguese vocabulary. With the deceased iPhone I had to carry around a physical dictionary which didn’t have anywhere near the capacity of my online version.
4. WhatsApp
Without access to WhatsApp I was unable to annoy friends and family at home with endless photos of charcoal grilled prawns, €2.50 pints of Sagres and €2 Euro bucket size glasses of vinho tinto.
5. Audiobooks
I’m a big “Just William” fan. And no, it’s not just for kids. The William audiobooks narrated by the superb Martin Jarvis are one of life’s great pleasures. If you haven’t already done so, treat yourself to one of them on iTunes or whatever your operating system poison is.
6. Video and camera
Near the end of my holiday I did a cruise along the gorgeous Algarve coast (35 degrees as it happens that day). We passed within yards of a “pirate” ship – just one of a number of fantastic seascapes I wish I’d had my iPhone video and camera for.
7. Fantasy Football
With the new season approaching fast I was unable to spend time selecting my squad. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
Despite Roy Keane’s words muttering in your ear, you don’t really want to be cooped up in your apartment with your laptop in 35 degrees heat working out the higher mathematics of how to afford Salah, Aguero, Kane, Mane, Firmino and David Silva. (It’s not possible unless the rest of the team consists bargain basement, unlikely to play reserve players from promoted clubs).
8. Music
From Spotify playlists to downloaded CDs, I was without my music fix for 10 days.
Strangely perhaps, the only thing I didn’t miss was phone calls.
For almost everything else the iPhone is central to my life.
And now I truly appreciate just how much.
You never fully appreciate things until you have to do without them. The following are eight reasons why I ended up suffering cold turkey in the Algarve.
1. Email
As a sole trader I check my business email three or four times a day while on holiday. It is sooo convenient to access Outlook at a restaurant or bar rather than having to trek back to the apartment and boot up the laptop.
2. Radio
I’m an avid radio listener, especially as we don’t have TV access in our apartment. It was a huge loss not to be able to access the TuneIn Radio app for home news or the BBC Radio iPlayer app for UK news programmes, drama, comedy or whatever floats your boat.
3. Dictionary
One of my habits on holiday is to head out for poached eggs on toast in the morning with a Portuguese language book or newspaper. Relaxing over a fresh orange juice and coffee I use the Collins dictionary on my iPhone to help increase my Portuguese vocabulary. With the deceased iPhone I had to carry around a physical dictionary which didn’t have anywhere near the capacity of my online version.
4. WhatsApp
Without access to WhatsApp I was unable to annoy friends and family at home with endless photos of charcoal grilled prawns, €2.50 pints of Sagres and €2 Euro bucket size glasses of vinho tinto.
5. Audiobooks
I’m a big “Just William” fan. And no, it’s not just for kids. The William audiobooks narrated by the superb Martin Jarvis are one of life’s great pleasures. If you haven’t already done so, treat yourself to one of them on iTunes or whatever your operating system poison is.
6. Video and camera
Near the end of my holiday I did a cruise along the gorgeous Algarve coast (35 degrees as it happens that day). We passed within yards of a “pirate” ship – just one of a number of fantastic seascapes I wish I’d had my iPhone video and camera for.
7. Fantasy Football
With the new season approaching fast I was unable to spend time selecting my squad. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
Despite Roy Keane’s words muttering in your ear, you don’t really want to be cooped up in your apartment with your laptop in 35 degrees heat working out the higher mathematics of how to afford Salah, Aguero, Kane, Mane, Firmino and David Silva. (It’s not possible unless the rest of the team consists bargain basement, unlikely to play reserve players from promoted clubs).
8. Music
From Spotify playlists to downloaded CDs, I was without my music fix for 10 days.
Strangely perhaps, the only thing I didn’t miss was phone calls.
For almost everything else the iPhone is central to my life.
And now I truly appreciate just how much.
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