Three days without a phone? What? Seriously? Is that even possible in the modern world? I’ll tell you how it went…. But first I should probably explain how I came to be cell phone-less in the first place.

It would make me sound very cool if I said this was some sort of planned connectivity fasting period. It was not.

I most definitely did not plan to have my phone fall out of – but I’m getting ahead of myself. Three weeks ago, I rose very early in the morning to drive with Dr. Science up to Portland to catch a flight. We had a lovely empty-freeway drive and arrived in plenty of time for me to check my bags.

And that was where the trouble started.

It’s been awhile since I posted a pic of how I normally travel, but let’s just say that I never, never check bags, and that I’m very skilled at filling every square centimeter of my European-size carryon bag, even when I’ll be traveling for weeks on end.

This time, however, I had a little signing event to set up.

And that meant packing two suitcases that weighed … a lot. So Dr. Science sees a curbside check-in for Southwest and pulls up and we hand over my bags. And the sky-cap asks if I would like a printed boarding pass, and I think WHY NOT? How retro, how fun! A paper pass instead of using my phone!

So I say YES which means that when I go through TSA, it does not occur to me to whip out my phone. I just scan my (paper) boarding pass and I’m on my way.

It’s while I’m waiting at the gate that I realize I don’t have my phone. It takes me a good ten minutes to work up the courage to ask a total stranger if I could use their phone to call Dr. Science, and by this time he’s thirty-five minutes south of PDX and can’t get back to me before my plane leaves. But he confirms that, unfortunately, my phone is in the car, having fallen out of my pocket with neither of us noticing.

We agree I’ll catch my flight and figure out the phone situation later. (Seventy dollars later, as it turned out. But I digress.)

So what was it like not having a phone for three days?

My first taste of cell-phone-free me was when a fellow passenger on the flight came up to me and said, “Hi, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard you, and I just want to say that you are now my example of how to remain calm in a stressful situation.”

I smiled and thanked her, thinking: I’m calm. I’m so calm that complete strangers tell me I am their role model. Wow. Maybe this will be a super-cool Zen-like experience after all!

So. Was it amazing and calming and all those things that are supposed to happen when we unplug?

I’m sorry to confess that it was not. Not even a little. I needed OTP’s (one-time passwords) at least six times in the first 24 hours, and it only got worse as entities with which I needed to do business flat out refused when I couldn’t provide the OTP. I can only say that while it might be a peaceful and calming experience for some to be parted from their phones, I am NOT among their number.

So there you have it. Me, not chill, not soaking in the vacay from the digital world. At all.

I flew on Sunday and I got my phone back on Tuesday, and I was very, very, very happy.

Here’s a picture taken of me the moment UPS delivered the package.

So even though some people might have a great experience cutting the cord, well, the picture says it all.

Now, as for that signing event? It was all kinds of wonderful. I hadn’t done one since pre-Covid, and I’d forgotten how fun it could be to chat with new and old fans. <3

Wishing my American readers a very happy Thanksgiving, with exactly the amount of cell service that makes you calm and happy.