What’s This Thing About, Anyway?
The Unplugged Traveler is a newsletter about traveling without the internet. Each month, I go to a place in Europe I’ve never been before, travel around entirely offline, and bring back stories of my adventures.
What Do You Mean By ‘Without the Internet’?
You know, that thing in your pocket that is an endless source of information and entertainment, but also of distraction, disconnection, and anxiety, and and occasionally makes you despair for humankind? Without that. So: no Google research beforehand, no online bookings, no GPS maps, no restaurant rankings, no Instagram inspiration, no AirBnB, no TripAdvisor, no Uber, no Yelp. And definitely no mindless scrolling in a futile attempt to stave off boredom and existential dread.
I do allow myself to book my transportation to and from the destination online. There is no adventure in the world worth waiting on hold with an airline call center.
Why Are Traveling Without the Internet? Are You Some Kind of Luddite?
Not at all. In most of my travels I’m an obsessive online researcher, showing up to a destination with lists of places to eat and drink and sites to see. And I do love me a Google map. But over time I’ve come to recognize that that kind of travel can have a flattening—all of us going to the same places, looking for the same kinds of things that we like back home, and never, ever risking a bad or even mediocre experience. So the short answer is that I want to see if, by unplugging, it’s possible to restore some of the serendipity and unpredictability to travel. If you want more, check out my longer explanation here.
What Can I Expect If I Sign Up?
Two essays a month, straight to your inbox: one “main” story about the place and a second “outtake” devoted to some curious aspect of the trip that didn’t make it into the main piece. Plus random musings on selfies, over-tourism, the power of a good map, and the possible decline of civilization.
Is It free?
Yes! All the essays in the newsletter are free.
So Why Should I Pay For A Subscription?
Throwing $5 a month or $50 a year my way for a paid subscription will get you access to a supplemental list, with descriptions and addresses, of the places I stayed, ate, drank, and shopped in each destination. Paying to become a Patron of the Unplugged will get you all that, and the opportunity to choose a destination for me. Both options also allow you to comment on posts. (This isn’t my idea. If the restrictions on comments for free subscribers annoys you as much as it does me, please take it up with Substack.)
More importantly, it’s a way of supporting independent travel writing—the kind of work that focuses on real and hopefully insightful stories into a place, rather than superficial guides to eating and sightseeing. As someone who has been doing that kind of travel writing for a couple of decades now, I know firsthand that the magazines and newspapers—both print and digital— that once were a home for it have either closed up shop or drastically reduced their budgets. This newsletter is a way of testing whether there is still still an appetite for it.
Isn’t This Just A Way of Getting Someone Else To Pay For You To Travel?
You could look at it that way. Or you could look at it as a tiny act of resistance against a future in which all travel writing is reduced to listicles on the World’s Most Instagrammable Spots and AI-generated pieces that confuse mayonnaise references with humor.
Isn’t It A Contradiction to Write About Internet-Free Travel On…The Internet?
No doubt. But as one of my all-time favorite movie characters says, consistency is not really a human trait.
