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Kick back without your cellphone, laptop or BlackBerry
You won't find a television, telephone or WiFi outlet in any of the 22 cottages at Petit St. Vincent, an idyllic resort on its own private island in the Grenadines. What you will discover are stretches of empty, pristine white beaches sprinkled with hammocks and shady trees and a plethora of quiet nooks to cuddle with a good book.
In fact, to communicate with the staff, guests hoist a flag (yellow for service, red for Do Not Disturb) from their private flagpole conveniently situated in front of their cottage (or on the beach). The resort has been operating this way since it opened 40 years ago and legions of faithful guests—many who have devotedly returned each year—wouldn't have it any other way.
See our slideshow of 10 No-Connection Vacations.
"I hope people can come here and reconnect with nature and with themselves," says owner Lynn Richardson. "There's no way that I can control guests from bringing their BlackBerry, but it's a terrible mistake. It sounds corny, but you should be able to disconnect and listen to the birds and the surf and see colors of the water instead. If you're checking email several times a day here, you're thinking about your emails, why you haven't gotten them or how to reply.”
"You might as well be at work," Richardson adds.
Indeed. Studies show that most Americans don't allow their vacations to get between them and their email. According to research, an estimated 83 percent of us check it at least twice a day while on vacation. And now that many of the most remote locales from Nepal to Mongolia to Tanzania offer some sort of connectivity, it's hard to escape your inbox.
However, some hotels find that the blurring between work and leisure is the antithesis of their mission to help you unplug. They're taking steps to help you tackle your bad habits by staying unwired by choice.
In February 2008, the Arawak Beach Inn on Anguilla launched their Isolation Vacation package. From June through October, the resort is offering a seven-night getaway package for $999 for those willing to relinquish their BlackBerries and laptops. (They're placed under lock and key upon arrival.) These newly liberated guests are then given a car for three days to explore Anguilla and booked on a private day-trip to an uninhabited island complete with a gourmet picnic lunch. There are also deep-sea fishing excursions and plenty of time to snorkel. The trip also includes oceanfront accommodations and four dinners at the hotel's Arawak Café.
See our slideshow of 10 No-Connection Vacations.
"I really wanted to bring back the concept of having a true getaway," says Arawak's proprietor, Maurice Bonham-Carter. "You can have a much more fulfilling experience with the people you're with if you don't have those distractions… We had rooms wired for telephones, but people said, 'Do you really need to put them in?' Now we will never install them!"
Nine miles off the coast of the Placencia, a fishing village in southern Belize that's becoming a popular vacation destination, the Whipray Caye Lodge attracts anglers who want to forget their lives back home—at least for a few days. Though this private island hideaway caters to a high-end clientele, the lodge is non-wired by design. "Guests come in at the end of the day, have dinner and talk about—fish," says Beverly Cabral who co-owns the lodge with her husband Julian, a noted angler. It doesn't take long for guests to get in the groove. "Everyone gets on 'caye time' very quickly: They're up just before dawn… fish all day, eat dinner and go to bed usually well before 9 p.m."
Islands are popular choices for these truly-away getaways—for obvious reasons. But the trend is finding fans beyond the laidback, beach-bum set. At the Fairmont Kenauk at Le Château Montebello, in Montebello, Canada, the mantra is "the only blackberries you see here grow on bushes." The accommodations are rustic, but first-class, and powered by propane, wood and solar systems. "Guests repeatedly state that they like being completely out of touch," says Bill Nowell, manager of recreation and fisheries for the resort. "Also, families enjoy not having electricity and televisions. It encourages them to interact together, play games and talk."
Even big-city hoteliers may eventually come around. Two and a half years ago, Rick Ueno, general manager of the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, realized that he had become a BlackBerry addict. "I was a classic heavy user, connected, 24/7," he says. "I was staying on top of emails instead of focusing on creativity." Sensing this wasn't healthy behavior, Ueno went cold turkey while preparing for a family trip to Hawaii. He hasn't looked back. "I've never been happier," he says. "I manage a busy 1,209-room property and 800 employees, but I learned that even when there is an emergency, I don't really need to have a BlackBerry. Now you read about companies who discourage employees from using them on the weekends. What does that say?"
From the Bahamas to Belize to France, see our slideshow of 10 hotels and resorts that force you to unplug—and enjoy.
See our slideshow of 10 No-Connection Vacations.
