Well guys, I made it! I was in Europe for 12 days and lived to tell the tale. I wouldn't go so far as to say "I came, I saw, I conquered," but how about "I laughed, I cried, I ate all the baked goods"? We'll go with that.
I hate that this is the thing that sticks out at me about the trip, because it seems completely stupid, but my phone broke on Day 4. One minute I was scrolling through Instagram, and the next, the screen went black and I was never able to get it to reboot. I'm ashamed to say I freaked out, because I try not to be tethered to my phone, but I did freak out a bit. How was I going to contact my AirBnB hosts? Or look at maps? Or research and plan a day's activities? OR TAKE A GODDAMN PICTURE? I didn't really need it for making calls, but I definitely needed its other capabilities.
I thought it over and decided to buy a tablet to get me through the rest of the trip. I didn't want to spend money on a phone that might not work when I got back home, and I figured a tablet would do what I needed it to do and be more affordable. So I took the tram to the mall and luckily spotted a Samsung sign in a store window right next to the stop.
After asking around for an English-speaking salesperson, I ended up just pointing and pantomiming my way through the purchase, and I left with this. The camera pretty much sucks (no flash and 2 MP) and it's far slower than my phone, but for $72, I made it work and tried to move on with my life. In the grand scheme of things, it was a minor hiccup in an otherwise enjoyable trip. And way better than having food poisoning on a long-haul flight.
I might be extra salty about it because I still don't have a phone, three weeks after mine broke. I ordered a new one within 24 hours of its death, but apparently the replacement was just released and Google is behind on shipping them out, so ... tablet it is. I will say, it's much easier to use the tablet here, where I know where I'm going and have generally the same schedule every day. But I do look forward to the day when I can (for example) text someone that I'm running late, or call my doctor to schedule my annual physical. One day, friends. One day.
(Don't worry, I'll write more about the actual trip in another post. Because it was dope.)
Scary how attached/dependent on our devices we can be, isn't it. Great tool, the phone/computer, and so crappy when it fails overseas without warning. Good problem solving on your part (My approach: set timer, have tantrum/panic attack, then figure something out). Hope your new phone arrives this morning!
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