Accessing the internet

It is one of those things we take for granted in Canada – that wifi hotspots are nearly ubiquitous, open, and freely available. Not the case everywhere. A bit of a wake-up call for us when we got to the Cook Islands! There were wifi hotspots but they were hotspots for a fee, and they did not cover a very large area. Even in the airport, the wifi was login only. It was fascinating to discover how much we expect to have access to the internet; sometimes our day felt like it was structured around finding an opportunity to check email. Once we got into the rhythm, though, it became a little farcical. Scheduling a trip down to the BlueSky store so we could all get up to date on what was happening at home. Rowan saying ‘oh, hey, I have wifi!’ and everyone stopping immediately to check their phones, regardless of where we were. Or Pippa so desperate to check her email that we wandered down the road from our house until we found a wifi spot – under a tree by the side of the road. We start to realize how spoilt we are….