How to drop every digital aspect of your life and enjoy your motorhome holiday

The world we live in now is full of distractions, and most of them are of the digital variety.

Smartphones, tablets, connected devices and wearable technology all do their level best on a daily basis to pull us off track, keep us from completing essential tasks and, more worryingly, prevent us from spending quality time with the people that matter most.

A survey by Glassdoor.co.uk found that only 50% of UK employees take their full annual leave allowance. Even less in the North East (36%) and 39% in Scotland.

On holiday, such distractions can eat away at your energy levels and result in anything but a period of rest and relaxation. And this is crazy – we go on holiday to chill out and recharge our batteries, not to consume those of the devices that occupy our every waking moment.

The thoughts of dropping every digital aspect of your life while on holiday might sound entirely unachievable (how could you get by without Facebook?), but it’s a goal everyone should reach for at least once in life.

If you’re planning a motorhome holiday, use it as an excuse to perform a digital detox at the same time. You’ll need your smartphone for sat nav and keeping in touch, but it shouldn’t rule your life while on vacation.

Here’s our essential seven step guide to removing digital distractions:

1. Plan no-phone zones and times

As you’ll soon discover, phone battery is likely to be at a premium, therefore any time spent on smartphones will need to be for essential tasks only.

Think satellite navigation and urgent phone calls – that’s it. And such activity can only take place in the motorhome cabin – nowhere else.

If you can, just take one smartphone, too; this will only work if everyone buys-in to the process.

2. Don’t take any superfluous devices

You don’t need your tablet. Or laptop. Or handheld gaming device. And you may as well leave your smartwatch at home if you’re one of the designated no-phone people.

3. Set an out-of-office for your email

Email while on holiday? No thanks! Avoid disappointing friends, colleagues and customers by ensuring you set a clear out-of-office email on both your personal and work accounts.

Tell people you’re away, with zero access to email and that you’ll reply on your return. It’ll all wait.

4. Ban social media

No Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or any of the other multitude of networks while on your motorhome holiday – period.

5. Take an old-fashioned camera

Because we’ve banned Instagram, you’ll have to find a different way to get your photography fix, and the absence of modern devices offers a brilliant opportunity to delve into the past.

Dig out your oldest camera (or borrow one from an older relative) and use that instead. The older the better; there’s something wonderfully timeless about journaling your holiday with a film camera.

6. Only take one device charger

This is the kicker. If there’s only one device charger, step 1 becomes vital. You can only charge one smartphone at a time, after all, and if there’s no power available – well, you’ll just have to make do without!

7. Pick the remotest of locations

Super-fast mobile broadband is still yet to make it’s way to every corner of the Earth. In a motorhome, the world is your oyster, therefore you have the benefit of being able to pick remote locations that are unlikely to have any kind of 3G of 4G signal.

Go remote and remove any opportunity you could possibly have to indulge in the digital world – it’s incredibly liberating.

That’s it!

If you have kids in your party, the above will be a hard sell, there’s no doubt about that. You’re the boss, though, and you know how big an impact removing the digital aspect of your lives will have on your holiday.

Follow this guide, and you’ll spend more time with each other, be forced to find alternative forms of entertainment, revel in the beauty of old-fashioned photography and, consequently, return home refreshed and ready to dive back into real life.