By Raffie Baker
The idea of a “vintage girl vacation” involves disconnecting from the screen and reconnecting with the physical world. It may sound simple — tuck your phone away and be present, but when your entire day revolves around the device in your hand, and the one you need for work, disconnecting becomes more difficult. But it also becomes a luxury. A vintage girl vacation involves wholesome activities like bike rides, picnics and card games with your friends to curate quality conversations without the interruptions of social media. Luxury comes from the liberation of the digital detox and the importance of what is right in front of you.
Your offline time can be customized and designed on your own terms, despite the social-media addiction that afflicts too many of us. Treat social media as a relationship — it needs boundaries and standards lest it become toxic, if it hasn’t already. Explore the apps and tools that make you aware of your screentime and offer ways to reduce it. This can be a reset for life in general to experience the benefits of how people lived with uninterrupted connections, better sleep and reduced anxiety. Then convince your girlfriends to join you on a vintage girl vacation.
On your vintage vacation, discuss phone-free guidelines before the trip. Use practical solutions and disciplines to be present in the moment. For work, set up an automated email with out-of-office details. Delete social media apps from your phone for the duration of the trip. Keep your phone on “do not disturb,” but set up a bypass for those who may truly need to reach you. If you and your friends decide to go into extreme isolation — everyone’s phone goes into a box — then alert parents, kids, partners, or whoever else may claim to need you urgently that they can reach you via the hotel phone or a shared cellphone designated for that vacation.
But how are you going to find a dinner spot or the best beach in the area or get directions to the coffee shop? Think of how that was done in the good old days. This nostalgic challenge helps create human connection with strangers. Ask the people around you — the hotel concierge, the barista at the cafe or even a pedestrian on the street for recommendations and directions. Resources are found wherever you look for them. If you’re staying in a rental apartment, ask the host to create a physical list of restaurants, activities and shopping nearby. Buy a paper map.
If your type-A friend is stressing about this untethered abyss, maybe they need to let it go. But they can come prepared with printed-out research of the destination to get from point A to B smoothly.
Now, to stay busy, without your phone, get outside and connect with your girlfriends. Seaside town? You’re going to the beach. So pack a picnic, a spikeball set, books (real books) and sunscreen. In the mountains, the plan is a hike, lunch at the local brewery and conversation with the friendly faces surrounding you. Each night, instead of settling in for a movie, break out the board games, cards, or puzzles to set up the late-night conversations. (Wine also helps.) Remember those “grandma hobbies” you picked up during the pandemic? Bring those along and craft with company. Perhaps each traveler brings supplies and shares their own favorite grandma hobby — knitting, cooking, bread-making, doodling — with the group. You’ll go home with a new interest and a deeper appreciation for your friends.
How are you ever going to remember this vacation without capturing every moment and posting them to Instagram? Memories can be made and savored without a thousand instant pictures as proof. Remember all those family photo albums? They’re treasured time capsules of shared memories. And flipping through the clear-coated pages can be so much more satisfying than scrolling a screen. Polaroid cameras have made a comeback. Consider bringing one of those on the trip. Or try sketching the beauty you see. Journal at the end of each day about your favorite moments instead of posting pictures.
The backdrop to your vintage girl vacation is somewhere surrounded by nature with local businesses booming. Somewhere you can feel safe slowing down and living calmly, hopefully taking those new habits back to your everyday life. Cherish the memories when the film gets developed, when you reread journal entries, or practice your new hobby. Connect with people and nature by being in the moment. When you strip down life to its most basic sense of enjoyment, what do you imagine? Spending it with people you cherish in a beautiful setting. You don’t want your phone in that image.
