Curious to see if people check their email while on vacation, or try to get away from it all.

I don't check it at all. If I do, I will feel that I need to take the time to respond, and I really don't have time for that when on vacation.

I just want to be away from the email and deal with it when I get back.

No way!!!!!! I'm on VACATION...I'll deal with the email when I return home. I've got better things to do; that's why I am on vacation.

Curious

While I don't go through my 'regular' emails, and also ask that people refrain from sending forwards, etc. while I am gone, I do use email as a way of keeping in touch with my kids while I am gone. It proved very handy while we were in New Zealand and Australia for a month.

Yes, I have to check and be sure the house is still standing, the dog is ok and the kids are happy.
Then I can have fun.

I have no email to check, but my husband checks his voice mail each morning on vacation....and responds!

I don't check it for work but I do have a Yahoo account set up that I use to send email to family and friends . . . I try to send every other day and then this serves as a good base for typing up my trip notes when I return home.

BTW, our family has a rule . . . no bad news on a trip, unless there's something we can do about it. If the house burns down or someone dies, no one tells until we return. There's nothing we can do and no reason to spoil someone's trip.

Sandy, I agree with you. We basically have the same rule re/ bad news.
If you are at sea for two days and someone notifies you that so-so is sick, just what are you going to do except worry?
But there are people who would run a mile barefoot through broken glass to deliver bad news.

I go on vacation to get the heck away from cell phones, computers, problems, etc. After all, doesn't the word vacation come from " to vacate--go away, break away, get away, etc"???

hi Sandy..good advice!
I do recall when I was very young ..about 10 or 11.. we were on vacation and my older sister had to call us....as my Dads mother had died.
Its good she did..we were In Atlanta and gramma lived in New Jersey..instead of flying back home and then on to NJ..we flew straight there ( the weird thing is, if my memory serves, we were on the last day of the vacation)...
I guess every circumstance is different.

My father died in his sleep (best way to go) when I was on my very first trip ever . . . to Europe for 3 weeks. He died on my first day gone, nothing I could do, would have ruined the trip for me and my friend.

My mother was upset at first that no one would tell me but after the first shock of it all, she realized there was nothing I (or anyone) could do to make things better.

The funeral home held everything until I returned and we had a nice service.

May sound cold hearted but nothing I or anyone could do so why tell.

My friend's children tell her everything and all she does is grieve and worry . . . what is accomplished in that? It spoils her trip and by the time she gets home, she finds out that everything is fine or not as bad as they led her to believe.

You're right . . . some people delight in delivering bad news.

yep Sandy.. everyone is different.
I am going on a cruise in May ( first one in 10 years!). I have no hubby or significant other, and everyone else in my family is in pretty good shape so hopefully I will have smooth sailing ( in all definitions!)..and no, I wont be checking my email while on board LOL...

Though I never check my email when I'm away, I did get a kick out of sending mail titled, "From Russia with Love" when I was there last spring.

I can't imagine not checking from time to time when you are away for an extended time. We have a large, extended family, and I need to know that there is no crisis. Maybe there isn't anything you can 'do' when something happens far away but still, I need to know. (my sister died while we were away a few years ago, and we adjusted our flight home, skipped a portion of the trip, to be with her grieving husband and children). Anyone who wouldn't would be pretty insensitive, to say the least.

Can't imagine how some folks managed to get by back in the "olden days" when there were no emails and no cell phones! Must have been mighty difficult!

On another note, I would think that bad news delivered by email would be considered cold and insensitive. A good old fashioned phone call would be more in order.

one thanksgiving holiday, i was in london, hubby was in amsterdam, and two teenage children were at home (in texas...). my motel was just blocks away from victoria station, and across the street from v.s. was a cybercafe. each morning before hitting victoria station to go wherever i was going to sightsee that day, and each evening when i'd come back to the motel, i'd stop in and 'check in' with both kids and hubby to see what they were up to and let them know i was still around. what a blast to be on my own in london for days and days, but still keep in touch...

I've tallied the results of Fodorites responding so far, and it's too close to call. Five say "yes," and six say "no." Anyone want to break the near tie?

Add me to the group that says "yes", but I sure don't know how that will break the tie.

Since my trips are often up to 5 months long, it is essential that I check email. That's how I keep in touch with my friend who handles all my mail and stuff at home.

I am checking my email now and I am on vacation in Miami. After Miami we are head to the Caribbean. Yeah!

I also log on to check the interior and exterior of my house via the internet. We have small cameras set up in strategic locations so we can peek in. I just saw the kitty on the kitchen counter island - a big no no when we are home!

Anyway, with the snow we had in NJ over the last couple of days, it made sense to check on the house.

I don't even like to check my e-mail when I'm AT work.

But I did have to try and track down an i'net cafe to get the NFL playoff scoop while on vacation since the Kauaian newpapers are a bit lacking in their coverages.
USAToday could be renamed "USASomeday" when you're waiting for the football scores on Monday. ;^)
Kal

I spent four years in England in the early sixties. And never spoke by phone to home during that time. Mom did come over when I got married an English girl (our 40th anniversary is in September.)

We kept in touch by mail. It was a different time....