Book Review: Paper Maps, No Apps

Alpha Omega Family Adventures received a review copy from Smith Publicity Promotions and voluntarily provided an honest review. This does not affect the opinion of the book or the content of the review. All opinions are our own.

We recently returned from a three week long trip through three countries with our four children. While some of the trip was a little intimidating, I wasn’t worried at all about finding our way around with technology! But, sometimes we can rely on technology a little too much or let it interfere with basic human interactions such as smiling at a stranger. Author Johnny Welsh and his girlfriend at the time tackled this challenge with a 16 day trip with very little use of technology. They brought along paper maps to find their way. Before leaving, they had a general idea of the direction the trip would take and they only booked a couple hotels. The trip started in Colorado and traveled through Utah, Arizona, California, and Mexico. They were only allowed to look at their phones for a few minutes each day to respond to any work contacts (no more than 5% of the trip), then the phones were powered off. What they found was that they interacted with not only each other more, but also with new people they encountered. The book documents each days experience along their journey.

Someday, I would love to travel with my children unplugged so they can fully experience how much more difficult it was. I will say though, I’m not sure I would be up for international travel without technology and four young children at all! This book was a great, pretty quick read.

Johnny Welsh is a bartender in Frisco, Colorado. His book also includes interesting stories from his time as a bartender. There is also a technology dependence questionnaire at the end of the book.

For more information, check the book out at Amazon.com.