It’s often that we say how we should leave our online friends and the whole online world when we’re traveling, but it’s interesting how only a small group of people seem actually to do that. However like it or not, to connect to the internet is sometimes a necessity, even in times that are planned for traveling and enjoying the free time in a new city, surrounded by new experiences waiting to be grasped.
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Free Wi-Fi
But why do people feel the urgent need to find a Wi-Fi hotspot when they’re visiting a new destination? Let’s look at some of the reasons:
- To inform. Okay yes, it’s always good when you arrive at the desired destination to tell your friends and relatives of your status of arrival and if everything has been good during the trip or something unexpected occurred. Of course, the point is not to inform everybody, but those who are thinking of you whether you’re okay and if everything is going as planned or not. And apparently, in this digital and free Wi-Fi era, you wouldn’t spend your phone credit on calling or sending a text message, but you’ll do that for free thanks to the internet.
- To find. A hotel, directions, beautiful place to eat, your lost friend, whatever it may be – you can find it easily with the help of your buddy – the internet. Even though it’s kind of sad that less and fewer people use maps when strolling around a new city, we must say that finding the best route for getting from one place to another is way more efficient with the use of the internet.
- Social media. Personally, I’m not a fan of this one. Come on, is it that necessary that the first thing you do when you arrive in a new city is to check in, post a photo and tell everyone where you are and what you’re doing? I think that things like these can wait a bit since it’s better to enjoy the new city first and then (if that’s your style) – tell everybody how it was and how you were feeling at that moment. But who am I kidding, many people do this, it’s an addiction.
- To chat. There are those people that would rather look at their phone screen than at the attractions of the city they’re visiting. If this is the case, then what’s the point of traveling at all? In the end, your friends won’t erase you from their lives if you don’t write them back for a day or at least for a couple of hours.
- To play. Okay, this is a silly reason. So what if your plants at the imaginary online farm die? Come on, live in the real world and don’t get obsessed with something fictional and pointless.
Yep, there are these and maybe other weird reasons why people are looking for a Wi-Fi hotspot in the first moment they step a foot in a new place. And even though real travelers try to avoid it as much as possible, sometimes you have to use the internet. That’s why I present you the Free Wi-Fi friendliest cities in the world, where catching a free Wi-Fi network wouldn’t be as hard and impossible as in many countries with massive restrictions. Check out the following cities:
New York, USA
New York City is big and crowded, so sometimes you need to catch some Wi-Fi and find your way back to the hotel. The good thing is – the city offers many Wi-Fi hotspots spread throughout it, but you can also use the free Wi-Fi from the coffee places and fast food restaurants. Also, whenever you feel bored, or you want to use the time wisely while waiting for the subway, you can always connect to the Wi-Fi hotspots located at many subway stations, especially the big ones.
Hong Kong, China
No wonder how this city got to be on this list. Hong Kong is known to be ahead of time with its highly developed technology. Thus the free Wi-Fi in the city should be no surprise. The city hosts several Wi-Fi networks, but two of them are the biggest. GovWifi can be found in places such as libraries, parks, public buildings, etc., while the MTR Wi-Fi enables you free 15 minutes of Wi-Fi per device every day, used up to 5 times in a day at the MTR stations. Buying new tourist SIM will only open the door to additional free Wi-Fi hotspots.
Perth, Australia
Since November 2013, Perth has been setting up and improving the free Wi-Fi hotspots everywhere in the city. From shopping malls to eating and business districts, Perth offers you free Wi-Fi in various places in the city, for a limited time of one hour, with a chance of prolonging your time online.
Barcelona, Spain
Seeing the potential of bigger and bigger number of tourists visiting this exotic city, Barcelona is providing over 700 free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the whole town. So, it’s no wonder how you see the photos on Instagram in the very second your friends visit the beautiful Barcelona.
Taipei, Taiwan
In 2014 Taiwan made a big progress when it comes to enabling free Wi-Fi to its visitors. If you want to have access to free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout Taipei in the duration of up to 30 days, you can register ahead of your trip and arrange a carefree online surfing time whenever you feel like it during your stay in Taiwan.
Ljubljana, Slovenia
You feel the urge to connect to the internet? No worries – take your smartphone and insert your phone number and the code you’ll get to register on the Wi-Free Ljubljana network to receive a free one hour of internet regardless of your precise location in Ljubljana. Another great thing about the Wi-Fi in this city is that thanks to a certain sponsor, almost all of the coffee places and restaurants are covered by the same Wi-Fi network that enables you an unlimited time of free Wi-Fi with just one click.
Tel Aviv, Israel
Keeping up with technology trends, Tel Aviv also offers free Wi-Fi hotspots throughout the city, along with the Mediterranean promenade and even in the poor town of Jaffa. Whoever tried to catch some free Wi-Fi in Tel Aviv is already familiar with the “free_tlv” network.
Seoul, South Korea
Seoul’s 2015 plan is to set up to 10,000 hotspots throughout the whole city, and so far they’re doing a great job. In fact, you can already connect to the internet at many parks, stations, squares and so on.
There are so many other cities to be mentioned on this list since the trend of using the internet is rising more and more throughout the years. Thus cities are enabling free Wi-Fi for tourists to attract them even more. However, when you’re traveling, you should learn how to spend more time without using your smartphone. And not only when traveling, but also generally in life. People have become obsessed with the online world that they’d rather spend time online than talk and hang out with their friends without the use of internet and technology devices.
Remember that life is what happens while you’re staring at the screen of your smartphone!
