on the cell phone and leave a message you usually reply with in a day or two. That's not bad. But seriously, now days you get sucked into "staying connected" by family. I still manage to be minimally connected. I have the "pactor" for the SSB, the "Spot" that family and friends use to track us and SKYPE when we can get it. We'll probably get an unlocked phone card next time as well but that's about it. Chasing the internet is just to damn hard. I'm like you, I like not knowing what's going on at home. Now that we have the small sized tablets where you're not dragging a big lap top all over the place it's easy. You can fit them in a waterproof bag and get away with most beach landings un-scathed. Remember that time in Z-watt...good times.