Sardinia – a hotspot for holidays and the internet

The internet, surfing, emailing, mobile phones – having to be constantly available: the latter reminds me of the film ‘Modern Times’ from the 1930s, in which Charlie Chaplin becomes a victim of the restlessness of industrial processes. Thankfully, those days are over. Today, almost 100 years later, thanks to automation and digitalisation, we hardly have to work so hard anymore. Can we breathe a sigh of relief?

Not really! The restlessness remains, and we are still victims – now of digital processes. This makes the ancient film depressingly relevant.

Digitalisation pursues and threatens us in every corner of our existence. I therefore urge you to switch off your tablets from time to time, at least when you are on holiday.

As long as Sardinia was still an internet desert, this was pretty easy for me. Now that digital services are available everywhere, one could lament like Goethe's Gretchen: ‘My peace is gone, my heart is heavy, and I will never, ever find it again.’ However, I am not Gretchen, and to be honest, that would not be true: my peace may be ‘gone,’ but I wanted it that way. I voluntarily subjected myself to the compulsion of being constantly available and able to email and surf the internet at any time.

Because I know that this behaviour is mainstream, here are my Mephistophelean tips for the ultimate digital holiday in Sardinia:

You can let your food go cold for the first time on the crossing to Sardinia: there is Wi-Fi in the ferry's restaurant area! Once you arrive on the island, you will be delighted to find that municipalities such as Budoni have set up internet hotspots. You do need to register by providing your personal details or via your Facebook account, but what does that matter? Is there anything that Google and Zuckerberg don't already know?

At the Centro Servizi Tartaruga, they will be happy to explain what other options there are for accessing the internet. Of course, you can use your own smartphone to ‘take off’. However, depending on your tariff, this will incur nasty costs until 2017. However, you can also purchase access with a surf stick and an Italian prepaid card. To do this, you need an Italian tax number, which normal tourists do not have, but that doesn't matter either:

Centro Servizi Tartaruga has made provisions for Sardafit guests. You can order a mobile router there that works anywhere where the signal strength is sufficient, which is pretty much everywhere. The router is a simple, battery-powered device that, like a mobile phone, establishes an internet connection via the mobile phone signal and distributes it via WLAN to up to 5 end devices (laptop, mobile phone, tablet).

Sardafit guests can obtain the router – while available – for a rental fee of €5 at our local office. The Centro Servizi Tartaruga is located on the main street Via Nazionale, in the centre of Budoni.

Centro Servizi Tartaruga
Via Nazionale 168
08020 Budoni
Tel: +39 0784 844173
Fax: +39 0784 844506
Email: mail@tartaruga.org

All you need to do is insert a SIM card into the router and you're ready to go.

Up-to-date tips on this topic can be conveniently accessed via smartphone, tablet or PC at www.sardafit-info.com. (Of course, you will also find lots of other useful information on this informative website).

Last but not least, it's worth mentioning that many restaurants and bars have Wi-Fi and are happy to give Sardafit guests the password thanks to an agreement.

I immediately notice when one of the recipients of this gift is tapping away on their device at the Tavernetta and forgetting about the delicious dishes. But please, don't curse digitalisation! After all, internet access can also be used for good. You can use it to keep your children happy, which has the added benefit of giving you time to enjoy a leisurely, undisturbed Sardinian meal. Then everyone is happy and nothing gets cold!

With a Sardinian ‘Adiosu’, I bid you farewell for today.

Joachim Waßmann