A day at a Dutch theme park without a smartphone

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I spent the day at Efteling, and we decided to leave our iPhones at home. For me, this was nothing new, but for him, it was.

In the car, my boyfriend started having some doubts:

“But what if someone needs to reach us?”
I have my flip phone in my bag. They can call me.

“And how will we know the waiting times for the rides?”
We won't. We'll look at the signs. Good for our step count.

While waiting in line for Droomvlucht, we looked around and noticed just how many people were staring at their screens. Even parents whose children had already asked them 10 times to watch the amazing somersault they were doing over the queue barrier. No judgment, just an observation.

At the end of the day, I asked my boyfriend if he'd missed anything without his smartphone. His answer: absolutely nothing.

We were fully present all day and came up with our own games to pass the time while waiting in line.

During a game of 'Dutch cities starting with the letter...' it was surprisingly difficult not being able to Google whether there was one starting with J. But it was also fun to actually think about it for a little longer instead of immediately turning to our good friend ChatGPT.

(When we got home, we looked it up anyway: Julianadorp.)

I can definitely recommend spending a day without your smartphone! Just make sure you're prepared beforehand. Bring your debit card, figure out your route in advance and make sure you have anything else you'd normally rely on your phone for.

Do you also want to be less tied to your phone? Then do the 7-day Offline Reset. Click here to read more about this guide.

Here are two more fun snapshots from the flip phone. Yes, with the accompanying potato quality.