I’d packed my laptop, but because it wasn’t plugged into the giant pulsating brain of the world wide web, it felt dead — a portal to nothing. Emails didn’t ping up. I wasn’t able to log onto the half dozen websites I visit daily (sometimes hourly). I wasn’t able to chase down facts, wasn’t able to idly waste time drifting in and out of the more arcane corners of the net. I felt disconnected: my life-support system had been turned off.