Cheap Ways to Stay in Touch With Home While Traveling
If you’re someone who likes to travel for longer than the average 2 week vacation, there’s no doubt that one of the most challenging things you’ll face is staying in touch with people back home.
The simple fact is, to continually travel the world you sacrifice the majority of your pre existing relationships. Even if you’re close with your family and friends, it’s very easy to lose contact when you’re in completely different locations.
After-all, you’re busy traveling, they’re busy with their stuff, and without even realizing it, you end up missing out on milestones and momentous occasions because you’re on the other side of the world, in a different time zone.
But staying in touch doesn’t have to be expensive, and with tech nowadays it’s actually very easy to keep in contact.
read moreHow To Get More Out Of Netflix When Traveling
Everyone enjoys some Netflix and chill, and there’s nothing like rolling into a hotel, tired after a long journey, and putting on a couple of shows while you get some rest.
Whether you’ve had a lazy day at the beach, or a dream day between waterfalls and temples in Bali, having access to home comforts while traveling is quite the luxury. However, due to the geo-restrictions imposed on Netflix, your viewing experience is going to vary wildly from one country to the next.
In many nations, you could login to find that your favorite shows are just gone. And, if you think finding a movie is hard back home; imagine suddenly having a catalog that is up to 90% smaller. It happens.
Thankfully, there is a solution!
No matter how small the local catalog is, you can “spoof” your location to another country to increase the number of options. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an online service that permits you to switch your IP address to any country you like.
As soon as you use a VPN to pretend to be in a different country, you can watch the larger Netflix catalog! So, which locations have the smallest catalogs? And where is it a good idea to pretend to be instead?
read more7 Useful Apps Every Traveler Should Have on Their Phone
Vacay! V-A-C-A-Y! There’s a smartphone app for everything these days, and when it comes to travel, our phones have become like our own personalized travel agents.
From finding flights, to accessing real time translations, they’ve become a one stop shop for everything we need to search for, book, and enjoy our holidays.
But if you browse through the travel section of the app store, you’ll find thousands of useful apps, and obviously, these aren’t all going to fit on your phone! So, to help you out we’ve narrowed it down to the 7 we find the most useful.
Here are 7 useful travel apps you should download … every traveler should have these on their phone!
read moreApps That Work With in-Flight WiFi
Did you know that as of last year, 82 airlines provide some form of in-flight WiFi?
In-flight WiFi is becoming a necessity for airlines to compete in today’s market, and even small carriers such as Air Astana from Kazakhstan, Air Côte d’Ivoire from Ivory Coast, and Air Mauritius are getting in on the WiFi game.
Fortunately, airlines are also working on improving their current technology to improve internet speeds in a way that makes it possible to use almost any app during your flight.
When Routehappy measured global in-flight WiFi last year, they found that 57% of flights offer strong enough WiFi to browse the internet, but only 16% provide fast enough WiFi for full video streaming and speeds comparable to your connection at home.
With that in mind, the next time you’re on a flight with WiFi, here are the best apps to use regardless of your airline.
read more5 Gadgets Frequent Travelers Use
You can spot a frequent traveler from miles away. They’re the ones that know how to score an upgrade, always pack a portable phone charger, and somehow manage to appear fresh after a 10 hour flight.
Frequent travelers have an easier time traveling, because their experience means they know which useful gadgets to use. Having the right technology with you can greatly enhance a trip, though with so much technology these days, the trouble is often knowing which gadgets to invest in.
So, if you’re struggling to narrow down your tech list, the following are must-have gadgets that frequent travelers use, along with the travel style that they best suit.
read moreHow to Stay Cyber-Safe While Travelling
Whether you’re a digital nomad, business traveller, or simply using the internet while on vacation, travelling abroad poses a unique set of cyber-security threats to internet users.
Those who travel for business are the most vulnerable since they usually carry a variety of sensitive information on their laptops, smartphones, and other devices.
However, even if you’re simply using open Wi-Fi connections while travelling abroad (ie connecting at hotels, airports, or cafes), it’s important to understand that there are still many risks involved with using public internet sources.
read more5 Ways Prepaid Phones Can Save You Money When Traveling
When traveling internationally, many cellphone providers charge high rates to cover roaming fees. Sending a text or checking emails quickly becomes a costly expense for travelers.
Many people think that the only ways to avoid paying massive bills is to leave their cellphones at home. But if the thought of living without your smartphone while you travel makes you want to scream, don’t despair.
Many cellphone providers offer affordable options to help you stay connected no matter where you are in the world. Learn about the following five ways prepaid phones can save you money when traveling.
read moreHow Live Streaming is Transforming the Travel Industry
One of the most significant marketing trends for the travel and tourism sector in 2018 is live streaming. The technology has evolved as such that anyone with a smartphone device can reach out to viewers and possible visitors and provide a fresh perspective on holiday destinations, accommodations and all kinds of travel experiences.
MO’s prediction on 2018 social media trends states that the live streaming market could be worth over $70 billion by 2021, with four-fifths (80%) of consumers preferring to watch a live video than any other form of social content.
Travel agents, airline operators, holiday resorts and any other type of tourism brands must jump on the live streaming bandwagon before being left behind.
read moreHow I Relearnt Japanese With Rosetta Stone (The Best Way to Learn Japanese)
I typically don’t live life with regrets, though if I was pushed to name one regret, it would be not being able to speak a foreign language.
Especially since I used to be able to.
And to be honest it’s quite embarrassing. Being in a foreign country where the locals are making all the effort to speak in English and I can’t string a sentence together in theirs.
Telling people that yes, I did learn Japanese in High school, but now it’s all but disappeared.
So on my most recent trip to Japan I decided that enough was enough. I was done with feeling ashamed and guilty that I hadn’t put the effort into retaining Japanese as a second language, and I wanted to replace that with a feeling of pride at being able to thrive in real world conversations.
I told myself I wasn’t going to travel with a portable translator, and a couple of months before I left I downloaded Rosetta Stone on my desktop and phone.
read moreTravel Apps You May Not Have Realized You Need
When we think of useful travel apps we think of browsing the app store and downloading something useful to our phone.
And certainly, nowadays there are apps for just about everything; flight schedules, money journals, foreign language translations – there’s something to meet every traveler’s need.
There are many mainstream apps that almost everyone has; social media apps for staying connected, perhaps online banking to stay on top of your bills while you’re overseas. But by the same token, there are also a range of apps that will make your life easier, that you may not have realized you need!
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