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One of the most important things about traveling is that you’re leaving your comfort zone. Now, if you’re reading a self-help book, this sounds ideal, but in the real world, a comfort zone is called that for a reason. It means that you’re in a place that you’re fully accustomed to (fully comfortable with), and leaving it means facing new and unique challenges. The further away you travel, the more challenging it becomes.
Best Tips & Tools to Plan Your Trip
Fortunately, in the modern world, you can always turn to technology for help. With that in mind, here are the top five apps you shouldn’t travel abroad without.
1. Offline Navigation and Transportation Apps
You need a way to get around, and you need it to be as reliable as possible. The best thing about navigation is that it helps you find where you want to be, and it even updates you on the traffic changes as they develop. The problem is that you get so reliant on it that you won’t even bother to memorize the path you’re taking.
So, what happens when you have no internet connection? While some would suggest having a physical map on you, this is a bit of an overkill and an unnecessary complication. Why not just download an offline navigation app instead?
The difference between an offline navigation app and a physical map is that it’s more compact and on a device that you have in your pocket in advance. Now, the reason why we’re listing it as an app you need to download in advance is mostly because it can help you with preparation, and you need to make sure that it’s updated for these scenarios when you’re out of the internet.
The simplest way to get around, however, is to get a transportation or ride-sharing app. This way, you can tell the location to someone who actually knows their way around.
2. VPN
While traveling abroad, you’re likely to learn that the internet is not always the same. There are some areas where you cannot access certain types of content or engage in certain online activities. Even the search results will take into consideration your current location (as a part of a broader context), which means that it will feed you different results than you would receive if you were to look up that exact same thing back home.
The best way to negate this geographical bias and avoid these geo-restrictions is to download a mobile VPN and use it on your travels.
Tech specialist Nick Saraev from Techopedia emphasizes the importance of checking the app version for your OS. Even among the top mobile VPNs, there are some slight differences between app versions. Therefore, going through a few comprehensive reviews and even making some comparisons might help.
Moreover, during your journeys, you’re more likely to connect to an unknown network and engage in all sorts of risky behavior. By hiding your IP and giving you an extra layer of encryption, a VPN will help keep you a lot safer.
At the same time, VPN can help you even while you’re back home, seeing as how it will allow you to book a room while avoiding pricing biases.
3. Conversational and Translation App
You can’t always rely on the fact that you speak decent English since you never know how proficient the other party is. Even in tourist hotspots, many people just can’t speak fluently enough, which can make communication incredibly difficult.
Fortunately, there’s a way around this.
First, you can try learning a few key phrases in the local language, mostly using a conversational app to facilitate the process. This way, you’ll be able to ask for directions, inquire about basic services, and even exchange some pleasantries that will earn you some extra points with the local populace.
You can also get a translation app. Most people have problems with these translation apps because they tried using them a few years back, and the results were less than stellar. The problem is that these were translation apps before modern AI and NLP technologies.
With modern technological progress, these apps are incredibly accurate and work in real-time. This will enable the flow of conversation to have a level of accuracy and reliability never seen before. It will also erase the language barrier and ensure much smoother communication while traveling.
Even the default Google Translate is quite sophisticated; however, you might also want to explore your options and find something you like more.
4. Budgeting App
The more factors you budget in, the better. However, it’s hard to track your spending while abroad. First of all, you’ll likely have to calculate in a different currency, and even if it’s round numbers, it’s harder to understand exactly how much you’re spending.
Moreover, during your vacation, you likely have a higher spending tolerance. This is fine, but it’s easy to see how it can get out of control. With a budgeting app, you’ll have a much easier time keeping these things in check.
It’s also important to keep in mind that you’ll likely still have some expenses from back home. Sure, you may not use as much electricity for your power bill, but your subscriptions will still be coming through. All of this comes from the same wallet, regardless of the fact that you don’t see it as a travel expense.
Moreover, if you have some habits that involve spending money, like buying video games on a sale (a Steam sale that took place amidst your trip) or wagering on anonymous casinos, this is something that you should figure out. Generally speaking, the more features you involve, the better.
5. Fitness App
You would be surprised at how many calories you’ve spent during a regular day of travel. You’re always on the move, much more than you expect. At the same time, you’re away from your regular gym and home gym equipment. The only way to track your progress, or how far down you are, is actually to use such a tool. In other words, a fitness app is handier than you think.
Tracking calories while having an irregular eating schedule is incredibly difficult. Now, add to this the fact that you’re eating dishes that you’re not necessarily familiar with. Even if you’re not a CICO fanatic, chances are that you have a rough idea of how many calories each of the meals you eat contain. This won’t be the case abroad.
One of these nutrition apps could even save your life. After all, you’re taking a photo before you start eating, and the OCR is so advanced that it might actually recognize that a meal contains an ingredient that you’re allergic to. Just keep in mind that while this may be the case, you shouldn’t rely on the app for this. If you have any severe food allergies, you need to ask about the ingredients and pay special attention.
Having the Right Set of Apps Can Make Travel Planning So Much Easier
The bottom line is that you already use your phone all the time; however, you need to acknowledge the fact that you may be using it suboptimally. While at home, this doesn’t make that much of a difference, but traveling can save you a lot of time and money and increase the overall quality of your trip. Most of these apps are completely free, and even those that are not are worth the cost.
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