Category: Uncategorized

It’s easy to get a bit side-tracked when planning your trip overseas. Daydreaming about those laid-back balmy beach days or cosy winter nights, can mean that the tedious task of meticulous planning is often left on the backburner.

Go the extra mile by taking the following into account to ensure that your plans run relatively incident-free.

Do you have all the necessary documents?
Is your passport and visa packed? Life has a way of being unpredictable and as Murphy would have it, often with catastrophic consequences. Sigh. Rather play it safe – make a few copies of your documents and keep them close by.

Do you have all the necessary accessories?
We know: things like batteries and alarm clocks don’t make the cut on your list of things to get excited about. However, make sure that you pack them along with the right plugs and adapters, suitable for the country you’re travelling to. Double check that you have locks for your luggage, and even your backpack or travel bag that you’ll carry with you on your daily outings.

Do you have travel insurance?
Are you covered against baggage loss, flight cancellations, and medical emergencies, to name but a few? Get comprehensive travel insurance to ensure that you enjoy a hassle-free holiday.

Is your electronic ticket printed out?
Your e-ticket is usually available 24 hours after confirmation of your booking. You need to present this, along with your passport when you check-in at the airport.

Do you have sufficient travel money?
Getting stuck without money in a foreign country is not how most of us wish to spend our days. Double check with your local bank beforehand to ensure that you have enough cash and credit. Have money on hand in the correct currency for when you land – maybe you’ll need to catch a cab or grab a quick bite. You can always top-up later when needed.

Did you double check your flight status and departure date and time?
Go over your booking again. Make sure your flight is at 09:00 and not 19:00. Oversights happen – especially when you’re under a lot of pressure to get things done. At times flights are delayed, mostly due to the weather, so if you’re travelling in winter, carry a warm blanket, jacket and blow-up pillow with you. The wait can be long and exorbitant.

Did you double check your transport for when you land?
Are you taking a cab or is someone picking you up? If someone is picking you up from the airport, confirm the time with them before you leave.

Did you double check your accommodation booking?
Again, call ahead before you leave. You don’t want to be left out in the cold in another country, or pay thousands for alternative accommodation. Confirm your check-in and check-out times with the place or places you’ll be staying at.

Did you check the weather forecast and pack accordingly?
The weather is subject to change, but you can at least get a feel for what the days and nights will be like. If you’re travelling in summer, be sure to pack warm clothes too as the evenings can oftentimes be chilly. Winter calls for coats, boots, jerseys, raincoats, scarves, and beanies. Go prepared.

Ticking the above points off your list is probably the least fun part of planning. However, it’s a necessary evil if you want to go the distance to ensure that your travel plans run smoothly. Enduring the administrative bore now means you’ll have more time to enjoy your holiday later!

If You Don’t Speak the Language let Google Translate

Google Translate(free on iOS and Android). This app can help you overcome some foreign language obstacles. Its simplest feature is the text-translation system— you type in text in a foreign language and Google will give you the English translation, or you type in English what you want to say in another language and Google will show you the foreign text to use.

Google Translate also has a spoken-word feature, where it will listen to someone speaking in, say, French, and show the translated text in English on the screen. This can be unreliable, depending on the noisiness of the environment.

A very handy feature of Google Translate is its camera-based translation. To use this, place text printed in a foreign language in front of your phone’s camera, and on the screen, you’ll see a live image with the words automatically replaced in English. This tool is particularly helpful for reading restaurant menus.

This requires data and can be invaluable when you are out  and about so you may want to buy a little extra data if you will be out and about in a foreign country.

Bring Along a WiFi Router and Create a Hotspot for the Whole Family

Bring along an inexpensive WiFi router.  With a WiFi router and a local SIM, you can share a data package among your family. Everyone will have the connectivity and convenience of the internet as you travel and tour around.  Use it for directions, Whatsapp, Skype, Factetime, WiFi calling, etc.  You will need a separate SIM with a data package for the router.  Most likely you will still want a another local SIM with voice for making local calls but you will not need extra data  this SIM.

When travelling alone, waiting at the airport can be a dull experience to say the least! There is only so much duty free shopping one can do before you are beyond bored.
Cue the entry of Btrfly Lounge:

Get App here

“btrfly connects air travellers in real-time and real life. You can chat and meet up with people travelling on the same flight – or someone just passing through the same airport. Create your own profile, then simply check in with your flight number to see who else is heading your way, browse traveler profiles, request connections, and share your travel experiences. Make flying more social today – with btrfly.”

It is a great way to connect with other travellers on the same flight and the possibilities are endless, share a cab, get someone into a business lounge or just hook up for a coffee or drink, or arrange to sit together on the flight.

App is available on iOS and Android.

Update Your Phone’s Contact List with Places and People you Intend to Visit

Whether you are using your regular phone or a travel phone, make sure to add the phone numbers and address of the places (hotels, restaurants, friends, business associates, airlines) and people you plan on visiting to your contacts or address book. 

This will make calling and using maps easier (no need to look up numbers or google for contact details while you are traveling).

If you are planning on calling outside of the USA, make sure those numbers have the country code as part of their phone number.

If you on a multi destination journey it can be stressful trying to manage airline tickets, hotel reservation confirmation forms so why not let technology make it easier by using an app?

Free programs and apps like Tripit can make building your itinerary with related details (address, phone number, rate, confirmation number, flight details, dates, etc.) easy.  You can let the app read your email or just forward emails to Tripit (or similar apps) once you have an account.  The app will self-populate your itinerary.  No need to hunt around for the details while you are on the go.

Check it out here https://www.tripit.com

Choosing a restaurant when travelling can be daunting, you don’t want to be spending your travel time (and money) on poor experiences. There are a variety of apps that provide great reviews on restaurants. Try these when travelling around the USA.

While traveling in the USA, Yelp has a good website and apps are available for iOS and Android. Or you could try OpenTable – it’s a great way to get the opinions of the locals when choosing a restaurant or other venues.  We’ve found them very reliable (look for a high number of reviews and stars). OpenTable also lets you makes reservations online.  TripAdvisor is also an excellent source but Yelp and OpenTable are used by the locals.

The trick when using these type of apps is to try gauge the quality of the reviewers and look for restaurants that respond to reviews, it shows they care.

Trying to explain where you are in a foreign city can be very confusing for everyone.  Also great for your family if you are going out for a walk, run, etc. 

Most of us use Whatsapp, and it’s simple enough to share your location via the app – another alternative if you are traveling or meeting others is Glympse, which is also a free app. Just remember sharing locations and using apps consume data so always ensure you have a local data bundle.

When travelling in a new city, it is often difficult to find your way and when you get lost always great to be able to open Google maps and re-orientate yourself and get back on track.

However mobile data roaming is expensive, and taking that path can end up costing you. I was travelling in Thailand in 2012 (before you could download offline maps) and we got lost trying to find a restaurant called Nikki Beach in Koh Samui (we had followed the websites directions but kept going around in circles) and ultimately I opened up Google Maps using roaming data to navigate us the last few miles. Lets just say the data usage cost me more than my lunch.

Google now allows you to download an area offline which will remain cached in your phone for 30 days.  

Most maps are 40-60 MB in size. To download an offline area, simply open Google Maps, type in the city /areas name in the search bar and once the area has loaded, hit the menu key (three horizontal lines on the left of the search bar), select “Offline Area” hit the + key at the bottom of the screen to add.

Offline Area’s will only download on a Wifi Connection.

See the detailed help article on Google Support on how to use Google maps offline

While there is free wifi at many hotels, coffee shops, the service can be slow and is not necessarily secure.  Having extra high speed data on your phone can save time and frustration.  In the case of some hotels that charge for wifi, using your phone’s data (if you are using a local sim with a data bundle loaded) will also save you money.  

If you’re at a hotel that charges for wifi don’t forget that you can use your phone as a personal hotspot to support your computer or tablet.

Most restaurants in the USA have free wifi, just ask your waitron for the details.