Summertime travel can be stressful, but there are ways to minimize any potential woes, particularly when it comes to tech.
Tech expert Avery Swartz spoke with CTV Your Morning on Friday to share how eSim cards, downloading content and tracking your devices can help make your travel adventure a lot less stressful.
Invest in an eSim card
While Canadian phone carriers provide international roaming rates for people travelling abroad, they can charge up to $20 a day, which quickly adds up. Swartz recommends setting up an eSim card, which is similar to a SIM card, except it’s downloaded and installed onto your device before you leave.
“When you get to your destination, you just turn your phone on, and it works,” she said, adding that some plans go for as low as $40 for an entire week.
Photograph important documents
Swartz strongly recommends taking photos of all your important documents, like passports, flight information and hotel bookings. While it helps to keep those photos on your phone, she also suggests to keep it somewhere else you can access off your phone, as well as sharing the photos with someone.
She also recommends securing the photos somewhere like DropBox or WhatsApp, which has end to end encryption.
“If you’re at the consulate, it’s the middle of the night, you don’t have your passport, at least you could bring up a picture of it,” she said.
Track your phone
It’s not unheard of to lose or have your phone stolen when travelling abroad. Swartz strongly suggests setting up Find My app on Apple phones, which tracks the location of the device.
If the phone has been stolen, or dropped into the ocean, logging into iCloud, or Android.com, will lock it remotely.
Download everything
If you want to keep entertained during your travels, or want to know exactly where you are, Swartz recommends downloading shows, podcasts and maps onto your devices, before you leave.
“Even in Google Maps, type in any destination, and then there’s a little button that says, download offline map,” she said.
Don’t pack batteries in checked luggage
Swartz stressed that if you are travelling with lithium batteries, which include power bank portable chargers, be sure to pack it in your carry-on luggage.
“A lot of airlines also are not even allowing you to put them in the overhead bins,” she said. “You have to have them at your seat.”
Swartz added that airlines might not allow you to use a power bank on the flight, so be sure to charge your device beforehand.
