I absolutely love going places, such as Cuba or even remote national parks stateside, that afford an opportunity to unplug for a while. That being said, technology is usually available while traveling, so it might as well be used to help make travel easier! Here are few travel hacks to help make your next adventure go smoother that we implemented before our recent jaunt to Greece.
Browsing on Phone in Shop
Forget INTERNATIONAL PHONE PLANS!
We decided to make the switch from Verizon to TMobile mainly because of their Simple Choice Plan. It offers unlimited data and texting internationally in over 120 countries worldwide. Even though it was slow at times in Greece, it was so convenient to be able to browse, text, use maps, and post to social media when we wanted and not rely on Wi-Fi. If you’re renting a car, I’d still recommend downloading an offline map app such as MAPS.ME as a backup in case you have issues with your signal. As you can tell from the photo above, it came in handy so my husband could browse while we were shopping at the sandal shop in Athens!
Charging on the Go
Given how much we used our phones because we could, our iPhone batteries went fast! But we were prepared because we bought a portable charger to take along with us when we were out and about. I think it’s even a nice travel accessory to bring along for domestic trips since it’s often hard to find places to charge while you’re waiting in the airport, traveling for business, or taking in the sights while being a tourist.
Banking
While many banks offer special accounts that don’t charge international ATM fees, Charles Schwab is great because their normal checking account comes with no ATM fees worldwide! Additionally we’ve been really impressed with the quality of service we received from them so far.
Hopefully these tips will make your next trip a little easier and perhaps even a bit cheaper so you can travel more often! Happy trip planning, friends!
If you don’t have T-mobile and you don’t want to switch your plan at home, I also found that purchasing a SIM card in the local country is an effective and much more inexpensive way than getting an International plan to get data (and local text and calls). With the iphone your messages will be over data to other iphone users so you can message them anytime however your number will change so you’ll have to let the people you are messaging know your new number. If they don’t have an iphone and you have Google Voice or Google Hangout you can use the data to communicate that way. It is not as seemless as the T-mobile route but is a very good alternative. I use the data to use Google Maps and plan train and bus travel times and routes and Trip Advisor to find restaurants and things to do. For a month in the UK on the Labara plan with 5G of data it was only 14 pounds-way less than I even pay at home. Thanks for the Great Hacks!!