Some few years back, the thought of travelling to somewhere new was met with a lot of uncertainty because a lot of things had to be done manually and in person. Now with technology creeping into every avenue of our lives, things are getting easier. This makes people want to travel more because they can do everything in advance and track the progress of their bookings online. We had talked about how you can make your trip fun using technology and now we look at how technology has made travel easier.
In the trip planning phase one needs to make sure they have all the information about a place they wish to visit. Due to that, apps like Kayak and Priceline allow travellers to compare prices between different airlines and the cost of the hotels. Websites like TripAdvisor also come in handy when one is doing research mainly because of the user reviews of the places and what sites are worth visiting.
After doing all the research you need you can book almost anything online, flights, hotels, tour groups, restaurant slots and many more. This enables the traveller cut up on the time they would have used to go to a hotel and find that there are no vacancies or the only vacancies remaining are of rooms no one wants. With this kind of luxury, a traveller feels more calm because they know where they are going to sleep, who will be driving them around town or in the park and where they can have a meal.
Sometimes when you travel to some countries everyone tells you a manner of things about the country. Public transport is horrible; walking at certain times of the night is risky etc. This is why services like Uber, MyTaxi and EasyTaxi are welcome options for moving around. I have only used Uber and I really liked how you can actually see who the driver is and what car he will be driving. You can also see how far away he is from picking you. We all know that taxi drivers are the most reliable people to ask for directions and they can get you anywhere you want as long as you have the money of course.
Wanting to show the beautiful place you are at is something that comes with being human. No one wants to share photos of their five days in Zanzibar a week after they left Zanzibar! You want everyone at home and all your social media followers to be green with envy when they see you sipping on that tropical concoction in a tall glass, lying on the beach with palm trees overhead. This can only be achieved when your phone and/ or tablet are on. That is why portable chargers aka Power banks are a welcome invention. You just have to carry them charged up and depending on how much power it stores, you can charge your phone up to four times.
Where would you like to travel? For some funny reason after replying with Hawaii for so long I changed to Indonesia. I do not know the language and would be totally lost if I went there. For any traveller having Google Translate when visiting a place that does not use the same language you do makes things much easier. The road signs and the shops will be written in the language of the locals and you will need to translate them if you want to know where you are going. This is a very huge convenience to have as it also cuts down in the time you would use trying to ask for the meaning of signs from people who do not understand you.
Technology has also brought books closer to the book lovers through eBooks. You can read your favorite books during the road trip when everyone else is sleeping or having karaoke in the car. Instead of carrying three books that you would read during your trip, you only have to carry a phone, a phone that you will not have borrowed and not returned. This reduces the size and weight of your luggage by a very significant number.
Now you don’t even have to go to your travel agent to book tickets. Many of them have a portal where you can book your air tickets and accommodation online. If you don’t want to use a travel agent you can still purchase air tickets directly or book your accommodation directly on the hotel website.
Travel insurance used to be a process but now you can also get your insurance chap just before you travel. There is travel insurance one that you can buy from the comfort of your desk or mobile. It is no longer necessary to meet an agent to complete your transactions.
Technology has been used for both good and bad but it has mostly made travel less stressful. It has become a convenience for frequent travellers and also helps the first-time traveller a lot in planning and also on the go.
