Travelling Safely Whilst Staying Online
There’s a common thought amongst many regular travellers these days that as long as you have your wallet, your passport, and your phone, nothing else is really all that important as you can get by – but many people take their phone and their online connection for granted for time to time and can be caught out by surprises when using public networks whilst travelling, or by taking for granted what they may be able to use back home but not abroad. So, what should you keep in mind when you’re looking to travel without changing how you use your mobile device?
The first thing to be a little more wary of is public connections, whilst you may feel comfortable connecting up to the local Starbucks Wi-Fi when you’re at home and it has become known as a problemed area for some tourists abroad as hot spots in particular have been known to take advantage of this. It’s not uncommon to see restaurants and local bars for example have their own smartphone apps for ordering too but may direct you away from the established app marketplaces to get them and is yet another red flag that some travellers ignore in favour of simply getting online. You may be better off sticking to your own data connection, and if it isn’t an app on either the Play Store or Apple Marketplace, it may be better off to ignore it.
(Image from inews.co.uk)
Speaking of apps too, another big mistake made by some travellers is using the same apps they would at home, but there may be some differences to keep an eye on. Gaming favourites like these real money casinos have become extremely popular back home, but not all countries allow the use of games like these and they can land you in a spot of bother with the authorities if you’re not careful – similarly the use of other apps like VPN’s have grown in popularity too, but getting in trouble simply because you forgot to turn your VPN off isn’t worth it either so be sure to read up on the rules of whichever country you’re visiting ahead of time so that this won’t be a problem for you going forward.
For the most part, online safety whilst travelling is largely a matter of some common sense and doing a little due diligence ahead of time so you’re not caught out by a specific law or rule that could land you in trouble, being cautious of roaming charges is just part for the course although have in some regards become a thing of the past, and if you’re staying in a certain destination for a longer period of time, it may be worth just grabbing a cheaper phone without all of your personal information saved and a local number and using that during your trip, and could be something that saves a big headache later on.
