When you’re out and about enjoying yourself, you tend to want to keep things simple and prepare yourself with effective and easy solutions. There’s often a push and pull between having non-digital solutions and digital solutions. “What if it doesn’t work?”, “What if I lose it?” “It’s just another thing to carry.” It’s a fine line.
It is usually a personal decision as to whether you favour analogue and digital solutions. It’s dependent on what you think you’ll need, where you’re going and what sort of access there is to a stable digital connection.
Here are a few digital solutions for travellers and hikers to consider:
E-wallets
Money is precious. This is no less true when you’re abroad or out on a hike. Either way, if you lose your cash, or the ability to access money, then you could be stuck or stranded. Having physical cash on you or a card for emergency situations is essential.
Being reliant on a purely digital solution for money is not advised. Digital solutions, though, should be considered as part of your travel money.
E-wallets are one such option. These come as apps or as hardware. Most of the major options are apps. These work like normal wallets, in that you can transfer money into them and use it to pay for things, deposit money, withdraw from, etc. They’re hugely popular across many industries, with punters heading to gambling sites like Casumo Betting and using them as well as online stores.
The apps offer quick transactions but, also – and this is important for those crossing borders – the money in the account can be immediately converted into another currency. It also offers greater security. With this method, you won’t have your personal bank account details stored anywhere.
Currency converters
There are apps and websites that make it easy to work out what things cost in another country by converting form your currency to the country you are travelling through. This makes it possible to stick to a budget and will prevent a nasty shock if something turns out to be a lot pricer than you thought when converting in your head.
Mobile wifi hotspot and power bank
For digital solutions, especially when hiking and in another country, battery and signal are obviously fundamental. Ensuring you have both of these bases covered is essential.
If you have a mobile contract which allows free roaming at no extra cost, which tends to be common, you may decide against the hotspot. However, you should note, public wifi may not be secure. T phone hotspot provides a secure and strong connection.
Power banks are self-explanatory really. But, nonetheless, should not be forgotten. How much power they store and how fast they charge are two key considerations. when choosing one for travel or a hike.
Mapping apps
There are lots of apps that are very useful for hikers. They operate through GPS and can be used when on-line and off-line. There are apps such as OS Maps, Viewranger, Strava and more.
Language apps
If you are travelling in a country with a different language, it’s really useful to have an app or access to a website that can assist with translation. It makes it easier to feel part of another culture or a country if you can understand some of what is being said and also try to communicate with other people, even at a basic level.
Safety
Finally, digital solutions for safety should be high on the list. This issue with these apps and all digital solutions is that they require internet connection (wifi or carrier). An app like Cairn is one example that travellers and hikers might consider.
It’s an app that you can input your location data, too, and then set a time that you will most definitely be home by. If you’re not home then the app, with or without internet connection, will let your emergency contacts know that you’re not home.