How to Use Technology to Enhance Your Future Travels
How to Use Technology to Enhance Your Future Travels
Technology has a huge influence on the things we regularly do, including travelling. According to a survey conducted by TripAdvisor, about 45% of travellers now prefer to use their smartphones for a majority of the tasks that relate to their vacations. Indeed, for many of today’s jet-setters, it’s like second nature to use tech to learn about a destination and to finalise arrangements for transport, accommodation, shopping, and dining.
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| How to Use Technology to Enhance Your Future Travels |
Whether you already count yourself among this population or you’ve only recently become more tech-curious, there are many more ways that tech can improve your upcoming travel adventures. How can you use these tools to make travel even smoother and more pleasant than it already is? This short guide will fill you in on some of the ways.
Make Instant Bookings Online
Many online portals are now virtual one-stop shops that facilitate instant access to a variety of services. For example, travellers to Singapore will find out everything they need to know about booking a Singapore Changi airport hotel through Jewel Changi Airport’s official website, and it will take just a few minutes to process a room reservation.
Even if you’re now used to booking services online, don’t rule out what else you can do today through services providers online, be it traveller-facing government agencies, airline companies, airports, travel agencies, retailers, and more. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised about how much you can achieve on their websites compared to before.
Familiarise Yourself with Travel-Related IoT Tool
Another neat development in travel technology is the increasing availability of the Internet of Things or IoT products and services. You may already rely on IoT in your home or workplace through devices like smart TVs, smartwatches, and other digital machines. But now it’s possible to utilise IoT technologies for travel, for example by buying smart luggage items and tracking their exact locations from the time you board to the time you arrive in another airport.
In the near future, you may also encounter IoT technologies in places like your hotel or resort. Some facilities are already using smart networks to allow guests to adjust their room thermostat or turn on their TVs without needing to operate an extra remote control. If you can afford to stay in such places, consider trying them out to get a glimpse of how they can make your trips in the future more special
Use GPS to Be Your Own Tour Guide
If you’re the type of traveller who wants to navigate a place by themselves, you may want to switch out physical maps for a GPS (Global Positioning System) map. It’s easier than ever to find your place and to orient yourself towards a particular location using this satellite-based tool that requires nothing more than your tablet or smartphone.
GPS-based apps like Google Maps and Waze have only improved over time, as they now feature tools that not only point travellers and commuters to the right direction but also help them get to their destinations in the fastest and most efficient manner possible. From real-time road obstruction reports to up-to-the second estimates of train and bus arrivals, these GPS-based maps provide a wealth of information and convenience that was never possible with paper maps.
Take Advantage of the Features on Language and Translation Apps
Tech can also help you practise a new language and overcome language barriers in your chosen destination. Being on a language app like Duolingo can help you learn basic phrases in a foreign tongue ahead of your trip. Your trip may be all the better if you get to converse with locals and tell them exactly what you need in their language.
What if, for example, you’re travelling to a country with a different alphanumeric system? Doing so may be less daunting if you download a translation app that can use your phone camera to scan foreign characters. In an instant, you’ll be able to decipher characters on documents, road signs, and product labels in your mother tongue.
There are also apps whose speech recognition features can translate spoken phrases in real time. These will come in handy when you and another party have a hard time pronouncing or summoning a vocabulary in each other’s language. Simply speak into your smart device’s microphone or allow the other party to do the same, and wait for the app to play back the translation through the speaker.
Experience Your Dream Destinations through Virtual and Augmented Reality
Lastly, you may be able to use augmented reality technologies to have virtual experiences of your dream destinations. The administrators of many world-renowned travel destinations have already invested in tools that leverage virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies to give travellers a taste of what they offer, even if the latter are far away or limited by constraints like COVID-19 restrictions.
Thanks to VR and AR, you may be able to get a close look at a tourist attraction you’ve always dreamed of visiting. The virtual experience may satisfy your wanderlust in the meantime, but it may get you even more excited to visit the attraction when you finally get the chance.
This is just a glimpse of what’s possible when technology intersects with travel. Look forward to discovering even more innovation the next time you fly out of the country, and jump at the chance to use more tech on your trip!
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