Featured image: With proper preparations, technology can be an incredibly helpful tool while traveling | Photo by shiwork on Envato

Four tips to help manage technology when you travel

by Diana Eden

The classic image of older people frustrated by the challenges of managing their travels online and feeling out of their league is common. Lack of control and feeling overwhelmed lead to feelings of being incompetent, causing a knee-jerk reaction of “I hate the internet.” One Journeywoman about to travel wrote me that “it felt as if technology was coming at me from all sides and sometimes with no instructions,” even though she is quite computer literate.

As I write from the perspective of an 82-year-old and for the 80-and-over travelers, I realize our generation are at the crossroads of being comfortable with technology. If they are mid-80s and retired 25 years ago, the use of computers may not have been part of their everyday work-life before retirement. They may not have even become familiar with basic computer vocabulary, so phrases like “enter the URL” sound pretty foreign.

For others, 20 years ago, technology had been integrated into daily work, and therefore, it does not seem so scary.

It is time to erase this ageist stereotype and give a little help to those in need of it so that everyone can benefit from the things the internet can do to assist us. Substitute a defeatist attitude with the empowering thought that if you can run a company, raise a family, and travel the world, you can certainly master a few keystrokes on this little machine!

Many years ago, someone told me that the computer answers to us, not the other way around. Our iPhone sometimes seems all-knowing, all-powerful, mocking our attempts to unlock its secrets. But it is, in fact, a machine that can only respond to what a human enters into it. Like a human, it does not like to be too hot, too long underwater, or dropped. It responds to our keystrokes. Once we understand that, it gives us back some control. It reminds me of the poor old circus elephant who was beaten for not responding to commands. Only when the ringmaster realized the previous trainer was Russian did he understand the elephant understood commands only if spoken to in Russian. We just need to learn the language.

When I travel, my two greatest fears are losing my phone and losing my passport. I witnessed a family member going through Gatwick Airport discover her passport was missing and realize she would not be able to make her overseaseas flight home that day. It’s a horrible feeling.

When we travel we are often tired and stressed. In airports, we have the disruptive requirement of removing jackets, shoes, belts, and scarves to go through security and relinquish, even for 30 seconds, our purses to the almighty radar tunnel. Then we must reassemble ourselves with inadequate spaces and no privacy and wonder if all the pieces are back in place. This is often where we are most likely to misplace something.

While you can keep all your information such as photos of your passport, itinerary and boarding pass ON your phone, your actual physical passport still needs to be shown in person. So it’s important to keep track of both your passport and your phone.

By the way, a photocopy of your passport is not the same as a passport, and therefore is not a valid travel document. You will not be allowed to travel using a photocopy to anywhere that requires a valid U.S. passport.

Tip 2: Same as Tip 1. Establish ONE place you will keep your phone and return it to this place no matter what.

Since your travel documents, itineraries, covid records, and so much more will be on your phone, it is imperative that you do not lose your phone. Guard it with your life! Again, until I am all the way to my destination or at least on the plane, I hang it around my neck.  This one is my favorite.

A friend of mine only feels comfortable when, in addition to the information stored on her phone, she has hard copies of all her important documents carefully hidden in both her checked luggage and her carry on luggage. I think that is an excellent idea: a Plan B always lends a sense of safety.

A Journeywoman I spoke to said she was afraid of running out of power before she was all the way on board. For reassurance and $30, she bought this as a backup source of power; iWalk small portable charger 4500mAh Ultra-Compact Power Bank. I plan to do the same. However, if you turn off the cellular data for many of your apps that you don’t need while traveling, you will save your battery power considerably.

For a printed copy to keep in your carry-on, Tripit will summarize everything for you to print.

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