Maps, travel guides, train and bus tickets, personal documents and many other information are often kept by experienced travelers.
Instead of having to carry a bunch of documents like before, today, tourists only need a smartphone to carry most of the necessary documents and information for their journey to explore the world. If you know how to select and organize the data of your trip, tourists can save a lot of time, money and effort by taking advantage of smartphones.
Reader Trinh Hang (over 40 years old, Hanoi), a frequent traveler in and out of the country, shares her experience.
Maps, travel guides
Unlike novice travelers, experienced travelers will not completely rely on navigation apps (smartphone applications) but always have map files available in their phones. Navigation apps will be useful when you need to go from point A to point B, but they do not provide an overview of the schedule for the whole day or many days, not to mention many apps also give wrong instructions, causing tourists to go astray. On the contrary, maps are very useful when you want to narrow down some tourist areas or choose a route with many suitable destinations.
Most famous tourist cities in the world design a variety of maps to serve tourists: heritage maps, nature discovery maps, maps of famous architectural works, works of art, maps of trains, buses, waterways... Looking at these documents, tourists can easily find suggestions for attractions according to their own interests.
Similarly, travel guides are a guide for tourists to choose interesting experiences, grasp the address, ticket prices, opening hours and basic information of the place they want to visit. This document also often provides suggestions for the needs of each group of tourists, such as spiritual tourism, shopping, adventure, ecology. Instead of having to "swim" in the sea of vague information on the internet, tourists can download the guidebook to their phone, which is a reliable reference source that can be carried anywhere, anytime, even when there is no internet access.
Tickets to visit the Palace of Versailles, Paris, electronic form. Visitors only need to save the ticket in their phone, no need to print it out, and no need to queue to buy paper tickets. Photo: Trinh Hang
Flight tickets, train tickets, hotel reservations
Most airlines and trains now have electronic tickets. Travelers just need to save the file on their phones. Popular booking applications also provide booking files with all the necessary information. Except for cases of immigration requirements as regulated by customs, most travelers are encouraged to limit printing of train and bus tickets and booking forms, both to protect the environment and to save costs.
Popular attractions are also now tending to sell tickets online and allowing visitors to use photo or pdf tickets, just open the phone screen and scan the barcode or QR code at the entrance, sometimes accompanied by the presentation of personal documents (passport, ID). Taking advantage of this, professional travelers can buy tickets and book online weeks before departure, saving a lot of time queuing to buy paper tickets, and even get priority to enter before those holding paper tickets.
Photos of destinations
In many places, especially when there is a language barrier, asking for directions is not easy as it is difficult for tourists and locals to communicate. Instead, just open the photo available on your phone, the locals will understand where you need to go, and can quickly assist. Especially taxi and motorbike drivers can look at the photo to take you to the tourist attractions, avoiding misunderstandings due to poor communication.
When traveling to countries that do not use the Latin alphabet (Japan, China, Cambodia, Arabic), visitors can save the name and address of the tourist attraction in two languages: English and the local language. This will be very useful when you need to ask for information from the locals.
Trending apps at the destination
There are apps that you may have never heard of, but are popular and useful when traveling in a certain country or city. This is when you should set aside a portion of your phone memory to install these apps to best serve your trip.
Many cities have developed apps that specialize in public transportation, tourist attractions, or local cuisine. Some places do not use Facebook or Zalo, but instead use WhatsApp, Viber, or Wechat as communication tools. Most airlines and shipping lines have also developed their own apps for travelers to track their schedules, check in or buy extra checked baggage, buy hot meals, or change their departure date. These apps can effectively support you throughout your trip, and do not take up too much space on your phone.
The information saved in the phone will help tourists more conveniently when they need to ask locals. Photo: Trinh Hang
Photo, personal documents, contact information
To prevent incidents when traveling, buying insurance is not enough, experienced travelers often save files of all necessary personal documents of themselves and their companions such as ID photos, passports, ID cards, birth certificates and contact information of relatives.
If you travel abroad, save the phone numbers of the Vietnamese embassy or consulate there, as well as the emergency phone numbers of the cities you will pass through (police, medical, fire). In case you need help, this information will help resolve the problem much faster.
Organize data in your phone
Each trip, tourists can use dozens to hundreds of different data files. Experienced people often organize trip data into independent folders. This helps the process of searching and using information quickly, conveniently and avoids confusion.
For example, if you go to three cities in Japan: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, you can create three corresponding folders. Each folder will have 4-5 sub-folders: hotels, train tickets, sightseeing tickets, maps and guidebooks. At the same time, you should also back up these folders online, in case your phone has problems, you can still use another device to retrieve the files and use them. Please remember to protect your personal information in any case.
Trinh Hang
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