As technology continues to advance, it is transforming almost every facet of our lives, perhaps none more so than travel. With commercial flights as fast as they’ve ever been, air travel has never been faster or simpler, but there’s still plenty we can do to improve our travel experiences once we touch down. By utilizing the right technologies, you can plan your transportation to ensure the most seamless and enjoyable travel possible. Here, we’ll explain exactly how, highlighting a few simple ways to engage in tech-forward travel.
1. Plan ahead with an online booking platform
Trying to organize local ground transportation immediately after you land somewhere can be a mixed bag, to say the least. Sure, you might get lucky enough to grab a seat on a bus that’s just about to depart, but more likely you’ll end up waiting around much longer than you need due to all the confusion and pay higher prices than you’d like. To avoid all of that hassle, your best bet is to book your bus, ferry, or train tickets online ahead of time. Using an online booking platform, you can compare travel options and departure times, then book your ticket in advance, often for a lower price than you’d pay in person. This way, you can save money and ensure that you have your ground transport sewn up for a stress-free connection once you arrive.
2. Stay flexible with a multimodal travel planning app
The reality of life is that our plans, no matter how crafted, won’t always go to plan. So, in the event that something causes your travel plans to take an unforeseen turn, you’ll want to be prepared to adapt on the fly. Gone are the days of hard-copy guidebooks, maps, and the like, though. Now, the best option is to download and install a reliable multimodal travel planning app on your mobile device. Using a journey planning app will give you access to information on a wide variety of local transport options in one place. If, for instance, there’s a sudden disruption to a bus or train route, your journey planning app will give you real-time updates, allowing you to check local schedules and find out about car shares, bike rentals, and more. This way, you can plan an alternate route and mode of transport to adjust your itinerary on the go.
3. Empower exploration with AR
Planning ahead is all well and good, but if you’re the kind of traveler who likes to fly by the seat of your pants and go off-piste when the mood strikes, then there’s no predicting the path you’ll take. A great way to support your hunger for exploration, though, is to use an Augmented Reality (AR) app. These apps access your smartphone camera, overlaying digital information onto the real world around you to enhance your experience on the ground. By simply aiming your camera at a particular location, for instance, you can access real-time data about nearby bus terminals, train schedules, and more. Additionally, these apps can give you contextual navigation prompts to help you find stations and stops so that you can quickly get moving on local transit.
4. Go prepared with a language translation app
If and when something goes awry, you might end up needing to buy your travel tickets in person if there’s no online option available for public transportation. While that’s rarely the case nowadays, it’s worth being prepared so that your travel experience isn’t scuppered due to a simple language barrier. Installing a language translation app on your mobile device will help you to communicate effectively with transit company staff, taxi drivers, and locals so that you can find out what you need to know to get where you want to go. Additionally, many translation apps now even include an option to translate text in an image, so you’ll be able to understand signs, notices, and schedules in the local language wherever you go.
Embracing tech-forward travel
One of the best things about modern travel is the wealth of different transportation options we now have at our disposal. At the same time, the volume of options and variety of different service providers can make things chaotic and confusing at times, especially if you’re in a foreign place. With the right tech at your disposal, though, you can make travel quick, cost-effective, and pain-free, whether you’re exploring Japan, island hopping in the Philippines, or catching trains across Europe. By adding each of the technologies to your travel toolkit, you can travel smarter on the ground to ensure the best possible experience, regardless of where you find yourself.
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