That long overdue trip to Aruba you’ve planning for months is now just around the corner, and you already packed a number of items for your big vacation. You can make your trip a little smoother to the island in the Antilles, by taking advantage of some of the best new modern technologies, some of which are free. The following are three tips for modern travelers to consider before venturing out to that adventure of a lifetime.
1) It is always helpful to carry along a smart phone that you can use in the event of an emergency and require Internet access. Because you will be travelling outside of the United States, you might want to look into either purchasing a SIM card before your trip or in Aruba. To make sure you have can have cell phone service overseas, it is always helpful to contact your local smart phone carrier. You might be able to simply pay for overseas coverage instead of inserting a new SIM card, especially if your cell phone doesn’t have that feature. In some cases you might also want to consider just buying a prepaid cell phone that you can use and not risk the chance of piling up enormous fees from your smart phone carrier.
2) There are plenty of great travel apps you can use for your iPhone or iPad and among the best and most widely used travel apps are Travel Tracker and the more sophisticated Travel Tracker Pro, Trip Assist by Expedia, and Trip Advisor. The Travel Tracker Pro is a little pricey for some consumers but this handy app can store plenty of information for your trip such as flight status, car rentals, and lodging.
If you use Expedia, you can use Expedia’s free Trip Assist to view your itinerary and makes changes if you need to. Trip Advisor is useful even before you go on your trip. You can read reviews on hotels, restaurants and attractions and many others to determine where you would like to go and where to dine.
3) Another app you might want to consider is a translator since the official language of Aruba is Dutch and Spanish is also frequently used, given its proximity to South America. There are a number of free translating apps you can find on the Apple App Store. If your Dutch and/or Spanish requires a little help, translating apps like Translator with Speech, Translator or iHandy Translator might prove useful during your stay.
