The Millennial Travel Agent: Apps for Agents

I feel a sense of duty to live up to the technology-dependent stereotype of my generation and share with you my favorite travel apps.

As I travel abroad for half the year, there are a few downloads that make daily life on the road easier, safer and more comfortable:

Break Free From the Wifi Leash

In true Millennial fashion, I can feel my pulse quicken when I clumsily stumble into a world without internet connectivity. You may laugh or judge, but relying on hotel or cafe wifi makes me feel like a dog tethered to an invisible leash.

To break free from my digital shackles, a local SIM card (short for “Subscriber Identity Module”) is one of the first purchases I make in a new country. Most popular tourist destinations offer affordable data packages based on your usage needs, and a helpful salesperson can replace the tiny chip in your phone. You can usually pre-pay by the gigabyte or, for longer trips, get an unlimited option.

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While there is something freeing about “living in the moment” and being temporarily disconnected from the rest of the world, a SIM card allows you to use the following apps without being dependent on a wireless network.

Communication Is Key

Keeping in touch with friends, family and colleagues is important while on the road—whether to check in with the babysitter, return a client call or to wish someone a Happy Birthday. International calling plans with your cellular carrier can cost a small fortune, even for short conversations, so I rely exclusively on the services of Skype and WhatsApp when traveling abroad.

I mostly use Skype to communicate for business purposes. In fact, I use it daily—even in the U.S.—to communicate with suppliers across the globe. For a nominal annual fee, my Skype phone number serves as the official phone number at IntroverTravels, allowing me to receive calls anytime from anywhere around the globe. Clients have no idea that they may be calling me in Thailand, Peru, or my host agency’s storefront office in Denver.

I use WhatsApp for communications of a more personal nature. Using a mobile phone number, fellow app users can call or text from around the world. Because so many of my international friends use WhatsApp, I am an active user even while at home in the U.S.

Anyone Can Speak 100 Languages

As a fluent Spanish-speaker, I know first-hand that utilizing another language reveals a vast world of cultural nuances, allowing for meaningful conversations and intelligent questions.

Yet, on my first trip to Southeast Asia over a decade ago, I was unable to communicate with locals in their native tongues. I felt disoriented and had pangs of “Western guilt,” relying on locals to communicate with me in English.

Flash forward to the present day, and I find myself back in Southeast Asia, empowered by Google Translate.

I can speak into my phone’s microphone, and the app will spit out my words in over 100 languages. It’s even possible to read signage, menus and anything else printed text in 38 languages using your phone’s camera to translate real-time.

While there’s no substitute for learning another language, Google Translate is a miracle when traveling for short periods. Use it with your taxi driver, a restaurant server or hotel staff, to haggle at the market, or to chat with interesting locals who have a story to tell—the possibilities are endless!

As the app expands to even more languages, the world will continue to shrink.

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Getting Your Bearings

As an unabashed travel nerd, I’ve always loved maps and I still carry them with me when I travel. But my love of Google continues to grow, and I now prefer the Google Maps app as my go-to resource. While some older generations may cringe at such a thought, there’s no denying that Google Maps offers so much more functionality than a piece of paper ever could.

Hungry? Type “lunch” into the search bar—or get even more specific with “vegetarian restaurants” or “cat cafes”—it’s all there. You’ll also find links to business websites, photos, social media pages and customer reviews.

Use it to avoid congested arteries and to find the quickest route between Points A and B, or get estimated times for walking or biking. And if you’re using public transit in a large city, it will even tell you which train or bus line to take and where to transfer!

Perhaps best of all: you’ll never again have to struggle with the origami-like folds of traditional maps.

Privacy, Please

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is imperative for any international traveler. Without getting into the technical details, VPNs create an unidentifiable IP address and a private, point-to-point connection using a public network, like the wifi from a cafe.

Companies with remote workers and business travelers often use VPNs to log in to a single intranet to communicate and share important information. Many international travelers use VPNs to circumvent geographically-restricted copyrighted material, such as Netflix. We Americans often take our internet for granted. However, it’s not always the case in other countries.

For example, a VPN is a necessary workaround to access Facebook, a site blocked by the Chinese government.

Virtual networks also play a vital role in protecting travelers personal information. Public wifi networks are inherently unsecured, with plenty of digital thieves waiting to exploit open networks to steal sensitive data. I vigilantly use a VPN to access my bank, credit cards or anything else requiring passwords or personally-identifiable information.

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Dollars And Cents to Dólares Y Centavos

I love the XE Currency Converter app to make quick conversions, especially to bargain with vendors at the market. Numbers are the universal language, and it’s helpful to know exactly how much 850 Thai Baht is worth or what you can get for 1,300 South African Rand.

Back home in the U.S., I frequently use the app for converting quotes from suppliers in their local currency into U.S. Dollars for my clients.

Bookworms Rejoice!

Any well-traveled bookworm can attest to the value of an e-reader! While many purists love the smell of an old book or the feeling of turning a well-worn page, it’s impossible to deny the convenience of having an entire digital library at your fingertips.

I store my favorite books on my iPad so I never run out of good reading material for a long flight, layover or transfer. Audiobooks are great for long road trips or in remote locations when the power goes out at night. (Get a free book from Audible when you sign up!)

While some may laugh at Millennials’ dependence on technology, I do hope these apps and tools can improve the way in which you and your clients travel.

Which ones can’t you live without? Leave a comment and let me know which ones I need to download!

Until next time, stay inspired.