Try these tech hacks next time you travel: Talking Tech podcast
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Hey there listeners. It's Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. So you've probably seen this a lot in the news. A lot of countries, a lot of states, a lot of areas are starting to lift some of their restrictions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, which means that we're also seeing a lot of people getting the urge to travel again. Maybe it's been a while since you've traveled anywhere but obviously tech can play a big role in saving you time, saving you money. And of course, saving you any headaches you might have that come with traveling because you know they're going to pop up. Tech columnists and Talking Tech's favorite Canadian Marc Saltzman writes about this in a story that you can read on travel.usatoday.com. Traveling again, pack these awesome travel hacks to make your trip go smoother. So lots of cool stuff with tech and how it can really make your trip a lot better.
One of the first things he advises is storing documents on your phone. So you may want to digitally scan things like your driver's license, insurance info, COVID vaccine cards, that I think is going to be a big topic. Some places might want to verify that you're vaccinated. Scan your COVID card. Keep those handy just in case, because you never know you might lose a wallet, something might happen. You'll want a backup plan. Other cool thing to do too is if you have credit cards, something to consider is maybe putting them on Apple Pay or Google Pay or whatever pay service you have. That way you have a way pay for stuff if say a credit card is lost or a debit card because that's the last thing you want when you're traveling. Another cool tip. Take a picture of your boarding pass. Again, have a backup.
You know that way in case something happens, you can take a photo or you can get a screen grab and then you just have it available to whenever you need it. This is a very good tip especially, if you're needing to be entertained on a plane, a long flight, whatever it may be, downloading your entertainment ahead of time. I have done this quite a bit. There are a lot of streaming services like Netflix, where you can download TV shows, download movies onto your phone or your tablet or wherever it is. And you can watch them all before you go. It's wonderful. If you're on the road, it's great because then you're not worrying about charges or anything like that. If your kids are streaming but it's also good to on a plane where you're probably not going to have access to your phone or to Wi-Fi and that gives you the opportunity to still stay entertained and watch movies, TV shows, whatever you need.
The other tip that I honestly didn't think about, and this is a great one for Marc is bringing your own movies with you in the form of a streaming stick. So if you have a Roku streaming stick, if you have a Chromecast, if you have an Amazon Fire TV stick, pack it with you, plug it into the hotel, plug it right into the HDMI port of your TV, just hop on the Wi-Fi for the hotel and you can watch Netflix or whatever it is you want. It's a nice little touch, nice break. If the regular cable TV that you get with your room is not entertaining, you want some other options. Obviously, if you're you're really big on Netflix and stuff and you have some shows there you want to watch, fun way to do it. And it's very portable. These sticks are pretty small.
Again, they're a size of like a thumb drive. Some of these little bit bigger than that. Easy to carry. Very portable. There you go. If you want to read more Marc's tips, travel tech hacks that can help you get the most out of your vacation. Be sure to read his story. And don't forget, you can read more Marc's coverage and all the latest tech coverage on tech.usatoday.com. Listeners, let's hear from you. Do you have any comments, questions, or show ideas, any tech problems you us to try to address? You can find me on Twitter @BrettMolina23. Please don't forget to subscribe and rate us or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcasts. Don't forget Talking Tech has a newsletter too. You can subscribe at newsletters.usatoday.com. Comes out every Thursday. You've been listening to Talking Tech. We'll be back. And now I want to do that again. You've been listening to Talking Tech. We'll be back tomorrow with another quick hit from the world of tech.