We are a family that loves to travel. In the last year, I personally have taken 23 flights, that's a lot of flights for someone who really doesn't like flying! I know, silly isn't it? Yet it doesn't stop me travelling the world, whether I am travelling with my husband or with my son as well who is in university. We have had some great adventures recently including a trip to Iceland, where we hiked a glacier and a press trip with a group of bloggers to the Castellon area of Spain.
Now to keep up-to-date with emails and social media on the go, I rely on my devices, mainly my iPhone and my MacBook Air, as I am an Apple girl through and through. It's also important to me to keep busy on the plane, and here is where my iPhone is invaluable, I download relaxing music or films when I have no access to them on the journey. This keeps my mind occupied and helps relax me.
My son Jake, who is 20, loves his iPod. He uses it to keep in touch with mates on Facebook and Twitter, to watch YouTube and Netflix. I must admit he's a worse addict than me!
Mr W is a blogger and vlogger too, and although he's not as social as me (think grunt once for yes), he does like his iPhone apps, namely Instagram and Facebook.
Although I am not especially proud of this, you can see we are device addicts, so there are some things we have had to consider in the last few years to keep us healthy and our devices safe when travelling the world.
Limit your time
Talk to the whole family before the holiday and set expectations and limitations on device and internet use. Rather than spend all your time on your devices and online, try to limit this. Turn off your mobile data unless absolutely necessary and any alerts on emails and encourage the rest of the family to do the same. Think, do you really have to document everything on social media as you go? Why not just take some time and enjoy the beautiful beaches, amazing cities and fantastic attractions without living it through a lens.
Perhaps allow a time period every day, to catch up with friends or emails, then make an effort and get off. If the kids (or adults) are finding this especially difficult, consider a small reward as an incentive. Or swap it around. If the kids are well behaved in a restaurant then allow time on their devices when they get back to the hotel or apartment.
If your trip includes a lot of driving, ensure you plan rest stops along the way where you do something active. When you get to a town take time to explore, perhaps find a park and let the kids let off steam running around before lunch. Exercise boosts mood and self-esteem so they will feel better for it and will hopefully be relaxed on their return to the car. Limiting your time online can also help social skills 'in real life' and don't forget you are on holiday so enjoy the different surroundings and activities you don't get every day.
Device Safety
Be aware of open networks when you travel. Many Internet networks aren't secure, which could let your personal details including passwords, and card details get into the wrong hands. One simple thing to do is to check for the padlock symbol on your browser and ensure you log out properly on shared computers. But is this enough?
Travel and Leisure magazine offers some excellent advice, such as updating all your software before you go especially your operating system and treating all networks as hostile. They recommend HTTPS Everywhere which is an extension to your browser to encrypt your details.
Another thing to consider is to use a product like Kaspersky Security Cloud. This product is especially clever as it is an adaptive digital security service which can give online protection to the whole family.
It's a fast cloud-based security service that won't slow down your devices yet helps defend them from Internet nasties such as Trojans, worms, and phishing across Macbooks, Android and Windows Device. It can also alert parents to your kids' Internet usage, handy to avoid potentially inappropriate sites.
It's a fast cloud-based security service that won't slow down your devices yet helps defend them from Internet nasties such as Trojans, worms, and phishing across Macbooks, Android and Windows Device. It can also alert parents to your kids' Internet usage, handy to avoid potentially inappropriate sites.
Insurance
So first thing's first, only take your devices you will definitely need with you. Can you cope with your tablet and not your laptop for example? If you take fewer devices than a theft will have fewer opportunities to steal from you.
Going on holiday is a great time to sort out your devices. Take anything off your device you will not need and consider deleting your cookies and also passwords if you can remember them. Empty your trash bin on your laptop as you will be surprised about the amount of potentially sensitive information that can be there. Backup any important files you need on a security drive or the I-Cloud.
Ensure you take out travel insurance, and also check your policy, to see what your insurance covers. This is so important as you want to check your insurance will cover the devices and also what the excess is if you do have a theft. I always keep a copy of our families insurance document with us for easy access on holiday.
So these are some considerations to keep your devices safe whilst travelling the world. Do you use any of these tips? Tell me what do you and your family do to keep your devices safe on holiday
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Good tips for those who get to fly around the world,well stated.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteFantastic tips! We lock ours away now after having pick pocketing issues in Barcelona.
ReplyDeleteSome areas you have to be super careful don't you.
DeleteGreat tips, I always worry about unsecured networks and never connect to them when I'm travelling. In a side note, 23 flights in a year! That's impressive!
ReplyDeleteWith a son in university I don't have to be as home as much as I used to. I also do a lot of travel blogging now so I am lucky.
DeleteSome good tips! I took out insurance this year mainly for my devices the thought of anything happening to them terrifies me. I should really have a tidy up too and remove anything unneeded on them. You can never be too safe.
ReplyDeletex
I think it's good to delete unnecessary files and empty your trash bin on a regular basis.
DeleteTotally agree with what your proposing about setting expectations for usage of mobile devices! I try to limit my time on the phone when I'm with my family, but I admit it's sometimes so difficult!
ReplyDeleteThese tips are really useful as i travel around a lot
ReplyDeleteGreat tips. We travel a lot as a family, so really useful
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