The way we travel has changed so much under the influence of technology. After all, commercial flying is barely a century old, yet, today, it’s the preferred and one of the most dominant forms of travel there are.

Still, the evolution of traveling under the influence of technology goes beyond that. The way we travel has changed, sure, but so has the way we prepare for travel, the way we act at a target destination, etc.

For instance, today, it’s a lot less of a risk to go to a location you’ve never been to before. After all, everyone has their personal translator and guide tucked away in their pocket or their purse.

To help you understand this (pretty clear) concept even better, here’s how using technology can make your travels more convenient.

1. Tracking your phone

Your phone is the most valuable asset when you travel. It can help you with translation, budgeting, payment (mobile payments), and much more. The use of navigation alone has made it so much easier (and more comfortable) to travel. However, it’s also a liability, and if you lose it, you’ll be in for a very bad time.

While most phones can be tracked by default, installing the right tracking app on your phone can make this task easier and more accurate. This way, if you lose your phone, you’ll be able to find it in an instant.

One of the reasons why it’s an advantage to track your phone without a trace is so that the potential thief (your phone won’t always be lost; sometimes it will be stolen) doesn’t know you’re still keeping an eye on the device. This way, they won’t know that they have to uninstall or turn it off, even if they get access to your phone. Ilijia Miljkovac says that some tracking apps allow you to track a cell phone’s location, view its movement history, and get accurate reports on its most frequented locations, without the person using your phone knowing.

An additional security advantage of being able to track your phone lies in the fact that someone back at home will know exactly where you are. Of course, this also means that they’ll know whenever you visit a red-light district of the area that you’re visiting; however, security has its merits and drawbacks.

2. Tracking your luggage

Anyone who has ever traveled has experienced a fear of losing their luggage. Those few moments while you wait for it to arrive can last an eternity, and everyone doubts, for a second or two, whether their luggage will actually appear on the carousel.

This fear is all but unfounded, seeing as how airlines lose more than two million bags every year. This is two percent of all the luggage that they handle, and while the percentage sounds low, you have to consider two things. If you travel a lot, the risk for you increases (cumulatively). Second, the ordeal of actually losing luggage (and the consequences) is incredibly scary.

One of the best ways to avoid this is to get yourself a luggage GPS tracker. This device, often the size of a wallet, can be inserted into your luggage and tracked via your phone. In other words, you won't have to worry about lost luggage anymore.

The most important application of this device is that it effectively buys you peace of mind. At any given moment, you can access the app, see that the luggage is still there, and go on about your day.

The device is generally inexpensive, but even if it weren’t, how can you put a price tag on a piece of mind?

3. Staying in touch while traveling

One of the sweetest things about traveling in the past was sending postcards to people back home. The problem is that apart from being “sweet”, this form of communication had no practical advantage.

Most of the time, you would return home from the voyage before the postcard would. Under those circumstances, it would have made more sense to buy the postcard at the travel destination and deliver it in person (like a sort of souvenir).

You can still do that.

However, you can also resort to more efficient (modern) forms of communication. Today, you can chat with people back home on a regular basis and update them on where you’re going and how it’s going. This is a security feature that you shouldn’t downplay.

When you think about it, how many of your friends are people you communicate with every day but almost never see in person? By keeping in touch via chat and video calls, there’s a chance you’ll go there, and they won’t even realize that you’re on a different continent—that is, unless you tell them or post photos on social media.

Staying in touch while traveling is a quality of life improvement that travelers of old could only dream of, but today, it’s easier than ever.

4. Digital nomadism

Money is often a bottleneck for travel, but not in the way you think. It’s not the cost of traveling but the cost of being away from work for too long. Even people who work on commission and have no work hours that they have to stick to will refrain from being absent for too long. Why?

It’s not just about the money spent; it’s also about the money you couldn’t earn because you were absent from work.

In the age of digital nomadism and remote work, this is no longer a valid concern for a lot of people. Roughly 12.7% of people work remotely full-time. This means that they’re no longer location-bound and, provided that they have their tools for work (usually their computer/laptop and their phone) and access to the internet, they can work from a vacation location just as good.

Sure, having a proper home office is a huge boost, as well as having a regular working routine. Still, this is a valid option that you shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss or discard. We’re by no means suggesting that this is easy - only that there is a way.

5. Finance and budgeting

Traveling is often a matter of finance.

First of all, traveling is an expensive endeavor, especially if you want to travel in style. For many people, it takes months of careful planning, budgeting, and coordination. Not only that, but unless you’re working remotely (like a digital nomad), you also have to think about the income loss that you’ll sustain while traveling. This is another reason why a lot of people don’t travel more often.

It’s also worth mentioning that the concept of cost management isn’t nearly as simple while you’re traveling.

First, you’ll lose track of time due to jetlag, which means that you’ll have a hard time figuring out how much you’ve spent each day.

Second, you’ll often deal in foreign currency, which means that most of the time, you won’t really have a sense of how much you’re spending. Sure, you can roughly understand the conversion rate and even make an accurate assessment when dealing with rough numbers, but it’s easier to lose track of things when constantly having to think in these terms.

Fortunately, tech is making finance both easier and safer.

Now, with an app, you can make budgeting simpler and more accurate. This will make cost control easier during travel.