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How To Stay Safe Online When You’re Traveling

Travel can be a mind-opening and life-altering experience. Whether you’re traveling for business, for pleasure, or to visit your family in your hometown, it’s always great to get away from the drudgery of your daily routine to see new things and meet new people.
However, unfamiliar places can bring unfamiliar dangers. And while you’ve likely been told to not keep your valuables on your person in case you get mugged or to lock yourself in a small cabinet when visiting family so they can never find you again, the rules for safely using technology while you travel are a bit nebulous at times.
Never fear: we’ve got you covered. Here’s how to keep your personal information safe when visiting an unfamiliar — or all too familiar — locale.

Business travel

Wow — you’re important enough that it’s actually necessary for you go to a whole different city or country for work. Because you’re needed there. Ok. Are you Beyonce or something?!
Anyway business travel has its own set of risks and challenges, so here are some things to keep in mind.

  • Bring only what you need. Increasingly, security personnel at airports will look through devices to determine if their owner poses a security threat. And the risk of having something stolen is greater in unfamiliar environments. Bring the tools you need to safely work, but don’t bring anything you don’t absolutely need.
  • Keep your devices on you at all times. Yes, the danger of security going through your phone is real, but don’t check your work laptop that has all your company’s trade secrets. If one of your devices gets lost, then anyone who finds it will be able to hack into it and figure out when your next secret album is dropping. (You are Beyonce, aren’t you?!)
  • Don’t trust the Wi-Fi. This is always a solid tip, but especially important when you’re traveling for business. Never use unfamiliar public Wi-Fi to do official company business or any sensitive personal browsing. Doing so leaves you open to hacking, government surveillance, and increased risk of malware being installed on your device.
  • Use a VPN. If you’re traveling for business, all of your internet browsing should happen while connected to a VPN. Many companies require you to use a VPN to log into their networks while working, but if your company doesn’t, invest in one.
  • Consult your company’s IT department before you leave. Ask your IT department if there are any special considerations for working remotely in the country you’re visiting, unless your IT department is just three people sitting in a basement. Then just follow the tips above and also begin looking for a new job.

Personal travel

Wow — you’d rather explore the world than sit at home in your sad studio apartment with your cat. Because you want to. Ok.
When traveling for pleasure, you should bring only what you need, be wary of Wi-Fi, and keep all devices on your at all times, as mentioned above. Here are some additional tips for world explorers.

  • Wait until you get home to post pictures. It’s tempting to post all your sexy beach pics immediately to make others jealous, but it’s best to wait so you’re not advertising that your home is empty or giving away your location.
  • Don’t do any crimes online. If you do venture on the Wi-Fi, make sure you know that laws in the country you’re in. For instance, don’t go on adult sites in Cuba and don’t trash the government on social media in China — it won’t turn out well for you!
  • Password protect all your mobile devices. You should always have strong passwords in place for all your hardware and online accounts, but it’s particularly important when you’re traveling. Have strong passwords for hardware and two-factor authentication for all accounts.
  • Don’t swim with your phone in your pocket. This has nothing to do with online safety, it’s just better if you don’t.

Visiting your family in your hometown

Oh man — how’d you get tricked into visiting your hometown? Whether you’re home for the holidays or visiting your beloved family dog Sparky, your hometown is full of dangers

  • Stay in a hotel on the dark side of town. Do not reveal the location of this hotel to anyone. Pay in cash and use “Jon Bon Jovi” as a pseudonym.
  • Do not complain about your mom’s meatloaf on social media. Similar to complaining about the government in China, this will get you into big trouble.
  • Turn off all location-sharing capabilities on your phone, and make sure your phone isn’t set to automatically connect to Wi-Fi. Government agencies and your mom can use this information to track your location.
  • Whoops — your mom found you at your sketchy hotel because Jon Bon Jovi is a pretty obvious pseudonym. Grab Sparky and leave in the night.

Traveling can be a minefield of digital dangers, but as long as you exercise reasonable caution and refrain from using the pseudonym “Jon Bon Jovi,” you should have a safe trip. Bon Voyage, Beyonce!

You’ll Never Want to Stop Traveling After Learning About This Startup

**This is part of our series highlighting startups who share our mission of trying to make people’s lives just a little easier**

It’s the post-holiday season and a lot of us are probably still slogging back to work and struggling to return to a regular day-to-day schedule.  Many of us have been traveling to see family, to escape the weather, or to take advantage of accrued holiday hours to spend a few days near the beach.

I bet some of you are wishing you could go BACK to that wonderful, far-away place, but I bet most of you are glad you don’t have to endure those long airport lines, gas station bathroom stops, or that awkward moment when security pulls you aside and has to check your socks (true story).

Because the truth of the matter is that within the travel industry, there is a lot of room for improvements. And even more specifically, there is a lot of room for enhanced customer experience within the hotel industry.

This is where Arrivedo comes in—a startup that is revolutionizing the way people travel and experience hotels. If you’ve ever had an unpleasant experience while traveling because of stress, boredom, or lack of information, then you’ll want to check this company out.

See it’s hard enough having to get up at 4 AM and drive all the way to your destination, so when you have to deal with strange beds, new faces, and that cracked wheel on your suitcase making a horrendous noise across the pavement….you end up wishing you had just stayed home in your PJ’s with your cat.

Why Arrivedo? Because a better hotel experience can transform the way you travel.

Approximately 35% of American families had plans to take a trip during 2017, with 30% of those families saying they planned on taking three or more trips. That’s a lot of people stopping in completely unfamiliar towns and sleeping in hotels with unfamiliar faces—which, in the end, makes for a lot of moments of travel discomfort.

Imagine the difference between staying at a hotel in a city where you’re pretty sure the only breakfast restaurant is McDonald’s, versus staying at your best friend’s house where she recommends her top five favorite coffee shops that you can visit for a fresh cinnamon roll and locally roasted coffee.

See the difference? One option involves frustrated Google searches on your phone while the other involves a moment of pure bliss as you take a bite of warm and cinnamon-y bread. It’s the difference between being a stranger and feeling like a “local” that really makes or breaks your travel experience.

This is the current problem for the hotel industry: making guests feel at home when, in reality, they’re far away from home.

It’s a problem that hotels are forever trying to remedy, and a competition that hotels have recently been losing with the rise of popularity in the Airbnb business.

Airbnb boasts a “local experience” because instead of a corporate building with busy employees, you’re staying in the home of a city local who can give you a personal tour of the area.

Hotels have been taking a big hit as more and more travelers are opting for an Airbnb instead in order to get that personalized, “at home” experience. A study conducted in 2015 showed that the lodging industry of New York had a negative impact of $2.1 billion because of the impact of Airbnb, and further showed $450 million of loss in direct revenues for hotels due to Airbnb annually.

But since the rise of Airbnb, Arrivedo has been launching an attack to better the name of the hotel industry and improve the way that travelers search, book, and enjoy their stay.

Get to Know Arrivedo

Arrivedo is a technological startup company with the goal of producing one “Neighborhood Guide” per hotel in the world. It was dreamed up by one of its co-founders, Alonso Franco, who wanted to create a way for hotels to connect with travelers in a way that focused on the communication and hospitality of a local. The company is composed of a dozen entrepreneurs who combine their strengths and skills to tackle the problems that are confronting the hotel industry. Their website serves as a platform to connect travelers to hotels—no matter where the traveler’s destination is.

Not only can you connect with hotels, but you can access a mine of information about the area you’re visiting. A hotel’s Neighborhood Guide can set you up for endless hours spent roaming the city or venturing into lesser-known spots. You get all the experiences of a local, all in one place.

The Neighborhood Guide

So what’s a Neighborhood Guide, and what role does it play in Arrivedo’s mission?

For every hotel in the world, Arrivedo plans on crafting a local guide that highlights restaurants, activities, maps, helpful tips, and city events within the hotel’s area—a “neighborhood” guide, because it enables travelers to get to know the neighborhood where they are staying. It gives visitors vital information that they would normally get if they were, say, staying at their grandma’s.

Where does this local knowledge come from?

Arrivedo’s team of writers collaborates with each hotel to include the best local events and information for a Neighborhood Guide.

In essence, travelers get to experience local cultures and have that “at home” vibe even when they are away. No longer do they have to feel like strangers at a hotel surrounded by unknown people and places, but instead, they can form meaningful connections as they travel.

Travel Like a Local

So maybe you’re taking a trip to Los Angeles, California and you don’t have any friends or family staying there but still want to get that “local” experience. Sometimes it’s hard to walk into establishments and get that information because it’s not always easy to immediately connect with strangers and, even then, sometimes you get the wrong directions or important details are miscommunicated.

Arrivedo presents a solution to that problem in the way that their Neighborhood Guides are made available so that travelers can be connected to their hotels and set up from the start for successfully living like a local. You can access clearly-written maps, extensive lists of the top places to grab coffee or a slice of pizza, find recommendations for the best night-life spots, and be in-the-know for important local celebrations or events.

How it Works

1. If you know your destination, go to Arrivedo’s website and type the name of the city into the search bar. This will pull up results for different hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and hostels in the area.

2. Click on a hotel and check out its Neighborhood Guide. It will list places to visit and things to do that are nearby, as well as offer helpful tips about traveling within the city.

3. If you’re ready to book a room, all you have to do is click on the hotel name! You’ll be taken to a different page specifically for booking.

Arrivedo is a platform for all the information you need to transform your travels.

The desire of Arrivedo’s creators is to bridge the gap between “traveler” and “local,” and provide a unique platform to revolutionize the way we travel.

This is a startup company that we’ll want to keep an eye on over the next few years. With their team of writers reaching out to hotels across the world, perhaps soon our unpleasant travel experiences will be nothing more than faded memories.

And I bet that even though the holidays just ended, some of you are already itching to plan a weekend getaway, leave your cat, and explore a new place with the help of a Neighborhood Guide.