Now that international travel is opening up to South Africans who are fully vaccinated, it’s time to start planning your next holiday. It’s also been a while since most of us had to plan for an overseas trip, so we may be a little rusty. If you need some help, we’ve narrowed down a bunch of useful apps you download ahead of your next trip.
PackPoint Travel Packing List
If the pandemic made you forget, the genius app called PackPoint will help you get going. You simply choose your destination, travel dates, length of stay, and what type of trip it is (business, leisure). Thereafter you choose what you plan on doing, including photography, gym, snow sports, fancy dinners and you can add custom activities, with the option of laundry. The packing list generated is precise, down to photography gear, toiletries, type of clothing for occasion, international travel - including vaccination cards, power adaptors, and your essentials. It’s quite extensive, and ensures you won’t forget anything.
FlightAware Flight Tracker
There is a lot of uncertainty going on right now and one of the best apps to use to keep up to date with the latest flight information is FlightAware Flight Tracker. Not only does it track all flights globally, but you can check if your inbound flight is delayed, check the weather radar, and set-up alerts for any changes on your flights. If there’s a last minute gate change, you’ll get an alert, as well as for diversions and cancellations. It is regarded as more up-to-date than individual airline updates.
Digital Vaccination Card
If you’re flying out of South Africa, chances are you will need to show your proof of vaccination along the way. In some countries, you may be required to show it to gain entry into hotels, restaurants, and sight-seeing excursions. To convert it to a mobile friendly format like for Apple Wallet or on Google, simply visit https://houjouvax.com and upload your PDF version to get it as a more mobile friendly version that can easily be scanned via the QR code. The result is supported by iOS and the Android app called Wallet Passes App.
Google Translate
One of the most important apps to have at your disposal is Google Translate. The app is available on iOS and Android and supports over 100 languages. One of its best features is the ability to download a language for offline use. Once you’re in the app, there are many ways to translate: via text, uploading an image, or in real time. There’s also a speaking function for the app to read out what you’re trying to say in another language, enabling proper conversations with locals in foreign languages.
Top Tip: To keep a back-up of all your required docs, simply scan or take a screenshot of your flights, hotel bookings, insurance, vaccine certificates and Covid-19 tests and save it on a separate folder in your gallery. This ensures it can be accessed in offline mode when you don’t have data or WiFi.
Vodacom slashes data rates by up to 88% for international travellers
Vodacom customers can now enjoy out-of-bundle rates from as little as R0.49c and up to R5.00 when travelling to over 156 countries across 656 partner networks. This is a price cut of up to 88%.
With effect from 1 December 2021 until 28 of February 2022, all postpaid customers can enjoy promotional offers of R85 for a 1GB data bundle or R299 for a 5GB data bundle both valid for 30 days, and voice calls for as little as R2.50 per minute when roaming in 80 countries. The 1GB promotional offer compares to the local SA data rate.
To get any of these offers before travelling, customers can visit the VodaPay App [My Account; International Roaming] or dial *135*130#. You can click here for more information.
View a list of all the countries and applicable rates.
