Easy Ways to Manage in a Country When You Don’t Have Data

By
Milli
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Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash

A lot of people rely on their phones for everything from maps to music, and everything in between. However, when you’re abroad and you don’t have access to data without WiFi, people can get really intimidated. But don’t fear! There are plenty of ways you can travel safely and see everything you want to see without data.

Maps

The first step to any successful trip without data is to download the map of the city where you’re staying. You can do this on Google Maps and once it’s downloaded, you can use it to see exact street names so you can get around more easily. You can also start directions on Google Maps when you do have internet and have it continue when you leave the WiFi zone.

Dictionary

If you’re in a country where you don’t know the language, download the dictionary for that language on Google translate! That way you can type in words and get them translated even when you don’t have data.

Ask for Help

A big thing when you’re traveling in general is to not be afraid to ask for help! Use hand signals and body language if you don’t speak the language, or type in full sentences into your translating app and show it to people to help them understand.

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Train Street was not what I expected, and I loved it. 🚊 For whatever reason I thought it would be, idk, more. Longer, bigger, more of a warning when I’d found it, maybe a sign or, something. Well it was none of those things. 🚊 I flagged it on google maps and walked with my blistered feet for about 12 minutes before I found myself standing on a train track starring up at tall, dark green, double doors and think to myself “ well this can’t be it.”. Spoiler, it wasn’t. I turned 180 and was looking straight down into a little neighborhood. That just so happens to have a train track cutting right through. 🚊 The women telling you to sit at their pop-up cafes, ran out of their small household kitchens was overwhelming at first. Every other step the next woman was asking you to sit. “Best price” “Best View” “you sit” 🚊 I walked the length of train street in maybe 5 minutes. If it wasn’t for a bend in the road I could throw a stone from on end to the other. And my throwing arm is uncoordinated to say the least. 🚊 I finally settled into a small, low to the ground wooden chair, ordered a jasmine green tea (yum) and started taking photos. All the while, occasionally pulling my legs into the chair, motorbikes slide through the very tiny space between me and the tracks. Babies eat lunch, and playing on the tracks themselves. Every local knows when the train comes, and until it’s time, the train tracks are just like any other alley between homes to them. 🚊 A few minutes before the train all the women collect the chairs, scoop up the babies and put everything inside. 🚊 We all stand up against the wall as the train wizzes by. The speed and power is quite intense. Then,just like that, it’s gone. Onward to its next destination. And everything starts anew. Tables, chairs put back out, new group of folks in. 🚊 A local woman is the photographer of this. She posed me by saying look at me, chin up, now fly, motioning her arms for me to stand on the rail and fly. So I stood on that rail and I flew with my chin up! Then like the train, I too was onto my next destination.

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