Not 'why', but 'how' - part 1. - 1236Z05MAR25

 

Hey hey!

I'll get to the places I have been, and regale a tale of those things that I've seen, in another day's post, do read on though. It's a different narrative direction today.

As I move around on my own, reliant upon nothing beyond myself, here are a few tips that are a part of the rambling life I now lead, that have either saved me, or caused me a number of headaches along the way. Remember, this is me doing it on my own, and these are things that I have found that work for me; I dare say there are many things that will need adding to this list as time progresses, or those things that once worked, no longer do. My tips may not work for you, or your situation varies to my own, therefore aren't entirely relevant to what you may be doing. Adding to that, I am not on holiday. This is the life I have chosen for the foreseeable future, and I now lead this rambling life much like being at work - perpetual planning, budgeting, logistics, profit and loss, research, re-evaluation, etc. 

So, what has proved important?

 - have a back up for everything, including exit strategies.

- always carry cash.

- having a base to return to.

- maintaining comm's.

Examples - I'll discuss other examples of these in subsequent posts.

I'll start with mobile phones, which fall under the 'back up' category 

I have two mobile phones. One, for day to day wandering around use; I treat it like a work phone, and non-personal. The other lives a separate and fulfilling life with my bags, wherever I am staying. 

Why? When I was in Turkey last year I broke the screen of the phone I had, which doesn't sound like much. However, all of my plane tickets for return to Australia, plus my visa's, and my hotel accommodation details were within it. So, when I needed to scan my phone to access those tickets/visas at airports and borders, the scanners I had to use could not read them as a result of the broken screen, and worse, the airlines/border police/etc weren't willing to accept them. The same occurred with two different hotels, as I wasn't able to show I had a booking with them, which was necessary, as I couldn't speak Turkish, and they couldn't speak English. Adding to that, I was unable to utilise any apps, think banking to transfer money, nor could I use 'maps' to find my way to hotels, bus stations, and airports, AND I couldn't use the 'translate' app to ask people along the way. To say it was not ideal would be the same as saying Genghis Khan only had a passing interest in property speculation. It was purely luck that got me back to Australia. So, the day to day phone is the one I can afford to lose. However, the most important thing about this phone is that it is the one I use with a sim card. The sim card is local to each country, I've been using Yettel in Serbia and Bulgaria (you need a different sim card for each country, although you can get a European e-sim that covers the countries literally in the euro-zone only. Telstra international roaming doesn't cover all countries either), allowing contact whenever/wherever I am. It has the barest of information on it - no banking app's, no personal information other than a photo of my passport, it has only one email account, and a separate WhatsApp account to ring from. It also has the apps I use to book accommodation, booking.com, and Omio, for booking bus and rail transport. Nothing else. Not only are phones easily destroyed, but can be both cloned and easily hacked. I was told by a friend in the know never to have your debit/credit card on your phone, nor to ever use bio-metrics as a means of security. Both are easily stolen, details are sold and raped. Adding to that, if you are injured, the facial recognition required to open the phone may not recognise you, leaving you unable to open your phone to extract whatever it is you need, usually immediately, and usually something of great importance - think health and travel insurance. Oh, another tip from the friend in the know, only ever use AI from someone else's device, never your own, as it scans and retains all information, and then it forwards it whilst learning from it; this can include your own phone.

The important phone has all of those things the other hasn't. Banking apps, plane tickets, social media apps, emails, contact lists, etc. I only ever use it via secure WiFi connection, utilising a decent VPN provider to do so; I use ExpressVPN, Clark helped me, again, with this. When it comes to accessing those tickets, etc, I have them as a screenshot on the phone, so they can be accessed without needing telephone signal nor WiFi. Having a printed copy, if possible, always helps.

Hence, if the day to day phone takes a hit, none of the important stuff is lost, you aren't compromised, AND you still have a phone that you can add a sim card to at any time.

Here is the tragedy, and it has both made me laugh and swear profusely. The new day to day phone that I purchased in Australia  has proved to be a dud, and will need replacing when I head back in a westerly direction from Turkey. It does work, ish, however, all it is good for is maintaining contact with people via WhatsApp, and the translate function. The camera is useless, maps are unreliable, and it turns off by itself. Plus, we were told it was e-sim compatible when I bought it, and it's not.  That said, I am still using it, and keeping the phones isolated from each other.

Anyway, enough of my long winded rambling, there is more to follow another day.

V says hi to all, and if you leave a comment, please add your name to it.

N.