Gone are the days of paper maps and guidebooks, with modern travellers now relying on trusty tech companions, from gadgets to apps, as they explore the world.
While bringing a smartphone is a given in this day and age, what other tech essentials should travellers have sorted out before a holiday?
For Muhammad Mustaqim Rosden, the marketing director of travel company Tanjak Adventure Tour, the first thing he recommends is getting the basics handled before setting off.
He believes that while Malaysians are some of the savviest travellers, there are still some blind spots when it comes to being fully prepared, with common mistakes including “not downloading the offline map/data, not bringing the right or compatible plugs and over relying on a single device without backups”.
Muhammad Mustaqim provides a tech-y checklist of sorts that he advises sorting out before going on a trip.
At the top of his list is ensuring connectivity – be it from roaming via a telco provider, physical SIM card, eSIM, portable WiFi, or hotspot functionality – depending on the needs of individual travellers.
According to licensed tour guide Diana Lee, going with roaming from a local Malaysian provider has an added benefit over potentially cheaper international roaming services or SIM cards.
“This is because your Malaysian provider will almost always tie up with a few top mobile providers in the country you’re visiting, and you can use their data easily, without having to use a VPN” (Virtual Private Network).
“For example, in China, there’s no access to social media like Facebook or Instagram, but when using a Malaysian provider’s roaming, you can still easily access them,” she says.
When it comes to apps, Muhammad Mustaqim adds that travellers should be aware of which apps are commonly used for day-to-day tasks in other countries, to avoid being caught off guard and scrambling to install and set them up at the last minute.
He adds that Google Maps once saved the day when he got lost at an airport in Shanghai, helping him navigate to his specific boarding gate and catch his flight just in time.
However, the same trip also highlighted the risks of being unprepared. In China, he says he forgot to download a VPN and WeChat before arrival, making his first few days a nightmare since shops did not accept cash, and all his documents and booking confirmations were stored in WhatsApp.
Muhammad Mustaqim further warns those looking to travel cashless to note that e-wallet acceptance can vary greatly between countries.
In countries like Singapore, China, Thailand and Japan, digital payments are convenient and widely supported.
“In Europe, Visa/Mastercard payments are reliable, but e-wallets may not be. With that being said, you should not only carry cash for safety reasons. Bring 20%-30% of your total budget in cash, and the rest just use your e-wallet or Visa/Mastercard.
“For backup, you can always withdraw some cash from a local ATM, but some banks will charge you up to RM50 per withdrawal,” he says.
Packing power
Seth Lee, a 27-year-old IT executive from Selangor, who frequently travels for work within the country, recommends getting a GaN (Gallium Nitride) charger, which is typically capable of outputting a lot of power, while also being lighter and more compact than bringing separate chargers for multiple devices.
“They can be a bit pricey – the one I bought was more than RM100 – but it’s a lot better than having to bring around more than one charger for everything, as that can get quite bulky when packing,” he says.
GaN chargers usually have multiple USB ports and are capable of handling laptops (provided they charge over USB-C), smartphones, and other devices at the same time without trouble.
For 27-year-old KL-based finance worker Josephine Leong, a trip itinerary planning app like Wanderlog offers flexibility. She says that the app’s AI features proved handy in planning and readjusting her schedule during recent trips overseas to Singapore and Australia this year.
It also allowed her to plan the path to take when going between locations in advance, and could even make adjustments on which landmarks to visit first based on proximity.
Travellers can also consider installing flight tracking apps such as FlightAware Flight Tracker, TripIt: Travel Planner, or Flightradar24 Flight Tracker, along with local ride-hailing apps to get around after arriving at their destination.
Other nice-to-haves would be weather apps like Zoom Earth – Weather Forecast and Clear Outside.
Turning to AI
AI chatbots like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, or Gemini can also help make trips go smoother.
Muhammad Mustaqim says he uses AI for almost everything while travelling – from translating conversations with locals (including audio), converting currency rates, planning his itinerary, finding the nearest halal food, understanding local customs, to taking pictures of signboards and translating them into English, and even checking airline regulations.
“In a nutshell,” he adds, “I turn to AI first before opening apps like Google Translate, Google Maps, weather apps, or Wise (for currency conversion rates), simply because it’s more convenient. I only use other apps when I need more detailed or specific information.”
Such apps have been a core part of 29-year-old freelance motion graphic designer and frequent traveller Venese Rengasamy’s trips overseas.
In 2025, he visited Barcelona and Paris, and used both ChatGPT and DeepL Translate for translation.
“I just need to snap a photo of foreign languages, and I have it translated automatically in ChatGPT, while DeepL is if you want to talk to someone in their native language.
“It detects the local language and slang pretty well and translates it for you,” he says.
He also makes sure to install local transit and e-hailing apps whenever a trip involves riding public transportation and moving between cities.
“I use them to track where the buses and trains are, and buy tickets in advance. You can usually also buy tickets in person at the station, but I would rather skip the queue,” he says, adding that digitally purchased tickets would then be stored in the app.
Another essential during Venese’s travels have been expense tracking and organising app Splitwise, which can be especially handy when travelling in groups.
“I’ve done trips with friends before, and it can be quite troublesome to keep track of who paid for certain meals, and how much we owe each other.
“You can add people to specific expenses, and there’s also the option to manually set how a bill should be split among the group. It’s also nice since there’s support for multiple currencies,” he says.
Muhammad Mustaqim also advises travellers to ensure all their gadgets are in working order before the trip. This could be power banks, chargers, plugs, updated apps, and device storage space.
He further lists ensuring sufficient space on cloud storage services – such as iCloud for Apple users and Google Drive for Android users – to store both documents and photos from trips.
