The Importance of Free Wi-Fi for Travelers

For the life of me I just cannot imagine how people used to travel back in the days when access to the internet was pretty much something which was limited to a baud-speed rate we cannot even imagine was the standard back then, or in fact even before then when there was no internet as we know it today at all! How on earth did people travel? They clearly did travel, judging by all the travel stories you hear and by the well-established travel and tourism industry which encompasses companies that have been around for nearing on a century now.

Today it’s almost as if you cannot do a single thing which is related to traveling without the internet, which is why the free Wi-Fi you often get at airports, on some public transport vehicles and at the hostel/hotel you’re staying in at your destination is so important.

While a world without the internet at all is something which simply cannot be imagined by some of the youngest travelers of today, even for them there is no doubting just how important free Wi-Fi in particular is for travelers. They only need to be disconnected for a few hours, finding themselves without any access to the internet, to truly appreciate its importance.

Going beyond the pre-trip planning phase of your trip, which you probably do from start to finish all on your computer or even on your mobile phone – once you’re actually on the move then there is probably nothing more important than being able to connect to the net via the free Wi-Fi you’re offered at the various points along the route.

In my own personal experience the importance of free Wi-Fi became most pronounced when I had done some calculations on the flight to a Southeast Asian destination and realized that I had booked accommodation which was way too expensive for my limited budget. On the layover I had access to the free airport Wi-Fi, which offered me a small window of opportunity to cancel my booking at no cost and then look for some cheaper accommodation to stay at once I’d reached my destination.

The deal was you can cancel “for free” up to 12 hours before the indicated check-in time, otherwise they would have gone ahead and hit my credit card with what they call a cancelation fee. What on earth would I have done without that free Wi-Fi access at the airport, albeit I had to use one of the best vpn for ios because it’s not secure – it’s an open network?

Many of us take advantage of the free Wi-Fi we are given access to by downloading movies and perhaps even playing games and the likes, but being able to book something like a rental car online having compared lots of different service providers with the free Wi-Fi you get pretty much epitomizes the importance of it.

These are the sorts of things the free connectivity of this nature we get was meant for – being able to dynamically adjust some aspects of your trip as the need arises.