A travel expert advises tourists to always take an old smartphone with them on trips abroad.
Kyle Hotchkiss Carone is the CEO of Grand Tour Hospitality in New York and a big name in the hospitality industry. He travels a lot for work and always takes his old phone with him. The fact is that Kyle has already encountered situations several times when he was left without communication abroad.
“I once lost my phone in Paris and had to spend $2,000 on a new one. On a beach in Rio, a whole gang of kids swooped down on me and stole my phone right out of my hand. Another gadget drowned in the Aegean Sea. Since then, I have never thrown away my old iPhones, and always put one of them in my bag when packing for a trip,” Kyle explained.
In addition to the phone, an experienced traveler takes with him an additional SIM card. It is needed so that, if necessary, call the telecom operator, switch your number to this card, and use it in the old iPhone.
Kyle isn’t the only person who recommends bringing an old phone with you in case you need a spare. Traveler and blogger Lisa Garcia say that sometimes she even takes a few gadgets.
“I can’t count the number of times my boyfriend and I have had our phones damaged or, even worse, stolen while traveling. This happened so often that we used to put old unlocked phones at the bottom of our bags just in case,” said Lisa Garcia.
Her partner, who works as a teacher, added that this habit also served him during a school trip to Colombia with 16 students. “We took a total of four backup phones for two. And they were all used!” — said the young man.
Another benefit of a spare phone can be battery savings on the main device. A Reddit user and seasoned traveler explained:
“I like to shoot and take pictures with my advanced phone, but it drains the battery a lot. Because of this, you need to take the battery and cables with you, which is inconvenient. The second – usually old or cheap – phone can be used for maps, text messages, and route planning. Thanks to this, I often end the day with both phones at 50% charge.”