In cooperation with Europ Assistance Polska

Let others find you, or how a smartphone may save your life

18-07-2018

Barbara Żółtowska

Insurance and Investment Department

A telephone is an essential part of our everyday life – it has ceased to be just a center of entertainment and communication, today it is used as a versatile tool for banking, travel or searching for information.

Not to mention a high-resolution camera. The telephone is a scanner, torch and our portable memory. How to use it wisely so that your travel is made easy and at the same time you take care of security?

A smartphone enables you to use many capabilities necessary during a holiday. E.g. the satellite navigation which informs you about the actual situation on the road – the navigation systems collect information from many vehicles on an ongoing basis and create a very realistic image of traffic jams, roadworks and diversions. The situation is similar in the case of hotel bookings or checking opinions about nearby restaurants. Applications available on the market offer people transport services by enabling us to order a taxi in a quick and simple way, and also make it possible to make many payments using the phone. Thanks to this many activities may be carried out with just one device on your person.

Which is most important – the telephone means the possibility of contacting someone and calling for help if necessary. Thanks to the geolocation service, even if we do not know our location – in the mountains, in the forest, etc., emergency services may determine our location precisely and bring help. The geolocation service is free of charge. It consists in sending a link by text – after the link has been clicked, our position will be determined

Telephone on holiday also means access to the bank and our finances. Nearly 9 million Poles already use their telephone to bank – such number is published by PRNews at the end of 2017 and this is 2 million more than the year earlier. It is not surprising – the access to transfers, change of limits or telephone payments are indispensable when we go on holiday. One of the more frequently used functions in the phone is the transferring of the payment card to free foreign currency accounts, which guarantees that we will make payments abroad without incurring costs of converting currencies.

Using a smartphone abroad has become easier and more beneficial thanks to the new Act of June 2017. Roaming within the European Union practically disappeared. This means that people travelling within the EU will pay for their calls based on the rate charged by their operator, in accordance with their tariff plan.

This way the smartphone becomes a universe command center – also on holiday. It is worth entering phone numbers which might unexpectedly (hopefully not!) prove useful into your phone:

112 – pan-European emergency number
984 – WOPR (Volunteer Water Rescue Service)
985 - GOPR (Volunteer Mountain Rescue Service) and TOPR (Volunteer Tatra Rescue Service)
987 – crisis management center
983 – veterinary emergency service
981 – roadside assistance

Three-digit short numbers are dialed without any preceding digits (e.g. without the operator’s number (NDS) or the area code, and the call is free. Calls are taken 24/7. More useful numbers may be found here.

Is it really worth taking out a travel insurance?

The presence of Poland in the European Union comes with many advantages. One of them is the abolition of borders, enabling us to travel the world quicker and easier, which benefit is enjoyed by many people. It is not surprising, as a flight to warm Spain is now often shorter than a travel by train from Cracow to Gdańsk, and sunny weather is almost guaranteed there. Against the unforeseeable, we are protected by the travel insurance.

Published almost 7 years

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