Top Ways To Keep Track Of Email While Travelling

One of the worst parts about travelling is that it cuts us off not just from our loved ones but also from our responsibilities like work or education. The most common method of work communication nowadays is email, but unfortunately if you are crossing the country or crossing the world it can be difficult to keep up-to-date with every single message.

Yet if you think ahead there are certain ways to manage your emails and keep track of your life while travelling. All you need to do is minimise the amount of emails you receive, ensure you can access your email client when possible and keep down the costs of using the internet abroad. Here are 5 easy ways to make all that happen, ensuring you can keep track of your emails and therefore keep up to date with everything while travelling.

1. Set up an auto-responder

To stop being assaulted by a slew of emails from your crazy mother or even crazier employer, set up an autoresponder so that any email you receive for the period of your travels is automatically responded to with a set reply. Something generic like ‘Thanks for emailing me. I’m travelling betweenso I will reply properly as soon as possible.’ will do the trick.

Setting up an autoresponder is an easy way to make sure that you don’t have dozens of emails asking for a response from you, and cuts down the amount of emails you need to sift through when you eventually get an internet connection.

2. Embrace webmail

If you have a workplace or education-based email, then it is likely that you receive your mail through POP/IMAP to a desktop email client like Microsoft Outlook or Apple Mail. This might be the most convenient option for you now, but it’s also a nightmare if you want to get emails at a computer that is not your own.

If you are travelling without your own laptop or tablet, then make sure you know the address of email provider’s webmail client. That way you’ll be able to log in to ‘webmail.yourwebsitehere.com’ and access your emails no matter where in the world you are. If you use a work email but don’t know how to access webmail, then ask whoever is responsible for tech in your workplace.

3. Take advantage of free wifi

To get access to your email, you rather obviously need internet access. If you are taking a wifi-enabled phone or tablet abroad then a really simple way of getting your emails is to have a search for free wifi. Many hotels and hostels now host wifi, as do many cafes and restaurants in cities and most towns. Unless you’re travelling to the developing world or to remote areas, it shouldn’t be too hard to look around and find somewhere that offers free wifi that you can take advantage of if need be.

4. Be wary of using your phone

On of the easiest ways of getting email while travelling is to use a smartphone that is internet enabled, but there are pitfalls you should be aware of if you want to make best use of your phone. If you leave the country, roaming charges for using your internet abroad are often astronomical. It may well be cheap to simply pay to use an internet cafe as opposed to using your phone. You should also be aware that some models of phone do not work in certain areas of the world due to the difference in signals and handset types used across the world. Look up if your phone will even work in your destination before you decide to rely on it as your primary method of receiving emails.

5. Pre-plan visits to internet cafes

If you do not want to weigh yourself down with a laptop, then prior to your trip note down the address of internet cafes at your destination. That way you will be able to simply use another computer (often for an extremely cheap price) to get hold of your emails without the hassle of walking through streets searching for an internet cafe the old fashioned way. Another bonus is that internet cafes are pretty common in the developing world, where people are less likely to own their own computers. This means you should be able to get email no matter where you go.

Guest post by contributing author Linda M., written on behalf of Jangomail. Jangomail offers a wide array of online email services, including but not limited to email newsletter, mass email and email broadcasting services.

Tags: apple, autoresponder, crazy mother, dozens, education, email client, imap, internet connection, mail, microsoft, microsoft outlook, nightmare, , slew, travels, webmail client

Category: Travel Tips