How an email alias and VPN can make planning your next trip more enjoyable and safe
How to protect privacy and save money when traveling
Kurt 'CyberGuy' Knutsson offers money-saving, privacy-protecting tips for traveling
Booking a vacation is exciting, but it's also expensive and sometimes induces anxiety. You book your resort, your hotel or your Airbnb, and that often requires you to provide an email address so that you can receive a confirmation after you book.
Suddenly, your email gets bombarded with other messages offering you deals and trying to convince you to spend more than you already have.
However, it doesn't have to be this way for every vacation you book.
If you use an email alias instead of your primary email address, you'll be able to further protect your privacy, stop your inbox from flooding with messages and even save some money. Here's why using an email alias is the way to go when it comes to booking your next vacation.
(Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)
1. Protect your privacy with an email alias
Booking a vacation online can put your privacy at risk because it could allow websites to track your online activity and then sell your data to third parties. You'll often be required to provide an email address when booking so that you can receive confirmation after you book.
Creating and using an email alias, an alternate email address that you would use instead of your primary email address, can help you avoid spam, phishing and identity theft.
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You can use a different alias for each website that you book on, which will then prevent these websites from linking your data together and creating an online profile for you that could make you a target for ads.
Plus, using an alias can help keep your travel plans private from your loved ones in case you're planning a surprise trip somewhere. The last thing you want is to ruin the surprise for that vacation you planned for six months to take your spouse on. So, start using an email alias right now to prevent that from happening.
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2. How to save money when booking online
One thing that often happens when booking things online is that websites are able to track your data. Sometimes these websites will use information like your email address to track your online behavior, and this allows them to create a profile about you and try to send you deals later on.
However, some companies will use your data to charge you higher prices for things based on your location and what you've been searching for so that they can get more money out of you.
If you use an alias email address and a Virtual Private Network (VPN) each time you book a vacation, it will make it that much harder for any company to be able to track your online activity later on. Using a VPN will help you disguise your IP address to show an alternate location, which can also affect the prices you see online. You’ll be sure to get fair deals on everything and won’t have to worry about being overcharged because of where you live or what you’re searching for.
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(Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)
Using an alias email address can also help you avoid falling for scam emails that claim to have amazing offers but are actually trying to trick you into spending more money.
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(Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)
3. How to use an email alias to organize your travel emails and avoid spam
Once those promotional emails start, it feels like they'll never stop. Companies want to make money, and they don't want you to forget about them, so they'll send multiple messages per week, sometimes multiple messages per day, to make sure you're always reminded of their services.
However, you don't have to deal with those constant messages living in your inbox all the time. You can use an email alias to keep your primary inbox clean and clutter-free. You can do this by creating a filter that sends all your messages addressed to that alias to a separate folder.
Plus, you'll know that all your travel-related emails are being put into one spot, making it that much easier to manage everything related to your vacations.
You also have the option to search with the name of the alias or possibly with the search operator if you want to find something that way.
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How to create an alias email?
Creating an email alias depends on the email service you use. To learn how to create an alias email address, click here.
See my review of best secure and private email services here.
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Kurt's key takeaways
Traveling shouldn't have to be stressful, overly expensive, or invasive of your privacy. With email aliases and VPNs, you can save money, organize everything to your liking, and not worry about your privacy being compromised by tracking or targeted ads. We all deserve a relaxing and fun vacation, so go book yours without any hassle or headache.
What do you think about companies changing prices for things online based on where people are located? Does it seem fair that people in more affluent neighborhoods are charged more? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.
For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter.
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Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on "FOX & Friends." Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.
