What Are The Top Reasons To Use A VPN?

Using a VPN has become common practice for many people. However, there are still a lot of individuals out there that never use a VPN. By not adopting this tech, you could be missing out on a huge range of benefits.

Photo by Stefan Coders: CCO Licensed

But before we go into these benefits, let’s work out what exactly is a VPN. Commonly installed as an app, a VPN is an internet security service that can conceal your IP address and encrypt your data. This prevents hackers, advertisers, websites and other apps from accessing various personal information.

There are many instances where hiding this personal information can be useful. Below are just a few examples.

Using public wi-fi securely

Public wi-fi is any free internet connection found in a public place (i.e. hotels, restaurants, airports). Using public wi-fi can be more risky than using private wi-fi, because you never know who else is using the network. Experienced hackers may be able to use methods like ARP spoofing to gain access to your data. In other cases, cybercriminals may set up fake public wi-fi connections to extort the private information of users. 

A VPN can encrypt your data and prevent hackers from gaining any information about you. It’s a simple way to secure your devices while on the go. 

When I travel and I am using an open WiFi network at a hotel (any network without a password), I do everything on my laptop with my VPN on. Originally, I got a VPN, so I could pay a bill from another country. Exciting, I know, but being able to also set it to my home country allowed me to do more things I wanted than a local French network would allow.

Streaming TV shows while travelling

When travelling to other countries, it may not be possible to stream your favourite shows. The likes of Netflix offers different content to users in different countries. Some streaming services may not even be available in some regions of the world. Unless you download titles, you usually won’t be able to watch them (and even then, Netflix may restrict you from watching them).

Most VPNs can not only hide your location, but allow you to change your IP address so that it appears you’re accessing the internet from a different country. This can allow you to continue streaming content from your home country while abroad, as well as accessing content from other regions from your home country. 

Visiting geo-restricted sites

Some websites are not available in certain countries. This can be due to censorship laws, licensing deals, lack of cooperation with local data laws or inability to serve/ship to customers in certain countries..

Just as a VPN can allow you to access geo-restricted streaming content, it can also allow you to access geo-restricted websites by changing your IP address to another location. This can allow you to still visit sites available in your home country while abroad, on top of visiting sites only available in other countries. 

Bypassing IP address blocks

Websites, applications and browsers can block your IP address if they see fit to do so. A common reason to do this is if they suspect you are a hacker or a bot. 

While IP address blocking can be annoying (especially if you have done nothing wrong), there is fortunately an easy way around it. You guessed it - use a VPN. By hiding your IP address, websites and applications won’t be able to tell that it’s you trying to access them and you’ll be able to freely use them.

Avoiding bandwidth throttling

If a lot of people are using the internet at the same time in a certain area, an internet service provider may throttle the bandwidth of people in that area to restrict traffic. This can result in a slow internet connection - which can be frustrating when gaming, watching videos or trying to voice call someone. 

Fortunately, a VPN can save the day in this case too.By hiding your IP address from your internet service provider, you can avoid having your connection slowed down, allowing you to use the internet as normal during busy periods.

Taking advantage of location-based prices

Some companies offer cheaper prices for products or services in certain areas. Unless you live in this area, you cannot access these prices.

That is, of course, unless you use a VPN. By changing your IP address to another location, it is possible to access cheaper prices on everything from flights to clothes. This could save you a lot of money.

Reduce tracking from advertisers

Some people don’t like to be harassed by adverts of things they’ve browsed for. Others simply don’t like the idea of advertisers getting hold of their personal data. 

Using a VPN is one way to counter these ads. It may not completely prevent targeted ads (as advertisers sometimes use other methods like browser fingerprinting), however it could reduce the majority of them. 

Happy Birthday Harry Potter

It's that time again. Summer has rolled around and this is the part of the year where my world becomes a lot more magical. Between June, July, and August we do a lot of Harry Potter events in celebration of the Chosen One's birthday. (We also tend to pack a lot into December.) 

We had an extra special even this year to kick off the "season" and if you are following me on IG, then you have already seen a bunch of posts.

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Early July brought us the last LeakyCon

LeakyCon is a convention put on by Mischief Management, a fandom event company, but was originally run by the website The Leaky Cauldron. It's a three-day celebration of all things Potter, which has been pulling in other magical fandoms (much like Fandom Forward) and is now transitioning to Enchanticon. We were lucky that this year was in Portland, so we didn't actually have to travel anywhere to get in on the fun. 

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PDXpelliarmus, the non-profit I'm on the board of, was specifically asked to have a presence there, so I spent a good portion of all three days at our booth, talking to people about what we do and how we do it and geeking out with other Potterheads over their amazing cosplays. While the show was much smaller than usual, it was wonderful to connect with so many awesome people, make quite a bit of money for charity, and also attend some great panels and spotlight talks. I met some magical creators that I've been following for years, got to see Starkid's last LeakyCon performance, and traded a lot of badge ribbons. I brought home a lot of memories and a few treasures. 

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My cosplays for the weekend: Friday I was a Honeydukes employee, Saturday I was The Fat Lady who guards Gryffindor tower, and Sunday I transformed into Stan Shunpike, the Knight Bus conductor, on summer vacation.

Mid-July brought us to our annual magical tea

We live a few miles from a really amazing tea house called Clockwork Rose Tea Emporium. They shut down for a week or so 4 times a year in order to transform their space into something truly amazing for a 6- to 8-week run of specialty tea seatings. In July, and part of August, this is the annual Harry Potter tea. 

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They serve special tea blends, themed foods, and they also have live entertainment. Usually that is a Muggle magician and the owner often comes out to run a Divination session so we can read our tea leaves. I make a point to show up in a new outfit every year and this year I went as Professor Sinistra (the astronomy teacher) on vacation and I made Eric a new shirt, like I did last year, which is a French version of "the wand chooses the wizard", that is perfect for an event that serves baked goods, and a hat with Hufflepuff house in French. That means I can re-wear this one for my next event or our September stint at Rose City Comic Con and Eric will wear his shirt all year long. 

The end of July brought us Wizarding Weekend

This is one of our biggest events for PDXpelliarmus. We team up with a landmark place in town to help the community. McMenamins Kennedy School is a real historical elementary school that they have turned into a hotel with several restaurants, bars, and a movie theater. We takeover much of the public space so we can bring in vendors and run games, so we have The Great Hall, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and Knockturn Alley. We either collect books or school supplies for schools/teachers in need and also raise funds for a big donation.

McMenamins, in turn, runs all 8 movies over the course of the weekend, has magical drink and food specials, and donates to a local charity here that helps people with basic needs. It's a win win win, and even though it's a ton of work, it's also a lot of fun. We do games and trivia and costume contests, give out House Points (and other prizes) and then announce the winner at the end of the weekend. People get real competitive over plastic gems and we love it. Everyone wants their House to win. 

What's next? Well, August is usually when I throw my annual Harry Potter party at home (it used to be the last weekend in July, but now that I'm volunteering, we moved it to the next weekend), but this year has been so crazy that I just couldn't pull it together in time, so we'll be doing our 10th official party next year, bigger and better than ever. 

In September, I'll be working with PDXpelliarmus to bring magic to Rose City Comic Con. In December, I might throw another Potter-themed birthday party for myself, because that's always fun. We will, for sure, be working our annual Yule Ball, which is actually our largest fundraiser of the year. A proper ball with dancing, a feast, and a nerdy DJ. People look forward to it all year and I can't say I blame them. We were able to secure the space and catering from last year already, so we're already 75% of the way there!

If I find anything cool and magical in the meantime, I'll definitely be posting to Facebook and Instagram first, so don't forget to follow me there. 

Disclaimer: As I always say, the fans own the fandom and I don't condone anything that She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has said in opposition of the trans community. Any art, artists, and events I support do not support her in any meaningful way (and I only say that because she probably does get compensated somehow for the movies they show at Kennedy School, but 50% of the ticket proceeds still go to a charity that helps the LGBTQ+ community without prejudice, and we can't tell a business how to spend their money, though we are floating the idea of showing entirely different magical movies going forward.)

Don't Waste Money On a Cruise

Okay, this is probably my last cruise post for a while, but since I want you to have the best cruise experience you can, without spending all your money, we're going to talk about a bunch of ways that you can waste money on a ship, when there are plenty of ways to just not and stay within your budget. 

Photo by Adam Gonzales on Unsplash

Everyone thinks that everything onboard is included when they cruise, but that's simply not true...for almost any ship. There are a few all-inclusive ships that are smaller, river cruises, but they are also much more expensive.

Specialty dining

Most ships have quite a few dining options and often the only ones of those that are included in your paid price are the buffet, the main dining room, and one or two quick service restaurants/delis. So, unless you're prepared to pay pretty high fine dining prices to eat somewhere else on the ship, set your expectations. I like to research all the places to dine and decide if there's somewhere I'm dying to eat and splurge on for one meal. 

Drinks packages

If you're a big drinker on vacation, this might be for you, but if you are like me and only have a drink per day or even less, don't bother. And also don't force yourself to "get your money's worth", because you're just going to feel bad in every way possible. You can purchase one-off alcoholic beverages throughout your cruise, but a drinks package can run you for $65 on up per person...per day. That's a crazy add-on in the long run. Instead, put that money for one day towards a mixology or tasting class, so you learn something and get drinks included.

There are non-alcoholic drink packages, like for sodas, which aren't normally included either, and they are much more affordable, but also not a must if you just aren't a big soda person. I think we tried a bit to get as much out of our money as possible, and ended up drinking more than we would normally, but it was much cheaper than the alcoholic package.

You can often get free drinks several different ways on a cruise, including going to the Captain's Party, the sail-away celebration, or sometimes the random activities like art auctions have free drinks. They won't be the best drinks you've ever had, but they will be free. 

Booking excursions through your cruiseline

I'm just going to say it. Often cruiselines mark up the real cost of excursions quite a bit. You could end up paying 2-3 times the amount of the actual excursion just for the convenience of it. Do some research and find reputable companies that run excursions outside of your ship and book them on your own in advance. They will ask for your cruise info, so you can make sure they will get you back well in time to get back on the ship. You will probably end up with a more personalized and smaller tour group this way, too.

Thinking your cabin will have standard toiletries

Ship cabins are quite small and their bathrooms even more so. If you think you'll be provided with things like shampoo and conditioner, think again. Even if you are, they are almost always subpar and buying them onboard will cost you a small fortune. Just suck it up and pack your own. To save space and avoid the possibility of spillage, go for solid shampoo and conditioner bars, and don't forget OTC meds (i.e. aspirin, antacids, allergy pills) and first aid items, sunscreen, and aloe. Yes, it's annoying to bring them, but it's more annoying to pay for them at an insane mark-up.

For more suggestions on what you should bring onboard, here's a post on a great cruise wardrobe, convenient extras to bring, and how to pack everything.

Going to the spa onboard

Yes, spa treatments are a luxury, even on land, but would you pay nearly $200 for a massage at home? Probably not, so hit up a spa while in a port city and help the local economy or, if you're super into one of those seaweed wraps or whatever fancy thing the ship spa has to offer, book a treatment on a day the ship is in port. The prices are cheaper when they don't have a captive audience. The same goes for the ship's salon, when treatments go "on sale" on port days.

Tipping twice

Tipping is awesome and you should definitely do it, and you should absolutely tip people extra for going above and beyond, but don't double tip if you can avoid it. A lot of cruises add on gratuity to drinks and spa treatments automatically, so check your receipt before adding more on the tip line. They are hoping you won't notice it and spend even more. But again, tipping more on purpose for amazing service is always a lovely bonus for crew.

Keeping your phone on roaming

Those roaming charges for being out of the country can be exorbitant. Unless you've paid for a WiFi package, which I highly recommend if you are someone who likes to keep in touch with the fam or posts a lot on your socials or streams a lot, keep your phone in airplane mode as much as possible. This will save you a lot of heartache once you get back home. 

Not using the ship's app

A lot of cruise ships have apps that can give you up-to-date schedules and info about all the going's on during your trip. Sometimes they also have games you can play throughout the ship via the app, which you can't play any other way. Now, you could just rely on the daily paper schedule they give you at the start of each day, but do you really want to carry another thing with you? What about when things change and you don't have notification? Also, if you haven't memorized the ship's layout, the app can help you get around, too. Feel like a pro and always know where you're going when throughout your trip.

Dawdling and missing the boat

One thing you definitely do not want to do is miss your ship at a port of call. Leave yourself plenty of time to get back before cut-off. We made sure to give ourselves an hour or two before we needed to be back and we spent that time wandering around the small touristy port area or returning early, so we skipped the long lines trying to get back on the ship. The ship will absolutely leave without you if you are late and that means you will have to spend money to catch up to it at the next port of call, no exceptions. Manage your time wisely and put an alarm on your phone if you have to.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Using just any old card for your onboard spending

There's no way around it. You're going to spend money onboard, whether you like it or not. Make sure you get something out of it and use a card that gets you travel points, miles, or cash bonuses. Choose the card that has the best deals and attach that to your account on the ship. If you change your mind about what card to use, you can always switch it before the end of your cruise.

There you have it. Plenty of ways to not throw away money on your cruise and most are so easy to do. Make a plan, be strategic, and make time to both relax and enjoy the things onboard that interest you. 

Have you ever been on a cruise? Where did you go?