How tech can help you to have a stress-free holiday this summer

Summer yawns ahead of us. And if you haven’t ended up with the raw deal in the office scramble, you will be spending at least a week — maybe two! — abroad at some point in the next six weeks. During this time you will experience the joys of temporary selective amnesia: if the topic is even raised, you will be entirely bewildered by even the notion of full-time employment. Enjoy this while it lasts, for reality will soon be gnawing at you again.

Plus, you need to get there first. For there is an unfortunate paradox to holidays: while being on one is like a soft-focus fantasy, getting there is invariably nightmarish. You need to pick the dates and the location, you need to book the flights, the transfer and the accommodation. One person is only coming for four days; someone else has booked onto a different flight that gets in 20 minutes after yours, and is insisting that you wait for them before Ubering into town. Speaking of which, do they have Uber there?

Mercifully, while you cannot remedy the uselessness of your friends and family, you can outsource most of the logistics to technology. This is how to have a smart holiday.

Booking it

Organising a holiday is a rather Sisyphean task: every time you think you’ve found your deal, the prices rocket up because you waited a day, someone has beaten you to the cheap seats and now you have to start all over again. Use Hopper: a flight-booking app that delivers real-time information on whether to wait or buy your flights right away in order to have money left over for sundown sangria. Select your destination and dates to get your estimate; if the advice is to wait, the app will send you a notification when the price drops. Estimations are pulled from a huge compendium of historical flight data: the app says its predictions are 95 per cent accurate (hopper.com). If you don’t have the time to dally, Skyscanner’s app will present you with the cheapest flight combination available for your dates and destination; you can also compare hotel rooms and car hire (skyscanner.net).

For accommodation, Airbnb’s app is streamlined and keeps everything in one place: as well as searching for a place to stay, sharing the booking with your holiday companions and messaging the host inside the app, you can also hunt for bars in the area and create an itinerary (airbnb.co.uk).

Hotels are also going hi-tech: some allow you to check in remotely, and major hotel groups such as Marriott and Hilton have their own apps. Boutique hotel rooms often have companions such as the Amazon Alexa, or lighting that is activated by sensor. Others have bots poised to answer questions via messaging apps: from check-in and check-out times, to what time the rooftop bar closes.

Though occasionally tech literacy goes a bit far: this week, one guest reported that her hotel in the UAE had found her in Facebook and celebrated this by printing off photos of her and sticking them all over the hotel room. Dislike.

Prep talk

You’ve picked the place and booked the flights, so it’s time for your next panic — preparation. It’s all part of the process.

Of course, it needn’t be. Firstly, Google Trips replaces the analogue travel folder: the app collates all your bookings from your Gmail account and organises it chronologically. It will also nudge you in good time to get to the airport.

Google’s hive mind will also suggest activities and places you might want to eat or drink, with ratings, reviews and opening hours. It all works offline too, so you don’t need to worry about hooking up to the shonky airport wifi (google.com/trips).

Packing sends the calm and collected into a tailspin: first, make sure you have a clever suitcase. ArloSkye insists its carry-on suitcase is “unbreakable”: moreover, it’s international cabin-sized, so you shouldn’t have to leave it in the hold at the mercy of truculent or hapless baggage handlers.

It has a built-in charger with five full charges, whisper-quiet wheels, a Florentine leather handle and no outer zipper: it closes instead with sturdy combination locks. It’s also elegant, streamlined and lightweight — the design will make cattle-class plebs feel like private jet ballers (arloskye.com)

If you can’t justify a new suitcase, pimp yours with a Bluetooth padlock: you can manage the bijou Noke lock via an app (noke.com).

Carry your own power via Firebox’s holiday juice boxes: the pineapple will sustain your phone and your spirit through inevitable delays (firebox.com).

If you don’t know what else to stuff into your suitcase, enlist Packpoint: plug in your destination, dates and how long you’re there for, and what you might get up to, and it will suggest what you need, according to the weather and the activity. You can also add details including whether you are travelling with a baby or working when you’re poolside (packpnt.com).

Happy holidays

You’ve arrived, and no one has been arrested (yet). It’s time to celebrate — though if you’re going for a digital detox, make it a selective one. Switch off your emails but download the Google Translate app for menus, and the attempted seduction of waiters. Speaking of which, Tinder tourism is a matchless way to meet someone swarthy with an unpronounceable last name. Though if you do want to make some memories, revert to analogue stylings: the Lomo Instant Murano camera has three lenses, Fisheye, Portrait and Closeup, and produces hard copy Polaroid-style pictures that will far outlast the cocktail hangover (shop.lomography.com).

Follow Pheobe Luckhurst on Twitter: @phoebeluckhurst