I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a very ‘techy’ person. 

So when I bought my new iPhone 16 a couple of months ago, I continued to use my device the way I have been doing so for years, despite it being quite the upgrade from my previous model.

A lot of the shiny new specifications and advanced features go over my head. 

However, one thing I always ensure is a very obvious upgrade to my untrained eye is the camera.

Not only that, but I recently learned a new hack to do with the camera that will seriously upgrade my game the next time I take a trip abroad. 

Particularly as I’m beginning to value solo travel more and more. 

If, like me, you’re a newbie to stuff like this, here’s the hack you didn’t know you needed.

The camera hack I recently learned that will come in handy abroad

If you’ve ever wandered through the streets of a local town, gazing up at beautiful monuments and found yourself eager to know more, then the Apple Visual Intelligence is one for you to try. It essentially does the research for you. 

By heading to ‘Settings’ and switching the intelligence on, your camera can then become something of a search engine in itself. Clever, right?

Once activated, you can use the Camera Control button (that curious new button on the lower right side of the device) to bring up the visual intelligence.

I gave it a go for myself and found it very easy to set up. 

I then decided to put it to the test by pointing my camera towards a framed piece of art in my living room. A quick tap of the ‘search’ button that comes up instantly, and I was inundated with information on the Van Gogh painting on my wall.

While I, of course, already knew about said painting since it’s in my house, it was a quick and surefire way to test the feature out and prove that it really does work. 

And given my next solo trip to Europe is as soon as next month, I’m already imagining being somewhere beautiful, such as an art museum or strolling down some cobbled streets, and finding this feature extremely handy. 

Why it’s changed my travel game

Much like the instant search on the painting, this clever camera feature will undoubtedly be a fantastic tool when travelling, especially when taking a solo trip and perhaps relying on your device more than you would normally.

The tech company describes it as turning your device into a “personal travel guide, concierge, and translator all in one tap. It’s a true game-changer for modern explorers.”

Since the hack is so quick and easy enough for pretty much anyone to learn, it offers immediate convenience that wasn’t necessarily there before.

Users can simply switch on the camera and immediately identify landmarks, local businesses such as shops and restaurants, and also instantly translate on the spot without having to do a lengthy typing session into a search engine.

Imagine coming across a little café and wanting to see the menu translated before deciding to head in, or stumbling across a beautiful church or building with no obvious information for tourists, now help is on hand instantly. 

Another time, I was looking for flights within French Polynesia for my honeymoon. I knew that domestic flights were running around $330 round-trip, but Travelocity priced it instead at $33 due to a currency conversion issue. It’s just a matter of paying attention, looking at the fine print, and meeting other people and sharing opportunities with them.

Is that how the blog started—a passion for sharing the fine print?

When I lived in Washington, DC, in 2002, a bunch of people I knew were starting political blogs, but I didn’t feel like I had something unique to say that nobody was saying in that space. I thought, what is it that people ask me about? So I just started writing up travel tips. One weekend in May I set up a free account at Blogspot.com and started writing for, you know, 30 people reading it, and then 500, and then 1,000. Last month, June, blog traffic dipped a bit to 5.5 million visitors, but in March it was up to 7.5 million.

All right then, let’s talk numbers. Every point system feels a little different than the last. It’s hard to know what, say, 100,000 miles is really worth when it comes to any given loyalty program. What’s your method?

So, I have a close idea of the value of each currency. I value a Marriott point at 65 basis points, for example, and a Hilton point at around 40 or 45, which is about where I value an IHG point, whereas I value a Hyatt point at 1.4 cents, which is around what I’m valuing an American and a United mile at. I’m valuing a Delta mile at about a penny, a Virgin mile at about nine-tenths of a cent.

Using those metrics as a rule of thumb, how do you make the most of your miles?

You want to think about the value of miles as a private currency. There’s no central bank, and it’s going to be subject to a given price level. The simplest model for this is the same sort of analysis you would do with inflation for a government-issued currency. Take the simple monetarist formula, MV equals PQ. The amount of money in the economy times velocity, or the speed at which it’s spent, is going to be equivalent to the amount of Q, quantity, the amount of goods in the economy, and P, the price level, right?

Yes, right. I knew that.

Price is affected by the quantity of seats on planes. Airlines have gotten quite good at what they call capacity discipline and not flying flights that aren’t selling. They’re printing a lot more miles than are being redeemed in a given year, and there are a lot more ways to earn the miles.

How can a newbie get started?

Don’t leave miles on the table. Sign up for programs. Track your points. I use AwardWallet, but keep track of your accounts however you want to do it. Grab your account number when you’re buying something online and go through a shopping portal. Maximize it by comparing portals, whether it’s something like Savewise or Cashback Monitor.

You sound like someone who, like any good points hacker, knows their way around Microsoft Excel.

I don’t really use spreadsheets. I have a really good memory, and I’ve been paying attention to this stuff for almost 30 years.

A version of this story originally appeared on WIRED.

In 2024, the Biden Administration secured the release of all four men, and the State Department reduced its travel advisory to Level 2.

Today, Chinese citizens who work for foreign companies, dual nationals, or even people of Chinese heritage and their family members may be at heightened risk of facing exit bans or arbitrary detention, experts say.

“There have been cases where the Chinese government does tend to regard ethnic Chinese as Chinese, even if their citizen documents say otherwise,” says Gabriel Wildau, China political risk analyst at Teneo, a global CEO consulting and advisory firm. “We’ve had cases where … the family members of Chinese people who are under investigation or fugitives are held as sort of hostages, subject to exit bans in China, as a means of leverage to try to get the actual target of the corruption investigation or the actual fugitive to return.”

Despite the heightened risks of business travel to China, Wildau says for the most part, travel to China is safe.

“Things have gotten a bit worse, but perceptions have outstripped the reality in terms of how bad things are,” he says. “Thousands of people enter and exit every month without incident. There are a few high-profile incidents that have gotten people’s attention, rightfully so. But I think to some extent, focusing on those incidents obscures the bigger picture, which is that for … the vast majority of people in the vast majority of situations, there’s no problem.”

Wildau, who regularly visits China for work himself, says that China is also granting more business visas than ever, including 10-year visas, and some countries experience visa-free travel to the country.

For business people planning to travel to China, these are some of the considerations before going, according to experts:

Consider your risk level. People linked to adversarial foreign governments, or working in sensitive industries, such as avionics, defense-related industries, or human rights law, may be at heightened risk of scrutiny.

Use a VPN. Though not foolproof, a virtual private network can protect your search history and provide access to websites blocked by the Great Firewall.

Protect your devices. Sophistical surveillance and tracking technology has opened up phones and other devices to monitoring. Consider bringing a burner phone if you wish to protect the contents of your device.

Check your documents. Make sure your passport and visa are up to date to avoid extra scrutiny or detention at Chinese customs.

Post-trip protocol. Assume that any devices taken to China have been compromised and have your company’s IT department do a thorough search for any malicious software.