How to Access Your Favourite Content When You’re Traveling Around the Globe
Traveling around the globe can be an exciting, life-changing experience. But, it isn’t without its pain points. In many countries, access to digital content is blocked or restricted — which can put a serious damper on your nighttime plans. Not to mention that region-locks will likely limit the content catalogues of your favourite streaming services, possibly preventing you from watching all of the shows and movies that you’ve come to love.
So, what do you do? How do you catch up on the latest episode of your favourite show, watch the big game, or binge that upcoming Netflix season?
Let’s talk about why you may have issues accessing content abroad and how you can use a VPN while traveling to reduce your content frictions.
Why Is Your Content Blocked Abroad?
There are plenty of reasons that your content could be blocked abroad. Your content provider may be legally required to restrict access to certain countries via a region-lock due to copyright issues. Or, maybe the country you’re visiting has its own streaming service that’s pushed for a blackout of competing services. Of course, you could be in a country with heavy censorship that uses firewalls to regulate content.
Whatever the case, it’s likely that you’ll run into a few countries during your travels that don’t let you access your streaming services queue. Let’s go over the two most common cases — firewalls and region-locks.
Understanding Firewalls
Countries like China, Iran, and Cuba all have censored internet access. The Great Firewall of China constricts content pipelines from almost every other country in the world. So, if you want to watch Hulu in China, you’ll likely run into some issues. And, this issue is spread throughout the globe. Turkey undergoes entire blackouts of major websites due to “propaganda” being distributed on social media.
What’s the Deal With Region-Locks?
As if massive content-restricting firewalls wasn’t bad enough, region-locks are universal. These region-locks prevent you from streaming the same Netflix content in the UK as you do in the US. And each country has its own unique content library. So, let’s say you take a trip to France. While you’re in your hotel room, you decide to rewatch The Office (why not?).
Here’s the problem — your search for The Office isn’t turning up any results. That’s because The Office isn’t available in France. Chances are, you’re going to see a bunch of French movies and TV shows along with a small slice of the Hollywood selection available on Netflix.
And, it’s not your streaming service’s fault. There isn’t an international copyright act. Every country has unique copyright laws, content distribution channels, and censorship laws. Services like Netflix have to cater to all of these when they expand into a new region. It may be great for big businesses and nosy governments. But, it’s a pain for everyday people.
Having your content restricted is definitely not ideal, right? So, what do you do? How do you stream your favourite content in the wake of government firewalls and region-locks?
How to Use a VPN to Consume Your Favourite Content
Whether you’re dealing with overbearing government firewalls, annoying region-locks, or any other content-blocking method, you can leverage a Virtual Private Network (or VPN) to help you break your chains and get back to watching your favourite shows.
The easiest way to think of a VPN is that it acts as a disguise. Normally, when you connect to the Internet, your IP address gives away your location. So, every website you visit will immediately know where you’re located. Typically, this is an ideal situation. After all, when you search “food near me,” you don’t want something popping up 300 miles away, right?
But, when you’re dealing with content-blocks, this is less-than-ideal. A VPN disguises your IP address, encrypts your traffic, and routes that traffic to another server. This server can be located anywhere. So, let’s say that you’re in China and you connect to a VPN server in Texas. When you jump online, instead of your computer showing that you’re located in China, your VPN will encrypt your traffic and send it to a Texas server. Now, every website you visit thinks you’re located in Texas.
Here are the core steps you need to take to use a VPN.
- Purchase a VPN subscription: There are plenty of VPNs on the market to purchase. Personally, I recommend Surfshark — which is easy to use and doesn’t cost you an arm-and-a-leg (it’s only $1.99 per month right now!). Once you pick your ideal VPN, you can either pay with a credit card, or if you want additional security and anonymity, you can purchase your subscription with Bitcoin (another great feature that Surfshark offers). I recommend the latter if you’re dealing with government firewalls, especially if you live in that country.
- Download and install the client: Most VPNs simply give you an easy-to-use client. If not, they will have instructions on how to connect to their service.
- Connect to the right server: Once your VPN is booted up, you’ll want to choose which server you’re going to use. So, if you’re in China and you want US content, you can connect to literally any US server. Of course, some will be more crowded than others. At that distance, it’s smartest to use the least crowded one. Or, you can use one on the west coast.
That’s it! You’re done! You can now get back to your regularly scheduled programming. As long as you’re connected to that VPN, your favourite content streamers will assume you’re located in your home country and give you access to your favourite programming.
Big note: Some VPNs will be blocked in various countries. You should do due diligence to ensure that the one you choose is not blocked.
If you’ve caught traveling fever, remember to sign up for a VPN before you go trekking across the globe. Sure, you probably have plenty of outside activities to attend to, and you may think that accessing content will be the least of your worries. But, trust me, once you’re sitting down on your bed after a long night of exploring, nothing beats turning on your favourite show.