Apps will keep you grounded during hectic travel schedule
Q: My new role will require a lot of travel. What tools will keep me on track while I’m on the road?
A: These indispensable travel apps are like having your executive assistant by your side while on the road.
TripIt is a mobile travel organizer that links your email flight, car and hotel reservations and saves them all to one itinerary in chronological order which can be forwarded to others. It updates any flight delays and changes that are emailed to you.
To book or reroute your flight compare airline rates with Google Flights, then select the best available seat using SeatGuru — which has aircraft configurations showing superior to substandard seating. While waiting on a layover at an unfamiliar airport, GateGuru displays a terminal map, a layout of amenities in the airport near your gate as well as restaurant ratings.
It also shows security wait times, flight delays, gate changes and layover updates.
For driving in an unfamiliar location, Waze is a must. It’s a community driven app providing the quickest route in real time, including traffic speeds, delays and detours. Beware: it’s a battery hog even if it’s just running in the background.
Out-of-country roaming charges rack up quickly. J Wire will pinpoint free nearby urban wireless hot spots in 140 countries — downloadable for off-line use. Wi-Fi locations are filtered by location type — hotel, café, restaurant. WhatsApp automatically downloads your contact list and will allow you to SMS message via Internet free.
Tongue tied in a foreign language? Google Translate can rapidly translate whole paragraphs of text or even the spoken word. Say a phrase in English, and it will repeat it the 57 foreign languages of your choice.
No matter where you travel these handy apps will make your travel experience less stressful and more productive.
Reprinted from The Province, December 13, 2015.