7 Useful Mobile Apps for Travelers

With the rise of smartphones in the past few years, it’s no surprise that people are downloading more apps than ever. Many of these individuals frequently travel, whether for fun or for work. Downloading mobile travel apps to a smartphone can be highly useful for a number of purposes.

Taxi Magic is a free app that can be downloaded to iPhone, Android or BlackBerry. It is a great service that is available in over 25 cities around the United States that allows you to book a taxi directly on your device while you are out. The app allows you to track the location of the taxi while you are waiting for pickup, which reduces the stress of wondering whether or not it will show up. It is fast and efficient, although you cannot be offline to use it.

OpenTable is a good app for individuals who are looking for a restaurant at which they would be satisfied to eat. It operates on GPS and tracks down restaurants in your general area, giving you information as to menu, prices and available seats. This app currently works in the United States, Canada, England and Ireland.

Cheap Gas! is undoubtedly one of the best mobile apps for individuals who use their car to travel. This app is free on iPhone and will direct you to the nearest gas stations based on your location. Additionally, it will also inform you of the stations’ current gas prices. This app works in the United States and Canada.

Free Wi-Fi is a useful app that is beneficial for locating places that offer free wireless Internet. This can be especially handy if you are at risk of going over your wireless plan’s monthly data.

FlightView is a free travel app for Android smartphones that gives you information about the status of your flight, whether it is delayed or cancelled. In addition, the app informs you of alternate flights as well as the weather.

Expense Tracker–Spending is an app available for iPhone that will calculate your expenses while you are traveling. As most people try to budget their spending, this app is extremely useful in helping to keep you on track with how much money you spend in real-time. It enables you to be aware of and adjust your spending, if necessary, which will keep you on track with your finances.

LogMeIn Ignition is probably the most expensive travel app at $29.99, but may be well worth it, as it allows you to access your home computer directly from your smartphone. This is very useful if you need to access a specific file you only have saved on your computer at home. It is available for iPhone and Android devices.

Author:- Heather Johnson writes for Honeymoon Destinations, the best honeymoon research and planning website. Discover some great honeymoon ideas today!

Smart Travelers Make a Smart Choice to Use an iPad in Making Calls Abroad

Verizon recently announced advancement in the Samsung Galaxy SIII. It will soon function to work on all GSM networks around the world. This is great news for smart travelers who want to save on making calls abroad. Now, Samsung SIII won’t just work for the traditional CDMA networks in the United States.

For world roamers, they can expect to use this Android phone to save on calls abroad.  Soon, users will be able to swap out their Verizon SIM cards, and then insert a local SIM card on their phones. To make it possible, however, they shall be able to pay at a premium cost at about $1.29 for voice calls/minute in Europe while a data plan should cost them about $15/megabyte outside of North America.

You may also consider an iPad for a roaming device when it comes to voice and data messaging for its frequency and multi-network capability. It simply means that when you purchase a local SIM card that is compatible for use with your iPad, you have the power to make calls on VoIP like Skype for only at least 2c/minute. Bringing this second device along the way shall become a cool alternative in making voice and data calls.

Take note, however, that tablets such an iPad don’t support phone calls made to networks, but that’s irrelevant if you could make Skype and a phone number working inbound. With Skype, you or your loved ones can make a call if the app is installed and turned on. Now this could become an even brighter idea if you forward your phone calls to Skype. On the other hand, you can make use of your iPad, too in making international calls by using prepaid phone cards which gains you more savings.

Although the distinction between smartphones and tablets aren’t so distinguishable now, there’s a clear difference when it comes to the iPad’s capability to let you view documents more conveniently than using smartphones with much smaller screens.

Simply tagging along a tablet with you is a much convenient option when roaming abroad. Getting an iPad for international communications is a must for busy travelers who want to save money on calls. It goes without saying that using a tablet in traveling abroad and communicating to anyone in the globe is far a better alternative than tagging along a small smartphone.  Use your tablet and insert a local SIM card on it to enjoy your travel more. Then, get and use prepaid calling cards to avoid huge phone bills when you reach home.

Author Bio:- Angel Baluyut is a freelance writer and contributor to many online publications and blogs. Complete your travel experience with your iPad tablet, local SIM card, list of country codes, and prepaid phone cards.

iPhone Battery Case: Travel Gear You Can’t Leave Home Without It

If you’re the type of person who’s always on the go or perhaps enjoys taking on adventures. These days, anyone cannot live without bringing their gadgets with them. Supposed you are having the best time of your life in a place you have been dreaming to be at. Knowing that you have your iPhone with you allows you to do almost everything; from taking photos, watching videos, listening to music, to connecting to people. At some point in time, you have noticed that the battery isn’t just enough to make a phone call anymore. Imagine if this happened in an emergency. This is where iPhone battery cases come in. Although there may be a lot of ways to extend your battery life such as minimizing using the applications, disabling auto updates, and a lot more, but you also need to keep in mind that these ways may be necessary for your device. Thus, the best option is to get a battery case.

What is it?

You may not be familiar with this gear but this ensures to double your iPhone’s maximum battery power. Along with the number of different types of battery cases with its features, you have to choose the best among the wide selection of these cases in the market. Usually, this gear has the charging and sync options. Thus, wherever you may be, according to your demand, you can use the device with ease and extended battery life. Consider it a power pack added to your device for extended battery life. Simply put this way, a gear will be connected to your iPhone that will enable you to use it for 8 hours more talking time, 11 hours more watching videos and 44 hours more listening to your favorite music.

How to use it?

Since it is light in weight and ultra slim, its features ensure that you can bring this gear and have a longer battery life for your phone anywhere. This gear is attached to the device just as where you place the battery. People wouldn’t know an added gear is placed on your handset. Other than this gear, most battery case manufacturers include a convenient charge and sync dock. This is used to charge your device once again at any power outlet else use on the USB cable and insert it on any USB port and at the same time synchronize to another device when needed. The switch allows you to turn the gear on and off. In other words, not only will it prolong the battery life but also control the power.

Traveling can be more exciting when you’re all equipped with the right gears and gadgets. This battery case should save time from looking for looking for ways to charge your phone up when you badly need it. Thereby, you can continue using the phone for as much as you would want to.

Kiara is an online writer who is working for Spyder Digital. She focuses on the topics about iPhone technology and accessories. Aside from being a writer, she is also a traveler who loves to take her gadgets and gears with her.

How To Stay In Touch With Friends & Family When Travelling Abroad

Are you planning on travelling abroad this year? We’re not referring to a one or two week holiday, we’re talking a 1-12 month adventure! Wherever you are planning on venturing to, be it a Summer adventure in the U.S., a move to Canada, a year-long excursion to New Zealand or Australia, 6 months in Thailand or 3 months inter-railing through Europe, you’re going to want to ensure you keep in contact with friends and family back home. This can be a lot more difficult than you might think. Different time zones, unstable mobile and internet connections, expensive call rates and dodgy phone contracts can all play a part in disrupting your plans to stay in touch with loved ones back home. Follow our 5 top tips to ensure that you can stay in touch with family and friends while travelling abroad.

1:- Stay Social with Social Media

It may seem obvious, but social media can be the easiest means of staying in touch with those back home. Even if you’re not a fan of Facebook or Twitter, the ability to send messages, videos and images privately to other users can be a great feature when you’re travelling abroad. However the messenger and call features on Facebook are going to need a pretty solid internet connection.

2:- Buy an International Phone Card

When you’re dealing with unstable internet connections and being offered crazy call plan prices, an international phone card can prove to be a huge asset. Prepaid international call cards make calling home much easier and much less expensive. Some international phone card providers such as Enjoy Prepaid (http://www.enjoyprepaid.com/) even offer the ability to make calls and send text messages from a P.C. using the card. If you’re travelling abroad for business for a lengthy period of time, it may be worth asking your employer if you can get a business phone card (http://www.enjoyprepaid.com/business-phone-cards.html).

2:- Bring Your Own Smartphone With You

If travelling abroad, get your own smartphone unlocked to any network and bring it with you. While travelling abroad, you can simply rely on the use of a call card or prepaid sim to be able to make calls without having to get tied into a call plan or even worse an expensive bill pay plan with a phone that is of poor quality and poor functionality.

3:- Scout Out WiFi HotSpots & Internet Cafes

Before you travel abroad, do some research into the WiFi hotspots and internet cafes available in the location to which you are travelling. This will give you peace of mind that once you reach destination, you won’t have to go days without being able to contact friends and family back home, especially in the first few days when you may be yet to set up with a call card or phone.

4:- Blog About Your Experience

A great way for friends and family to hear all about your travels is to keep a travel blog while travelling. In doing so, you can share images and stories that otherwise you’d spend a considerable time on the phone or via social media trying to relay to loved ones.

Keeping in touch with friends and family when travelling abroad can be a challenge, but once you plan ahead, you’ll be just fine. Enjoy your trip!

Make sure to check 5 traveller apps that can help you in your journey.

Business Travel Crimping Your Margins? Try These 6 Cost-Cutting Tips

No matter how careful you were, you could probably stand to cut your company’s travel budget. With foresight and discipline, these six strategies are all relatively easy to accomplish.

  1. Stay Away from Pricey Destinations

To the extent possible, avoid traveling to — or spending great lengths of time — in pricey destinations. The good news is that the world’s most expensive business travel destinations aren’t always places you’d want to spend a lot of time: in 2015, Caracas, Venezuela topped one list. But plenty of spendy cities — New York, London, Sydney, San Francisco — are likely to make your shortlist. Plan accordingly.

  1. Get an Airline Credit Card

When you can’t avoid business travel, at least use a credit card that pays you back for every dollar you spend on airfare. Review up-to-date lists of the best airline credit cards for products that fit your needs and travel preferences.

  1. Downgrade Your Hotel

You don’t need to stay in a four- or five-star hotel everywhere you go. In fact, if you care about your business travel budget, you shouldn’t. Opt for more down-to-earth accommodations and save the self-pampering for personal travel.

  1. Keep Discretionary Expenses to a Minimum

Many expenses related to business travel are tax-deductible. You’ll of course want to speak with your accountant to determine the best course of action for your specific situation, but you don’t need professional advice to increase your travel-related tax deductions’ potency the next time you travel.

One easy tactic: spend less at mealtimes. The IRS allows you to deduct a flat per-diem rate for meals and incidental expenses (M&IE). The exact rate varies by locale, and you can only deduct half your M&IE. It still beats nothing, though. And the less you actually spend on food, the more of that M&IE pot you’ll be able to pocket.

  1. Combine Multiple Trips Into One

If your standing itinerary takes you to multiple cities in the same geographic region or flight direction, consider reworking it to accommodate fewer, longer trips with greater numbers of proximate stops. If you have to hit the four largest cities in Texas every quarter anyway, why not hit them in one fell swoop?

  1. Don’t Go At All

Think you absolutely have to take all those planned business trips? Think again. Videoconferencing technology has improved to the point that many pro forma trips simply aren’t necessary any longer. This is especially true for trips not likely to result in new business or additions to your team. Why spend four hours on a plane each month just to touch base with your subordinates for an afternoon when a two-hour video chat will suffice?

Keep That Trimmer Handy

Travel isn’t the only business expense on which you’ll need to keep a watchful eye. You — or your designated cost-cutting lieutenant — need to be on constant guard for opportunities to reduce the cost of business software, professional services, equipment, office space, local transportation, employee benefits, and even smaller outlays like office supplies and overhead. No expenditure is too unimportant to cut.

Tips On How To Best Write An Essay About Traveling

The best way to actually make money while you do what you love is to do travel writing. Your ultimate goal would be to deliver information from your point of view to the people reading your work. This calls for a need to be focused and attentive throughout your escapades.

There are assignment help in australia ideas that give an in-depth look at how to execute professional articles as well as make money through this venture of travel writing or blogging.

Here are some of the basic rules to adhere to in the quest to be a great travel writer:

Research

Before you travel to any destination, one needs to have read as much as possible on the region’s history as well as try and understand how the people in this specific region live.

This means one needs to simply understand their customs to better understand if something stands out or is peculiar. This might, in turn, save your life or get you an exclusive piece, could go either way really.

Write what you know

As a writer, you need to personalize your work. Tell stories only you can narrate and build up. This is because there are a ton of writers out there who are doing what you are doing and may even be better at storytelling.

Why writers need to do this is because the only difference would be that your writing appeals to your audience because you are telling it from your point of view.

Show and tell

As a writer, you need to have mastered the show and tell techniques. You need to slow down the pace of the writing and describe your travel in detail, what you felt, saw, expected to see and didn’t, the people you traveled with. Every aspect of your travel should be included to make the reader feel like they were present.

Set up time for the conclusion

Many at times, writers leave readers in a daze and confused wondering how a story came to a screeching halt. A good writer should never subject their readers to a high speed ending; they should instead build up the momentum to make a reader reflect on the journey, what may have inspired them as you slowly apply the brakes to come to a conclusion.

Use vivid language

As a travel writer, one needs to use language that is descriptive as well as specific. This allows the readers to have an actual image in their mind. As a travel writer, your sole purpose while telling a story is to evoke images into a readers mind. Vivid writing is powerful as well as meaningful.

Use a checklist while writing

New writers in travel blogs may need to use a checklist depending on their content and editor’s inclination.

In basic writing, we look at the Five W’s and H. This is where, when, who, why, what and how. But when it comes to travel writing, one needs to have some additional information to give an edge as well as create a vivid image in the writer’s mind. These elements include a lead; this is a strong opening to the story to attract the attention of the readers and an end which wraps up the article in a slow and captivating manner in order not to leave the reader in a daze.

Always get another set of eyes to go through your work

Almost all writers make mistakes and this would be harder to spot if an editor does not go through your writing. Get a friend or a copy editor to go through your work before publishing. When you get a writer to go through your writing, it is best to consider a person who is not conversant with the topic. This helps you because the editor makes sure the important details skipped are included.

Some of the most obvious steps of the travel may get omitted because in your mind it is very obvious forgetting the people you are writing for were not actually there and may not understand if that specific strep is omitted.

Learn to self-edit

Many writers go wrong because they always post before they re-read their article. At this point, this is when the writer says, “Wow, how could I make such a typo?” Being an editor does not mean that you are 100 % perfect at it, it just means that you need to be more deliberate in your writing as well as in your editing to avoid mistakes. As you review your work, make sure you also get another set of eyes on it. It takes a lot of practice to put out articles with minimal mistakes but eventually with enough practice you will get there, writing is art.

Here are examples of some travel bloggers and how they get to blogging.

The Kenyan Backpacker

This blogger travels alone and concludes that traveling is actually not expensive but also shares that Luxury travel is. In his blog, he uses b=vivid language and gives links to where the best spots to travel to are and how to get there, he actually goes ahead and states the price ranges for his readers.

Wangechi Gitahi

The Wangechi Gitahi Travel blog is an inspiration to anybody who believes and wants to eventually travel solo. Reading her blog due to her vivid descriptions will make you pack up a backpack, quit your job and head out. She also features unique experiences from all over the globe.

The Poor Traveler

This is a budget travel guide blog. In this blog, they provide and give tips on how to avoid mistakes while traveling as well as avoid wasting hard earned cash while at it. On their website, they also have a disclaimer saying they are not in the business of promoting cheap travel but to share what journeys will give value for your money.

This blogger also captivates readers’ attention by saying that most of their clientele are full-time employees but also gets the time to travel and seek adventure