Tech Tuesday :: Google Traveler Tricks

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Flipping through endless Encyclopedia Britannica volumes for elementary and jr. high projects, it still blows.my.mind Google can generate answers to 85% of travel queries in seconds.

What if I told you Google could work even faster? As long as you ask the right travel question, your answer will pop up in milliseconds, no additional clicks required. Here are some basic Google travel queries I use every day:

Weather Find the weather forecast, search “weather city” ex: “weather vancouver” *Note, if you just type "weather" Google will also show the weather forecast in your current location. To find airport weather conditions, search “[airport name/code] airport + conditions” ex: “ogg airport + conditions”

Local Time Find the local time, search “time place” ex: “time Paris”

Directions Find a map and a link to directions, search "business place" ex: "pizzeria farina vancouver"

Flights Find direct flights from your home airport, search "direct flights from vancouver"

Find direct flights from your home airport to your destination, search "direct flights from vancouver to maui"

Find flight status, search “flight name and/or number” ex: “ha 30″

Currency Convert currency, search “amount currency to another currency” ex: “100 cad to aud” *Note that sometimes this feature can be finicky. Make sure you have the exact short-form symbol for each country's currency. Bonus Conversions: Temperatures – “[temperature] [C/F] to [F/C]” ex: “12 c to f” Distances or Driving Speeds– “[value] [distance unit] in/to [distance unit]” ex: “140 miles in km” / ex: “90 mph to kph”

Translate Translate words and phrases, search "translate: [word or phrase] to language" ex: "translate: I like bananas to french" Bonus: Type the foreign word you don't know into Google image search to see what it is.

*I would like to give credit to the Vagabondish travel blog, credited with posting some of these Google travel shortcuts in 2008. I've been using them since then.

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[images via google]

Mastering The 10-Day Vacay

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"To go or not to go, that is the question." - Trish

How many vacation days you get is one thing, maximizing them for travel combining weekends and national holidays is another. It's not out of the question to take a six-hour flight to NYC for a four-day weekend, so why not consider a longer, international flight for a 10-day trip? If your choice is to stay or to go---staying because 10 days just isn't long enough---the obvious answer is GO. The trip will just look a little different.

The Buffet Vs. The Tasting Menu I'm sure we'd all like to travel buffet-style, s-l-o-w-l-y savoring our way through the appetizers, salads, entrées, desserts and cheeses; but commitments, time and work projects get in the way. Instead, think of the 10-day vacay like a five-course tasting menu; it's concentrated, enchanting, and leaves you satisfied without being over full. Plus, an extended week allows you to see the world without a leave of absence, using all your vacation days, or taking a toll on your life at home.

A Thailand Tasting Menu For example, at the end of March I'm taking a 12-day trip to Thailand: two weekends, five days off work and two national holidays. Learning the hard way, bouncing around every few nights in my past travels, I'm going to maximize the trip style = beach + sun experience and minimize fatigue by choosing one destination {from which I can do day trips} within driving distance of Bangkok.

Mastering The 10-day Vacay - Fly direct or make as few connections as possible. - Choose flight times that help stretch your time on the ground. - Minimize travel within your destination---especially air travel. - Choose a base and take day trips vs bouncing around to multiple destinations. - Avoid changing hotels every two nights. Make a three-night minimum rule. - Pack light, with less time on the ground, every second counts.

[photos taken by @tripstyler in Australia]

Tech Tuesday :: Informed Hotel Booking

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One of the biggest travel time wasters is fretting over what hotel to book, getting stuck in research mode comparing features, price, location, etc.

Have you been there? I have, and it results in hotel decision paralysis. The worst case scenario---like shopping at the dual-winged multi-floor Macy's NYC---is you get overwhelmed by the options and give up.

Over the past year, Kayak's been working on a series of solutions for "hotel research purgatory", with the latest of three launching last Thursday. Now, when you research a hotel on Kayak, there are three hotel recommendation check boxes in the left column for filtering results by Trip Advisor reviews, Frommer's or Budget Travel picks. Check one box, or all three for super filtered results. {Trip Styler Tip :: As of Friday, March 9th, Kayak added Jetsetter and Travel+Leisure recommendations to above list as well.}

It's like having a friend or hotel expert from Frommer's or Budget Travel help you decide which hotel is the right fit for your trip style = ........

How It Works

1. Go to kayak.com and enter a destination and date range.
2. Once the results appear, click one of the hotel recommendation filters on the left column.
3. Search results are then filtered based on recommendations from your selection{s}---Frommer's, Budget Travel or 60,000 million+ Trip Advisor ratings---rendering a massive list of possible results, manageable AND informed.
4. Further constrain results by filtering price, stars, location and hotel brands.

Hotel research crisis averted.

More Tech Tuesday STOP, Are You Using A Promo Code? Trading Airline Points The Six-Week Rule For Buying Airline Tix Dashboard To Wall Hotel Tonight

[img via kayak]

Travel Beauty :: Heather's Picks

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{Want more travel beauty? Get your fill the third Wednesday of every month. Lauren, our travel beauty expert, is already whipping up her next concoction post!}

This month we asked our very own Fashion Friday editor about her travel beauty favorites. Check out what Heather has to say. We'll also be featuring other TS editors' preferred products in the coming months, so stay tuned.

What are your 3 favorite travel-friendly beauty products?
1/ I swear by a facial sunscreen that I heard about in a Trip Styler Travel Beauty post over a year ago: Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Liquid Daily Sun Protection SPF 55. I put it on before my make-up and reapply it throughout the day. This sunscreen protects my fairer than fair skin.

2/ Malin+Goetz makes a great travel kit that's both male and female friendly and includes sensitive-skin face cleanser, face moisturizer, shampoo, conditioner, body cleanser and body moisturizer.

3/ I love Giovanni's individually wrapped sanitizing towelettes. They have many uses while traveling, plus they smell fantastic. I love the mixed bag of grapefruit, peppermint and lavender towelettes. So refreshing!

{Heather's tip: As you sweat in the sweltering sun, your sunscreen has a tendency to trickle under your sunglasses and into your eyes. Ouch! Remember to keep it away from your eye area during application.}

What beauty routine do you follow while on vacation?
I'm a fan of the five-minute face. On a warm-weather vacation, I make it a three-minute face, always using SPF 30+ sunscreen as the base, followed by mineral powder. No need for primping your peepers, as they'll be covered by sunnies. I'm also a fan of the top knot and the scarf turban to keep my hair out of the way. On an urban or cold-weather vacation, a hat does wonders for frizzy or unwashed hair and a pulled-together look---applies to guys too!

{Heather's tip: Check out this simple how-to video on tying your own scarf turban.}

Do you do anything in flight to stay beautified?
On a long flight, just before descent, I always brush my teeth, spritz my face with Caudalie Beauty Elixir and apply lip gloss and Laura Mercier Translucent Mineral Powder to make me feel clean, refreshed and ready for public view. Plus a little blush and deodorant never did anyone any harm, right?

[photos via @heatherlovesit, russh mag and products mentioned]

Tech Tuesday :: Promo Codes

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Notice how any time you check out online---be it for a flight, hotel stay or jacket purchase---there's a promo code input box?

It's a love/hate thing. I love these little blank boxes when I have a discount code to insert, and hate them when I'm checking out sans 10%, 20% or 30% discount. Urg, savings of what could have been.

The Solution Google to the rescue. For example, if you're about to click "buy" on an Air Canada flight to London and you see an empty promo code box; stop! Open a new window and Google "Air Canada promo codes." When I do this type of search , 60% of the time I score relevant promo codes through sites like RetailMeNot. The worst case scenario is the code you find and insert doesn't work. A for effort and only one minute of your day is lost!

Why Using promotional channels like website landing pages, email, Twitter and Facebook, airlines and hotels are always publishing semi-secret discount codes. Take 10 seconds to Google "<insert airline or hotel name here> promo code"  and you could save yourself a good chunk of change, especially if you're about to buy an international flight or multi-night hotel stay.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

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[img by @tripstyler]