Blog — Trip Styler

Travel iPhone Apps :: Trip Journal

Trip Journal takes the travel diary to the next level.  Share your travel experiences with your friends and family, or just keep track of it yourself!  With the Trip Journal iPhone App you can easily document your travel experiences and automatically track your itinerary in real time, while on vaca. Trip Journal App Details

  • $0.99
  • works with iPhone, iTouch and iPad
  • with Google Earth integration, show your traveling routes, waypoints for visited locations, full screen photos, videos, comments and blog entries
  • trip stats including distance, time and geography traveled are automatically documented and included in the journal
  • supports past trip management and multiple trip management
  • keep an archive of your trips
  • access trip info by chronologically browsing the locations list and media galleries as well as the blog entries
  • share your trip on your favorite social networks and content sharing portals, including Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube and Twitter

Other Travel iPhone Apps we’ve Reviewed

,

Tips to Passing Time at the Airport

,

tips to passing time in an airportLong connection? Delayed flight? Arrived early for your flight? Here are some tips that will help you pass--and dare I say enjoy--your time at the airport:

Get the Lay of the Land Either before your trip or when you land, get a sense of the airport: what's there, what's not, what appeals to you, what doesn't. I can't tell you the amount of times I've settled on a place to eat, drink or lounge only to find out later there's a much better place 5 mins down the concourse.  Taking a few seconds to plan ahead could mean the different between an enjoyable vs unenjoyable airport layover.

There's an App for That If you're at an airport in the US, there's an iPhone app that can tell you everything you need to know about the airport. Download GateGuru to guide your way.

Sleep Many major domestic and international hubs have airport hotels attached. Replenishing lost sleep is a commodity when traveling, so don't rule out this option.  Most airport hotels have day,  hourly or overnight rates.

Lounge Around Many airline lounges offer day-passes for those not indulging in business or first class. If you've ever immersed yourself in the serenity and service offerings of an airline lounge, you know that paying a little extra for lounge access is worth it--in food and drink alone--not including everything else.

Take a Tour Earlier this year I had a layover at the İstanbul Atatürk Airport, excited at the prospect of being in Istanbul for a few hours, I found out about Turkish Airlines free tours of the city. Turns out I didn't have enough time to indulge, but the opportunity is there, regardless of whether it's organized/available via THY or self-directed. Check out your airport or airlines touring options before you go!

Relax Most major airports have mobile spas offering nail service, massage and hair dressing. Some airports (like Singapore's Changi) even offer the opportunity to don your bathing suit and sit poolside avec un bev. If you're feeling particularly energy-filled, many airport hotels even offer a workout/shower service.

People watch People watching at airports is like a global lesson in trends.  It's so underrated.  I love playing the "where is that person from" game and spotting 'styles du moment.'  This 'game' is even more fun with a specialty coffee or cocktail in-hand.

[photo by ocean yamaha]

,

Tourist Attractions - Worth It?

,

Whether it's the London Eye, Eiffel Tower or Empire State Building* some tourist attractions live up to their expectations and some fall short. The more I travel, the less I go near tourist attractions.  Yes, they have a time and place, but also have the potential of being traps, and even savvy travelers can sometimes fall prey.  Whether or not a tourist attraction is worth it, is largely a personal decision, therefore, I've put together a list for evaluating tourist attractions before you go to [hopefully] help save you time and money, the next time you're galavanting the globe and become tempted by attractions. Good and Bad Tourist Attraction Examples lucca bikingITALY - [trip style = sightseeing] In the fall of 2009 I stopped over in Lucca, Italy with my husband and two friends. One of the best days we spent there was an amazing afternoon biking around the fortified city's walls and randomly stopping for lunch at a restaurant that "looked good"--and it was. Rather than getting stuck in a tower or dungeon tour, we were outside, admiring the city from every angle, lunching at a local haunt and riding bikes like many of the locals do.

elephant orphanage nairobiKENYA - [trip style = adventure + safari] Also in the fall of 2009, before going to the Masai Mara, my husband and I spent 3 days in Nairobi.  We were there for a wedding. On day 2, we researched local attractions and found an elephant orphanage that was highly rated on Trip Advisor. We decided to go. Seeing the baby elephants paraded around, drinking out of giant bottles and cooling themselves in the mud was cute, and I was happy the entrance donation went to rehabilitating the little (big) "Babars", but I left thinking: "what did I just do, I'm leaving for the Masai Mara in two days to see elephants in their natural habitat."

limaPERU - [trip style = urban] Spring 2008 took my husband and I to Peru. While in Lima I was more impacted exploring and experiencing different neighborhoods on foot, than touring the city's nether regions (catacombs) gazing at age-old bone piles. In Lima, I preferred to stay above-ground, especially given the earthquake that happened a few months before we arrived.

Evaluating Tourist Attractions Before you Go

  • Will it enhance or deepen my destination experience?
  • Am I just doing it to pass time?
  • Am I going because I think I should do touristy things?
  • Is it totally different from what I'd experience at home?
  • Am I interested in the topic?
  • Is it on my bucket list or a wonder of the world?
  • Do locals do it too?  (This consideration is major because if locals do something, you know it must be an authentic draw.  Case in point, when I hiked a portion of the Great Wall of China, there were more nationals than tourists climbing the ancient, uneven stones used to construct the wall.)

----------------------------------

*The London Eye: ...is a cool way to see the city for first-timers, but not a must. There are so many other ways to see London. Only go to the "eye" on a clear day.  I even got a little motion sick, even though the gargantuan wheel only moves at 1km/h.

*The Eiffel Tower: ...the first time I went, it was sundown.  Seeing the sun set and the City of Lights illuminate in the evening was nothing short of spectacular.  The tower wasn't too busy and I spent over an hour at the top taking it all in.   A few years later, my second time was a bust.  It was so crowded, the line-ups were long and nor could you move or walk around freely. The best experience is during off-hours, or off-season. Get the full experience, before or after you ascend, bring a baguette, cheese and wine to enjoy on a blanket at its base.

*The Empire State Building: ...this NY mainstay is worth it.  Again, try to go in off-hours for full enjoyment.  Ogling at the NY skyline on a clear day or night is advisable.  Buy your tickets online to avoid waiting in line.

Travel Trend :: Secret Hotels

cmptrlady on cmptr Whether you call this travel trend secret hotels, undercover hotels, blind booking or opaque booking, it's all the same 'educated risk' formula: price-conscious consumer books or bids on a hotel without knowing its exact location.

Popularizing Undercover Hotels Companies like Hotwire and Priceline popularized opaque booking, but recently others have jumped on the bandwagon. At the end of March, Travelocity launched 'Top Secret Hotels' in a direct move to compete with the aforementioned blind booking giants, while Last Minute Travel's Undercover Hotels* share the same goal. Both Travelocity and Last Minute Travel's 'secret hotels' recipe mirrors Hotwire's approach: travel seeker knows the hotel's area, star level, amenities and price, but not it's brand or exact location.  It's only when they've committed to the listing (by entering credit card info) that they unlock the secret: the hotel and its location.

Blind Booking Sites - Priceline.com (learn how to get a great deal on Priceline here) - Hotwire.com - Travelocity.com - Lastminutetravel.com - GermanWings.com (German airline)

*Travel Tip: One not-to-miss feature of Lastmintuetravel.com's undercover hotels is the map located at the bottom of each individual listing. The regular map view shows a fairly large radius where the hotel in question could be located, but if you click on the "bird's eye" view, the area suddenly focuses on a small geo area allowing you to figure out what hotel you're going to get.

[photo by sepblog]

Shopping While High :: Pet Travel Helpers

Taunting me from the seat pocket in front of me, SkyMall has a way of luring me in every time I fly. It doesn't matter if I was on a plane yesterday or a week ago, I'll pick up the same copy and chuckle at the new gadgets and gizmos in a why-didn't-I-think-of-that kinda way. Although I haven't purchased anything to date, the day is coming.  I know it. In the meantime, here are some hand-picked helpers for trip style = pet-friendly:

PortablePET PortaBottle This product is semi-genius. No joke. I can't tell you the amount of times we've gone away for the weekend with our dog (@nachoking, yep, he has a twitter account) and needed to slip into a coffee shop to grab a plastic cup, because we forgot his portable water bowl. The best part about this PortaBottle: the "bowl part" flips up when the dog is done drinking.  Since I have a propensity to forget things occasionally, maybe I'll get two. Price: $9.99

Waterproof Hammock Seat Cover I chose the dog car hammock (yep, just uttered those three words consecutively) for two reasons: a) it's a hammock, for a car, that holds a dog...and it's waterproof which is a good idea b) the picture is funny, pretty sure the dog is photoshop'ed onto the hammock = awesome Price: $36.99

Pet Booster Seats If this giant pet holder wasn't lined with faux lambswool, I'd think it was a bath (which seems a little weird for a moving car unless you're watching the 1980's classic Beverly Hills Teens featuring a hot tub in the back of a limo).  Apparently, its height reduces dogs' motion sickness allowing them to see out the window. I support this since I'm prone to motion sickness on everything that moves, including chair lifts at the ski hill. Price: $97 - $119 PortablePET LunchBox I was only going to feature 3 items, but I had to include this pet lunch pale; it reminded me of elementary school. It holds the dog's food inside and sports a dual-purpose lid for covering and feeding/watering the pup. Pet Travel Tip: if going through the CAN/USA border, dog food needs to be its original bag. US customs won't let dog food in unless it's made in the USA. I learned that the hard way when I meticulously packaged my dog's food into individually portioned zip lock bags. Maybe the border guard dogs ended up eating it, but alas, it was probably thrown away. Price: $21.99 - $24.99

PS - if you are traveling with your pet, and brave enough to bring them on a plane, here's a great pet packing list!