If you are a traveler who brings along their laptop, netbook, blackberry or iphone on vacation, these online travel tips will rock your world. Don't smirk, yes we travel to get away from it all, but having an internet connection can be invaluable.
Here are the best Google travel tips: [items 1 - 12 were originally put together by Vagabondish, an excellent travel blog]
Type the following "search queries" into google's search bar...
- weather - "weather city/city code" ex: "weather los angeles" or "weather 90210"
- flight status - "flight name and/or number" ex: "ha 30"
- currency - “amount currency to second currency” ex: "100 usd to euro" note that sometimes this feature can be finicky, for example, a search for "100 usd to cnd" did not work, but this did "100 usd to canadian dollars"
- get local time - "time place" ex: "time madrid"
- identify people, places or things - heard something in a foreign language but don't know what it is? type it into google image search. ex: gato in spanish is cat, gateau in french is cake.
- view airport weather conditions - “[airport name/code] airport + conditions” ex: "ogg airport + conditions"
- convert temperatures - "[temperature] [C/F] to [F/C]” ex: "12 c to f"
- convert distances - “[value] [first distance unit] to [second distance unit]” ex: "140 miles to km"
- convert driving speeds - “[value] [first distance unit] to [second distance unit]” ex: "90 mph to kph"
- find a phone # - “[person's name] [city or zip/postal code]” ex: "john smith LA"
- find a business - “[business name or type], [city or zip/postal code]” ex: "carrefour marseille"
- find a local restaurant - “[food type], [city or zip code/postal code]” ex: "pizza, vancouver"
- track a package - "fedex, usps, ups code"
- translate text - go to translate.google.com and convert words from one 'tongue' to another ex: english to spanish. Can you tell me where the bank is? ¿Me puede decir donde el banco es?
- get directions - go to maps.google.com, click 'get directions' then enter your starting and end point, then the system will provide the walking, driving or transit route
- get a sightseeing itinerary = still in beta, google city tours provides customizable itineraries for select cities
- like the info on a specific webpage? get similar info by typing the following into Google's search box: “related:www.yoursitename.com”