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Travel Apps

Travel App Tuesday :: Room 77

travel app hotel room search + room 77A few weeks ago, I wrote about Room 77, the world's first hotel room search engine, allowing you to find the best room based on your preferences. Although the company is still in its infancy, they launched an iPhone app at the same time as the site to crowdsource hotel room pictures and details to grow the results. Keep the Room 77 app on your radar. Why? It puts power in your hands. For example, say you're checking into the central and swanky Sofitel Los Angeles and you want the scoop on finding the best rooms at the hotel. Simply find it in the app {either before your stay or while you're checking in} and learn helpful tidbits like "the hillside rooms offer views of the Hollywood hills" or "each floor has rooms in a variety of categories, so even standard rooms can be found on higher floors."

Room 77 has excellent hotel {room} inventory for major cities like LA, New York and London. Because they only recently launched, they are in an intense growth period working on sourcing the details for other major cities in the US, Canada the rest of the world. The app and website already offer curious travelers {which is pretty much all of us} details and pictures about specific rooms in each hotel they feature, so I can't imagine how valuable this app will be when it grows to incorporate hotel room listings worldwide.

Trip Styler Tip :: On your next trip down to Seattle, check Room77's app or website for 15+ hotels {and hundreds of rooms} already listed.

Details

  • Free
  • Works with iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad

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Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 70+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

 

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Travel Apps :: HipMunk

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hipmunk iphone appContrary to the catchy name and graphic, the HipMunk travel app is not a game involving hipster chipmunks, but an awesome flight search tool. I know, there are a lot of flight search tools, so why would you use HipMunk over ITA or Kayak? If you're a visual learner, then HipMunk's a great option for you. Rendering flight search results in a visual, timeline format, it sorts flights primarily by agony---a score that combines price, duration and number of stops.

Using it for my upcoming trip to Australia {see example below}, the flight results clearly show price, carriers, timing and layovers. Note Air Canada is the only non-stop flight. No, it's not the cheapest, but it's the least painless given it's direct. hip munk flight search

Details

  • Use HipMunk flight search through their app or their website
  • Free
  • Works with iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad
  • When asked about app development for Android and Blackberry, HipMunk noted it was "possible"
  • Book through the app or finish the transaction on HipMunk's website by entering a unique code

— Get more travel tips & updates like this by subscribing to RSS or email, liking us on facebook or following us on twitter. —

Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 60+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

 

Travel Apps :: Mad Libs

jetsetter travel flash sale appNot Just for KidsIn this post I'm going to talk about the kids word game Mad Libs, and yes, as an adult, it's still one of my all-time favorite games. Now there's an app for that.

The Best Game Ever If you've never heard of Mad Libs it's a smart game requiring you to fill in a series of verbs, adjectives and adverbs, which it then takes and inserts into a short story. You then read the finished product aloud and {hopefully} laugh at how the random words you selected make the story a little zany. Sound smart? It is. Sound fun? It is. Sound like a fun game to play on the plane by yourself or with others {including kids}? It is. Would you have got an A in high school English if you played this at the beginning of every class? Yes.

A Test Run I just played one of the vacation-themed games from the free app and here is the story, which I was also able to email myself {bonus}: HOW TO ENJOY YOURSELF ON THE BEACH When you go to the beach, you must take along a big blanket, a thermos bottle full of soy sauce {TYPE OF LIQUID}, lots of suntan smelly feet {SOMETHING ICKY}, and a couple of folding credenzas {PIECE OF FURNITURE (PLURAL)}. Then you put on your pantyhose {ARTICLE OF CLOTHING} so you can get a beautiful charcoal {COLOR} to last you all summer. You also should have a big hat to keep the sun off your big toe nail {PART OF THE BODY}. If you want exercise, you can find some boxes {PLURAL NOUN} to play volleyball with. Volleyball is America’s favorite shiny {ADJECTIVE} game. You can also bring a/an amazing {ADJECTIVE} lunch, such as hard-boiled dail-up internet {PLURAL NOUN}, a few crocodile {ANIMAL} sandwiches with mustard, and some bottles of redonculous {SILLY WORD} cola. If you remember all of the above and get a place near a/an checkered {ADJECTIVE} lifeguard, you can sunbathe boldly {ADVERB} all day.

Details

  • Free {but fancier paid versions available for word-game enthusiasts}
  • Works with iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad

— Get more travel tips & updates like this by subscribing to RSS or email, liking us on facebook or following us on twitter. —

Other Travel Apps Every Tuesday we feature a new travel app. Don’t forget to peruse the other 60+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

 

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Travel Apps :: Etiquette

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jetsetter travel flash sale app—Get more travel tips & updates like this by subscribing to RSS or email. —

"Thou must try to place thy luggage in the overhead bin within a one-seat radius."

When circumventing the globe by plane, train and automobile, the above tip and other etiquette suggestions are important to know, to avoid mishaps or faux pas. Since it's travel etiquette month, we're taking the opportunity to feature two etiquette apps for Travel App Tuesday! And what better place to have social and societal do and don't info than on-the-go, when you need it most!

Conde Nast Traveler has a great etiquette app, but as much as this pains me to say, it's only available on a Blackberry, so iPhone users get their pick of Etiquette Survival Guide or Etiquette for all Occasions. Both of these apps are free, funny and present a fairly bland {yet important} topic in a fun way. For example, this tip from the Etiquette Survival Guide could not be more true: "Thou shalt always demand the taxi driver to use the meter. Never trust the driver giving you a good deal."

Although neither app is dedicated to travel etiquette, both dish out good reminders of how to communicate with people {on the road} which is especially important when you're tired, stressed out and miss the conveniences of home.

For more travel etiquette info you can read on your smartphone or your personal computer, check out this comprehensive list via Conde Nast Traveler.

Other Travel Apps Don’t forget to peruse the other 60+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits and trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent:

Travel Apps :: Google Translate

google translate app—Get more travel tips & updates like this by subscribing to RSS or email. —

Just released last week, the Google Translate app dazzles. Seriously, I can't stop playing with it and trying to stump it with strange translations. Using the app for the first time, the possibilities are endless for travel usefulness and crossing language barriers.

What makes it awesome: a) the laser speed by which it translates b) the amount of languages it supports (57) c) it's free d) the audio function * translate by speaking the text instead of typing it (15 languages) * listen to your translations spoken aloud (23 languages) e) the full screen mode, making the translation easy to show others f) offline support: star your favorite translations for quick access when you're not connected to wifi

How it Works After setting your translate from and to languages, write {or paste} text or speak into your iPhone for a split-second translation. Per the above point, this app does rely on the internet, so if you're offline, I highly suggest saving some phrases you'll regularly use so you can access them in a pinch!

Details

  • Works with iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad
  • For other mobile platforms, use the google mobile app {which contains a translate function}

Other Travel Apps Don’t forget to peruse the other 60+ travel apps we’ve reviewed from travel first aid, to luxury and boutique hotel finders, to border waits, to trip itinerary management. Here are the most recent: