5 cool tools to TRAVEL RIGHT
Author Bill Bryson put it
best when he said, “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to
be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a
position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.“
A lot of us are stuck in
the inertia of everyday life and refuse to see the simple travel opportunities
around us. And even if we know these opportunities, the inertia dissuades
us.“Hold on,“ our brain says, “it's a lot of work, you can't afford it.“
That can't be further from
the truth. You can plan and enjoy easy-going travel with the right sites and
apps, whether it's finding a place to go within your budget or getting a
readymade packing list. Here's where to start.
1 Destigogo (Web): Set your budget and likes, get destinations
Destigogo is one of the
newest entrants in the travel space, but it has already made an impression. It
has a simple approach to travel. Say where you are, how many days you want to
travel, and your budget.Add preferences like sun or snow, roadtrip or
adventure, flightplanecar, and so on. Destigogo will then use the best travel
sites and engines to find the right destination for you. For example, plane
prices are handled by Skyscanner, which gives you the cheapest airline tickets.
Stay costs come from Booking.com, one of the best hotel search engines.
2 PackPoint (Android, iOS): Customised packing lists for you
Wherever you're going,
you'll need to pack the right things with you. PackPoint is a packing list app
with recommended items to take with you. Tell it where you're going, which
dates you'll be travelling, and what activities you plan to do.PackPoint will
use weather information and its built-in smarts to generate a customized list
of items to pack. It even adds numbers, like the number of casual shirts you
should take. You can easily add or remove items at any point too. PackPoint is
far better than using a list-only app like Wunderlist or Any.Do, since its
suggested lists will include items you might forget about.
3 The Base Trip (Web): Compare the country to your own
When you're travelling
internationally, you need to do a little bit of research. For example, let's
say you don't find out whether you need a visa or not, you might end up
deported like our very own Riley.And it helps to know the basics of wherever
you're travelling to, right? The Base Trip is a wonderful site that takes care
of all the essential information. Choose where you are travelling from, and
where you are going to. The site will create a cheat sheet of what you need to
know, comparing the two countries. This includes weather, sockets and plugs
used there, currency, tipping norms, internet and mobile communications,
getting around, embassy information, and more. The only fault, as of now, is
that it concerns only the capital cities of both the countries. So, something
like embassy information or weather might not be accurate if you're travelling
away from the capital. Still, it's a wonderful resource full of the must-know
essentials.
4 Google Trips (Android, iOS): The best trip organiser around
A few months ago, Google
quietly launched a new app meant for travel. Anyone who has used it since is
now swearing by it. Meet Google Trips, the last travel organizer app you'll
need. Trips manages your flight details, hotel bookings, and travel itinerary,
saving all that info in one place. It works offline too, so you aren't
dependent on getting Wi-Fi or data in a new country. The backend is handled by
the Google Flights engine, travel tips from Google Maps, and other Google
integrations. Trips also offers recommendations for tourist spots to visit,
restaurants and cafes, as well as useful places like pharmacies. It has
everything you need.Download -Google Trips for Android (Free) or iOS (Free)
5 Travelistly (Web): Get inspired by the best travel blogs
One of the best ways to
figure out what you should see or eat during your trip is to check out a travel
blog. Some bloggers even present detailed trails or guides. Travelistly is a
community that collects awesome travel blogs to drool over. Travelistly
primarily targets the digital nomadic community, but it is just as useful for
pure travel too.The site is an aggregator of the best travel blogs as well as
travel-based articles by major publications. Put it all together and you get a
large collection of fantastic travel reads in one place. I wouldn't recommend
signing up for Travelistly unless you're a digital nomad or if you travel at
least once every month. Instead, use it as a resource to stay updated and be
inspired.
[This first appeared in
MakeUseOf.com]
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Mihir
Patkar
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MM 30JAN17
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