Thanks in large part to discovering The Flight Deal, an influx of weddings around the country, and a general love of exploration, I’ve been so lucky to do a lot of travel this past year. Most recently, I traveled to Thailand where I explored, with the help of the apps on my trusty smartphone, the cities, the countryside, and the beaches of that beautiful country. Using my colleagues’ previous posts as a guide, here’s a brief description of the apps I used to help make the trip amazing:
Twitter – I noticed a deal via The Flight Deal while scrolling through my Twitter feed. This follow is particularly problematic for the pocketbook but it did help me find some tickets earlier this year for just $123 to Italy!
Kindle – I do most of the initial research for travel by reading through guidebooks from Lonely Planet and Fodor’s. By downloading onto the Kindle, there is little need to carry the heavy books while traveling.
Trip Advisor – When a particular region piqued my interest, I would poke around on the Trip Advisor app to identify possible hotels, places to eat, and more often than not, scroll through the beautiful photos of each unique region. Once I decide on which cities to visit, I make sure to download the app’s city guides onto my phone so I could access them without needing an internet connection.
New York Times – I recalled reading an article about the restaurants in Chiang Mai that inspired Chef Andy Ricker’s menu at Pok Pok. Luckily, the New York Times make article searches really easy on their app. This article helped me find the khao soi place and the chicken place.
Yahoo Weather – I added the destination cities prior to the trip so I could see the weather forecast and to smile at the beautiful pictures of the karsts in Krabi.
Podcasts – My podcast queue was filled with dozens of hours worth of podcasts (Serial, Radio Lab) for the flight.
United Airlines – I checked seat assignments, looked at airport maps for the layover in Japan, and checked-in for the flight.
Swarm by Foursquare – I signed up for a small amount of international data through AT&T’s new Passport service and because of that got another jetsetter badge because of my check-in at the Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Krabi, and Phuket airports on Foursquare’s Swarm app.
Camera – This is fairly obvious. My #tbt posts on Instagram a year from now will be all Thai food, beaches, and, most likely, the cats of Thailand.