At this moment, I’m on a plane heading to New York City for a week long vacation with my mom.
She turned 60 this year. I turned 40 this year. It was milestone.
So we are going for a blow-out Mother/Daughter Trip to the city that never sleeps.
In my past life, I was one of those weekday warriors, who was on a plane a couple of weeks per month. So I know how to pack, what to pack, what works, what doesn’t work, blah, blah, etc.
But for vacation, I really, really rely on certain smartphone apps to help me have stress-free travel.
My three favorite FREE smartphone apps for STRESS-FREE travel
1. Evernote. I love Evernote. I love that I can work on a document on my desktop or iPad and it will automatically sync to my iPhone. So, I make a one-page document with our scheduled activities (in this case museum tours and Broadway shows), along with our airplane and car service reservations. And then in addition, I make a list of links to other stuff we might want to do while we are in NYC.
I’ve used Evernote when I travel to Disney (again, I list of all our reservations for dining or shows, along with a list of restaurants by park and meal options that received rave reviews) or when I travel for work (list of people I want to connect with or companies I want to talk to). It’s like having a huge file folder full of information on your phone that you can reference anytime you need it.
2. Yelp. I plan all the meals when I’m out of town with Yelp and honestly, I’ve never been disappointed with the results. In addition to dining recommendations, reviews and information, Yelp also has reviews on car services (how I found our car service), shopping, tours (how I found the NYC walking tour company) and more.
The other thing about Yelp is that it can take your current location and give you top recommendations to where you are at right now. Perfect when you are driving down the highway, walking in the city, or sitting in your hotel room.
3. Flight Tracker. Since I fly the majority of the time and for some reason can’t get a direct flight, I like to know if my connecting plane is going to arrive on time or not. (Or if my flight is going to arrive on time or not.) Flight tracker can track ANY flight in the US and tell you where it currently, if it is going to land on time, and how long it might be delayed. No more stress about whether the airline employees are lying to me (yes, this has happened a couple of times) or not.
What are your favorite apps to use when you travel?
And here were your favorite posts from this week.
- 15 Things To Not Buy At Costco
- Goodreads: 100 Books You Should Read In A Lifetime
- 16 Ways to Declutter Your House in Five Minutes or Less
See past editions of I LOVE These Things.
