Mind, Body & Spirit!

We recently went to Phoenix, AZ for a brief trip, since we have never traveled there, I decided to use my iPhone in a smart way.

Air Travel

There are many apps to assist in air travel, since we were flying Continental Airlines, I decided to try their app. It’s free and it allows you to check in via iPhone, it also lets you get notices on the flight status, as well as manage your OnePass account. The app had a section for Mobile Boarding Pass, but I could not get it to work for me, I don’t know if it was the airport or what, but I was rather frustrated that it did not work for me. There are lots more apps free from the big airlines that can be found when searching the app store, most are free. There are tons of travel related apps that can be downloaded, Ontheroad.to lets a person keep a diary which can post to Facebook and journal your trip, which is free on the app site.

Where am I?

Let me start by stating, the MAPS on the iPhone works great. However, I always want to know where am I going and how long before I get there so using my Garmin helped with that. I utilized the pre-loaded MAP to get some direction, but I also loaded the free app Aroundme. This handy app list pharmacy, restaurants, pubs, etc. and ties into GOOGLE which provides reviews and info, as well as contact information for the locations. Using this allowed me to determine where things are in an unfamiliar city. Of course there was always the Urbanspoon and Yelp apps as well to help determine great eateries and rate them as well in my posted review. With the Aroundme app I was able to search different places that weren’t listed, for example SHOPPING, which I can’t believe is not listed as a selection.

Checking In

While we were traveling, I was updating our locations on Facebook via Gowalla. I noticed a friend uses this and it posts a cute pic of the location and info about it. It also shows who else has checked in there in the past and currently. Using the ‘check in’ on Facebook is easy to use via the Facebook app and it lets you know who else has checked in recently or is there while you are too, which can be helpful. While checking in on Facebook, I realized that a friend was in the same location that we were, just a few hours ahead when we traveled to Sedona.  We passed through the Oak Creek Canyon area, lots of info was found using the Google app and also the UrbanSpoon app to find a decent restaurant to eat lunch. The whole trip we utilized the pre-loaded Weather app to follow the weather and be prepared for the day and night.

Waiting, flying, waiting!

Of course during the trip, I used the usual time killing apps, Scrabble, Angry Birds, CNN and iBooks. These always helps while waiting for the plane to leave, during the flight and driving. There are plenty of apps that can be downloaded that are free that can be used to kill time, take your pick from the selection of games and the free iBooks. Also while waiting, organizing the photos taken on my iPhone is done, deleting the ones that aren’t worth sharing or publishing.

Since owning an iPhone, I really feel that utilizing it to the best of it’s ability is beneficial for me and my travel partner, my husband. After all, it can save us from a bad meal and send us to the closes pharmacy or give us more information about where we are and what is worth seeing. I highly recommend using any smartphone to the best of it’s ability, especially when traveling.

Happy Travels!