iPhone, my new favorite travel buddy

February was a fun month of travel – I had a couple days up into San Francisco, pretending I was a tourist, then a trip to Southern California with the kids over winter break.

Naturally, in addition to the kids, I took my new best friend, iPhone. She and I get along so well when we travel. She doesn’t snore, she doesn’t steal the covers, and sometimes, when I just want a little peace and quiet, she relaxes me with my favorite tunes.

But, for travel, she is also provides loads of fun stuff. Here are some examples:

Example #1:

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New Restaurant in Santa Barbara

As we drove through Santa Barbara, searching for the Mission Santa Barbara, we decided to grab a bite to eat. Not being familiar with the area, I used my Yelp app to search nearby restaurants. Immediately a list came up which included Los Agaves, a restaurant on Milpas Street. In Yelp, all the information I need to make a decision is provided – reviews, website, directions to the restaurant. And with Yelp, I am finding all sorts of restaurants I thought I would never try – in Atascadero, we ended up at a cute diner where the waitress was super helpful. In Redwood City, I “discovered” a taqueria I would not have found on my own. For someone who relies on personal recommendations, Yelp has been a life saver.

Example #2:

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Geocaching in wherever

Sometimes, when you are traveling with kids, you really need to do something other than check out a museum, visit a monument or eat in another fancy restaurant. That is where the Geocaching app comes in. Geocaching is a treasure hunt using GPS, and for $9.99, you can download the app to your iPhone that makes it possible to Geocache almost anywhere. On our trip, we found caches in Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Fremont and Redondo Beach. We have also used Geocaching as a disguise for hiking – in Alaska, we took a great walk in Chugach State Park, geocaching two sites along the way. The kids loved it!

Example #3:

Google Maps

I don’t try to get lost, but sometimes it happens. Or, I want to find a new shop. Or, like #1, I have used Yelp to find a new restaurant, and now need help navigating there. And this is where Google Maps comes in. I love this on my iPhone. Took a while to get used too, but once I figured out how to search and then display the step-by-step instructions, all is working well. In San Francisco, I used it to navigate on the bus and walking, between Downtown and the Castro. Add in the Nextbus.com site, and I was able to make all my meetings on time.

Example #4:

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Skateboard parks, where?

While down in Southern California with my brother, my kids wanted to try out their new skateboards, and we thought it would be fun to find a skatepark to check out what the more experienced kids were doing. Using AroundMe, and its sister app, SearchIt, we quickly found a skatepark in nearby Hermosa Beach. I also used AroundMe to find a nearby coffee shop and book store, so I had something to do while the kids skated.

What is your favorite travel app?

There are so many lately, many of them free. Others I have enjoyed include OpenTable for making restaurant reservations, Kayak for checking flights and prices, SitOrSquat for the nearest potty, TripIt to manage my itineraries, GateGuru to see what is nearby when stuck in an airport, Evernote to manage my packing list, Skype to make free calls back home, and Fandango to find a nearby movie theater. Now if someone could just build one app to do all of these tasks, then I would be set!