Travel Apps

I am a big Apple fan and have proudly been part of a Mac family for five years now.

However, bewildered by the plethora of applications (apps) for my iPhone, I'd only downloaded a couple. But then I came across the site AppShopper and I haven't looked back! As a result, I have now been very happily downloaded a whole load of travel-related apps all designed to make my trips easier or just more pleasurable!

Too much still? Another site to try is the App of the Day one. Simply type in your email address and have them email you their choice on a daily basis.

Bon Voyage!

Travel Tip: My favourite app at the moment is the CX one. Okay, so it's not everyone's airline of choice, but the city guides are great and they even feature suggestions from Luxe!

No cool colleagues?

This week's web recommendation is not really Asia-friendly given that none of the cities covered by the online guides are those in my part of the world. Also, the selection is rather limited with just Amsterdam, Antwerp (Belgium), Valencia (Spain), Vienna and Zurich featured.

However, as I was going to be in Amsterdam for a conference, I logged-on to the Cool Capitals site to get some tips ahead of my trip.

While the site is nicely designed, it needs more content beyond the headline attractions of the city such as the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum, and while I've been told that I've only scratched the surface of the city's culture, my own knowledge over-and-above the site through the help of cool colleagues means it definitely needs to be beefed up.

However in the absence of cool colleagues, it did has some nice suggestions.

For instance, it included details of one of my favourite areas in Amsterdam: ‘De negen Straatjes’ (or the Nine Little Streets). Located between the Singel, Herengracht, Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, the area is full of one-of-a-kind shops, tea rooms and galleries, and is great place to start to search for unique gifts and products.

And you have to go there yourself as no one ever seems to know which of the nine streets (Reestraat, Hartenstraat, Gast-Huismolensteeg, Berenstraat, Wolvenstraat, Oude Spiegelstraat, Runstraat, Huidenstraat and Wijde Heisteeg) is home to their favourite shop!

Bon Voyage!

Travel Tip: Arrive on time for your flight out of Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and visit the Rijksmuseum annex in the terminal after customs. Open from 7 a.m. till 8 p.m., admission is free and it's well worth a visit.

Booking a Seat

With the ability to check in online now available, the site SeatGuru has become a valuable tool for me to make sure that I (a) have enough room to stow my hand carry and (b) am not going to be sitting by the toilet and hearing flushing noises every minute throughout the flight.

Using the left-hand-side navigation, simply go to the airline with whom you're traveling, select the plane layout that matches the one on your online check-in site and select the best seat you can, by matching the seat colour with the legend.

The site also tells you if the airplane has in-seat power sockets and when there will be limited seat recline.

Bon Voyage!

Travel Tip: Take an empty water bottle with you through security and fill it up on the other side either by asking nicely at one of the food and beverage outlets or in the lounge to take onboard and to ensure you stay hydrated throughout the flight.

Wednesday's Websites

Yep. You've guessed it! In another attempt to retain some rigidity to my ramblings, I'm introducing another column alongside Monday's Must-Haves. I hope these Wednesday offerings will help the tourist/traveller successfully navigate the web for useful information and travel-related tools.

My first site is World Taximeter which helps the cost conscious among us ensure we don't get ripped off! In any case, at least it means we should have roughly enough cash to pay for our taxi fares.

The information can also accessed on the go via their mobile site.

Cities covered as of writing this are Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Dublin, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Manchester, Melbourne, New Delhi, New York, Paris, Prague, Richmond (VA), Rome, San Francisco, Seattle, Singapore, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver and Zurich.

Bon Voyage!

Travel Tip: If you arrive in either Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur, take the airport express train into the city instead of a taxi. It's cheaper and much much quicker.