Technology = Good
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Sara Janssen in Life in an RV, Technology, iPhone for travel

We have an iPhone and we ADORE it. We use it for so many things on the road. Most of the features we use every day are built-in functions of the phone...like email, internet, GPS, etc. Those 3 items have saved us time and energy beyond measure.

We ALWAYS recommend that any full-time traveler have some sort of smart phone...the uses on the road are endless. We also use an air card for mobile internet, but the iPhone is a nice compliment to that.

Here are some of our favorite apps:

Yelp
We use this one ALL the time. If we're pulling into a town and want to know where the best Thai food is, Yelp is the first place I check. Best coffee? Best bubble tea? Best mechanic? Yelp has ya covered.

Local Eats
Similar to Yelp, but this one lists restaurants by "Best" in each category as well as the overall top 100. I check this one, and then check the restaurant on Yelp as well. It does only work in the large metropolitan areas. Not in small northern Minnesota villages. I tried.

State Lines
This fabulous app is a must-have for anyone who travels. Our friends, Chris and Cherie (Technomadia) are the masterminds who created it, so give 'em some love and buy it! It's basically a database of all kinds of useful information that changes when you cross state lines. Everything from taxes to speed limits to seatbelt/helmet laws and much more. Love it.

Groupon
We.Love.Groupon. Oh my goodness. We've gotten so many great deals by using this awesome coupon site/program. If you're not on it...sign up right now to start receiving deals in your area.

Words With Friends
This is our favorite "game app" right now. We love playing against our friends and family in this Scrabble-like game. Caution: It's addicting.

Facebook
Everyone's favorite pastime...but on the iPhone :) It allows us to keep in touch even when we've left our computers back at the RV.

Tweetdeck
This is my favorite Twitter app (and I've tried several). Let's me keep track of my favorite people from around the world.

Flickr
I'm a total Flickr geek, and this feeds my addiction.

Starbucks
This app locates the nearest Starbucks and tells you if it has wi-fi, drive-through, etc. I like to go to Starbucks to work, so this is quite helpful.

Paypal
If you have a Paypal account, you can track your balances and payments from your phone. Handy.

Hipstamatic
A fun vintage camera app. Love it. Even though I have my "fancy" camera, I use the iPhone a lot when I don't want to drag the heavy one around. There are a lot of camera apps now that make it even more fun.

Craigspro
This Craigslist app is helpful when we need to buy something as we pass through a city. Matt uses it a lot for RV research.

YouTube
Not an app (it's built-in)...but worth mentioning. I use YouTube a lot to stream hooping videos because I can't stream them on the air card (uses up too much of our allotted upload/download time).

What are some of your favorite apps? Travel related or not...

 

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