A quick list of some of my favorite travel tools (not in any particular order).
1.Seatguru
If you travel frequently Seatguru will help you find the best seat on the flight. I use this all the time to figure out which seat has power so I can run my laptop on those long international flights.
2. Room77.com
Kind of like Seatguru.com but for hotel rooms. I don’t use this as frequently because generally I don’t care about the view, but if I’m staying more than a few nights…
3. Hipmunk.com
Trying to get from point A to point B by plane and want to see what your options are? This is a no-nonsense tool that lists the costs, times, and stops for flights. Great for planning.
4. Laterooms.com
I haven’t used this in the US yet, but when I’ve traveled in Europe this has been a handy tool for finding last minute hotel rooms. Especially in the summer hotels in cities like London fill up quick.
5. Tripit.com
I’m not into socializing my travel plans, but Tripit provides some REALLY nice tools for managing your itinerary. As in, just forward them your reservations (flight, hotel, car, etc.) and they will automatically build the itinerary for you.
6. Evernote
Ok, not necessarily a travel tool per-se, but Evernote is a great tool to travel with. I use Evernote for just about everything and when I travel I create a notebook that I fill up with my itinerary, all related emails and meeting notes, photos, receipts, and other tidbits. It syncs with your mobile phone (iPhone for me) and allows you to keep all of this information in an offline mode — again, useful when you want to avoid roaming fees. For example, I keep a copy of the London tube map in Evernote with my notes and annotations.
7. Practical Travel Gear
This is a useful site with great tips and tricks for traveling more efficiently. Albeit some of them are a little more extreme than what I typically do.
8. Kayak.com
Another great tool for hunting down travel details. I use it mostly for planning out my itinerary when I’m booking multi-leg flights. A lot simpler to use than Expedia (which is also on the list).
9. Expedia.com
You probably thought this was going to be all unknown sites, but I actually find myself using Expedia.com quite a bit too.
10. Google Maps
I’m stubborn and refuse to pay for a GPS when I rent a car. Before a trip I’ll usually create a page in Evernote that links to the various routes on my trip to pages in Google Maps. I’ll then click on the link and the route will load up in my iPhone and off we go…
Got some tips and tricks? Please share!
