Geeky Traveller

Sometimes I like to feature products and services that are really useful or important to travelers who wish to maintain their geek culture status – Google map mash-ups, tools for locating your luggage, those types of things.
On the other hand, sometimes it’s fun to have something, not because you really need it and not even because it’s actually useful for travel purposes. Sometimes you just want something because why the heck not?

Take Pig Tones, for instance. Pig Tones, or Politically Incorrect GPS offers you the chance to download different voices for your Garmin or TOMTOM GPS.
Why would you …read more

Comments Off

Have you ever gotten out of a taxi, slammed the door, and crossed the street, only to realize that you left your laptop bag, luggage, or purse inside? While this is mind-blowingly upsetting and can cause you to utter expletives for hours on end, it’s even worse if you lose something in another city while you’re traveling.
Contrary to popular belief, there are people who are honest and kind enough to try to return your lost stuff. However, some things (like wallets with ID) are easier to return than others (like a camera bag with no info as to …read more

Comments Off

The biggest problem with crossing time zones isn’t necessarily keeping track of time – it’s fighting exhaustion. If you’re in another country and have to get up at 7 am for a business meeting your first day in – but it’s only 3 am on your internal clock – a regular wake-up call isn’t necessarily going to help.
Snooze buttons are too easy to push. I do it all the time. An actual phone call from the front desk? Could be helpful, but personally, more than once I woke up to find a note with …read more

1 Comment

The neverending dilemma for travelers: Making sure you have the right power adapters for your destination country without overloading your luggage with pieces. The Power Bright Plug Adapter will help you plug in your electronic devices in more than 150 countries around the world.

The single power adapter allows you to slide out various labeled prongs according to the directions for your country, and you plug it right in, and power up your electronics.
Best of all, the LED display will also tell you what voltage you’re using and it includes a surge protector so that you don’t fry stuff …read more

1 Comment

Anyone can pack a flashlight or battery operated lantern to go camping, but that’s just so … old-fashioned. And it’s certainly missing that geektastic flair that comes with a solar powered family sized tent!
The outer panel of the tent soaks up the light from the sun, and uses it to generate power for the evening hours. It uses red LEDs that provide light without the aggravating brightness of a standard light which can hamper your ability to see outside at night – no one wants to trip half-blind to the bathroom in the middle of the night!
(source: …read more

1 Comment

I don’t know about everyone, but I love talking about travel. It’s not just the traveling itself that is enjoyable, but sharing information about deals and accommodations, places I loved, and more.
If you’re equally passionate about sharing your travel details with people, and you have a blog or website, TripIt can help you spread the word about your destinations with their new TripIt Blog Badge.
You simply enter in the requested information (note – you’ll need to have a TripIt account, but it’s easy to create one) and then copy and paste the automatically generated code into your website.
Because it’s …read more

Comments Off

Want to know a really bad way to start your vacation? Kicking it off by wasting a huge chunk of time standing around trying to find your luggage when it comes down to the carousel. Perhaps if you have a bright yellow suitcase, it’s less difficult, but since a lot of luggage looks like pretty much everyone else’s luggage, it can be frustrating to try to find yours amid a sea of look-alikes. I don’t know about you but I don’t particularly enjoy hanging around airports. When I’ve arrived I want to GO and get on …read more

3 Comments

A lot of people use Google Maps to find driving directions nowadays. On the other hand, what if you’re not in a car? It’s not unusual for people to not bother renting a vehicle when they’re on a vacation rather than a business trip. Many resorts are located in central tourist spots and organize day trips by tour bus.

Sometimes the driving directions may not make sense for those who are “hoofing” it. By car it might make sense to hop on an expressway or to take a busy street to get somewhere, but the same destination …read more

1 Comment

When I travel, I like to treat myself to some good meals – they don’t have to be fancy top notch restaurants, just restaurants that locals enjoy on a special night out. I also like to eat local cuisine – I’m not going to go to Mexico and eat a burger or fly to Germany and go looking for hot dogs, you know?
But sometimes, I guess you just might find yourself craving the comforts of a fast food meal. You’re in a hurry because you want to head to some sort of local attraction or there’s a tour starting …read more

11 Comments

It sounds like it should be a no-brainer, but the truth is that sometimes when you change time zones, it can get complicated trying to keep track of the time difference. That means you might call your mom to tell her how beautiful the ocean is, while forgetting that it’s only 5 am back home. Worse, if you’re traveling on business and have to schedule a conference call for multiple offices in multiple time zones, you can burst an artery trying to find the right time slot to fit everyone.
If you use the excellent Firefox browser, you can …read more

1 Comment