Geeky Traveller

Everyone knows you can find just about everything you ever need to know by looking to Google for guidance. However, sometimes the problem is you get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information that gets thrown at you in the results. I found a great listing of quick ways to find what you need by typing in simple requests in the Google search bar.

For instance, type in your airline and flight number (for example, “united 959″) and the first result will give you a link to track the flight BUT it also tells you right away what its …read more

Comments Off

You can’t always count on finding someone to point you in the right direction when you’re visiting another city and need to get around – if there’s also a language barrier, it can be all the more difficult.
Metropoliphone is an iPhone application that loads the device up with an enormous collection of subway, bus, and train maps from cities all around the world. The maps are completely free to access, provided by each city’s transportation service.
With Metropoliphone you can get maps for over 60 different cities in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, mostly in PDF format. …read more

Comments Off

I’m the queen of falling asleep when I travel. I can sleep pretty much anywhere – in a car, a train, a plane, a bus, the subway. If it’s moving, I’m quite possibly slumbering unless I’m actively engaged in a conversation or a book. I may or may not be mildly narcoleptic!
Have you ever fallen asleep and missed your destination though? If you’re traveling by train or bus, and you’re particularly exhausted, you might end up snoozing right through your stop and wake up 50 miles away from where you meant to be. …read more

3 Comments

Here’s yet another application for the iPhone that can benefit travelers of the road trip variety. Trapster helps you locate and avoid cops who are hiding out in a speed trap. As you’re driving along and notice a cop hanging about with a radar gun looking for people to ticket for speeding, grab your iPhone (or better yet, get your passenger to do it!) and tap on the map to note your current location.
After that, people using Trapster can then get alerts if they’re going to be in that area to let them know about a …read more

Comments Off

If you plan to travel within the US and need to grab a cab from one location to another, you can use your phone (with internet access, naturally) to book yourself a taxi, sedan, limo, or shuttle service with RideCharge.

You simply enter the date and time you need to be picked up. Then specify your pick-up spot, the destination, and how many passengers there will be. When it searches, it will tell you which services are available to you. For instance, I asked to be piked up at JFK airport in New York City, and dropped off at …read more

7 Comments

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

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

I’ve mentioned before that I love Google Maps and all the fun mash-ups that people create for it. However, I found a new map service that is really cool. Onion Map offers a basic layout map but what’s fun about it is that it also uses three dimensional symbols to show landmarks. Easily spot the Charles Bridge in Prague or the CN Tower in Toronto.
It’s an international map service but it still has a limited amount of cities, although at least they’re all fairly well distributed around the world. Hopefully more cities will be added in …read more

1 Comment

Have you ever traveled to a city where you’ll be meeting up with a lot of different people who may not be staying in the same hotel as you? If they were, getting together would be as easy as heading to the lobby and discussing where you’d like to eat or party the night away.
However, there are times when your group of friends will be scattered all over the city – in my case, next year it will be for a wedding. Not everyone will be in the same hotel or house. That makes getting together …read more

1 Comment

It’s nothing new to find a nice integrated map online that allows you to see photos of your destination – street views, landmarks, ocean views, the like. However, EveryScape goes just a little further. In fact it takes you inside too.
Not only can you get your basic destination photo views alongside your map to do some sightseeing before you even arrive (which is a great way to figure out what you really want to do and visit if you’re crunched for time), you can get right inside some of the buildings. The site will help you find …read more

1 Comment