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. Oops.

Clearly this is a common problem because you can now get iNap, an iPhone and iPod Touch application (get it here) that will help you avoid this problem. Using Google Maps and GPS, you simply enter the address of your destination. After that, iNap will keep watch for you, just like a friendly travel companion. When it determines you’re getting close to your arrival point, it will set off an alarm to wake you up so that you don’t miss your stop.

I swear, that is brilliant! Where was all this technology when I was traveling on a two-hour bus commute to college starting at 6:30 am every morning?!

(photo – flickr)

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However, what sets it apart from your average GPS device is that the voice for the system is done by William Daniels who voiced K.I.T.T. on the hit show Knight Rider between 1982 and 1986.

Will it work any better than any other device? No, there’s nothing else mind-blowing about it. But it sure makes it cool, at least for a geek like me. Growing up, I lamented the fact that my family’s station wagon was nowhere near as awesome as K.I.T.T. was and now, with the Mio Knight Rider GPS, my current car could be almost as great!

Pick one up at Radio Shack for $269.99.

(Thanks to Rita for the tip // photo: RadioShack.com)

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As a nice bonus, they’ve revamped their site to be Safari-friendly so people using Safari on their iPhone can browse the webs site fully.

There are other great reasons to have this application on your iPhone. If you get slowed down and can’t make it to your destination in time, you can book a last minute room to rest for the night. If you missed your flight for any reason, you can find something reasonable close to the airport. Or if you’re traveling in a new area and run into bad weather, you can find a decent hotel as close as possible.

You can also contact a hotels.com phone representative at any time if you need some personalized help.

I love all the great travel-friendly applications that are coming out for the iPhone! What’s your favorite?

(photo: flickr.com)

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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 need to do it? Well, no real reason. But it could bring about some amusement while you’re driving around, following directions in a strange city. Instead of listening to the built-in default computerized voice, you could get directions to a tourist attraction from actors, cartoon characters, and singers.

Imagine being directed to the Smithsonian by Stewie Griffin. Let Arnold Schwarzenneger guide you to the CN tower. Or ask Yoda where the heck your hotel is located.

Sure, it’s a little bit silly (“your hotel, on the left it is!”), but travel doesn’t always have to be serious business. Sometimes you want it to be light and fun, and Pig Tones will definitely help you get that while still getting you wherever you need to be.

(source: Red Ferret // photo: flickr)

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Now someone has come up with a concept device called the iHitch. It would combine a cell phone, GPS device, and a payment method (similar, I would assume, to PayPal where you can pay a token fee to the driver willing to pick you up). You would enter in your current location and the destination you have in mind. Meanwhile, a driver would then respond if they were going your way – or at least part of the way, and you could confirm whether you were both comfortable.

The iHitch would work with a rating system similar to that of eBay’s methods, where you can rate both the driver picking you up and the person hitching. If the person is creepy or a poor driver, you would rate lower, whereas a friendly, courteous person would get a higher rating.

I don’t know if such a thing would ever get made, but the concept is interesting to say the least. I don’t think I’d be comfortable with “iHitching, but someone might be. Would you?

(source // photo – sxc.hu)

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After that, voila! Your cell phone is no longer just a phone, it’s a GPS device too. It uses TeleAtlas maps and is compatible at this time with Symbian and Windows Mobile handsets.

That’s a great idea. It’s not really any more expensive than a separate GPS device would be (in fact, it’s much cheaper than some on the market!), and as a bonus it lets you use something you already own. While it’s fun, for me at least, to have lots of neat “toys” to play with, this also means that you have one less thing to carry around with you.

(source // product photo)

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Eventually they realized that they may have made a mistake in completely removing a very notable tourist and historic landmark. On the other hand, they certainly wouldn’t want to re-build a replica of the base of the wall.

The solution? GPS device! They’ve created a GPS guide that works in a similar way to the portable guide devices you often see in museums. It takes you on a 9-mile tour called “Walk the Wall” which features descriptive narration, photos, and even film clips of important moments and events surrounding the Wall and its removal. It also includes personal interviews from eyewitnesses. The tourism specialists who have developed it said that there are even anecdotes and details that locals might not even know, so it’s highly educational and very in-depth.

Right now it works in English and German but if it goes over well, they’ll add versions in French, Russian, Spanish, and Dutch. They also hope to include more details, expanding the route over time.

What a great idea! It’s not quite the same as seeing some of the rubble, but there are still two segments several hundred meters long, and I’d rather take a walking tour with the GPS while actually seeing one full city that is no longer separated by a Wall.

(source // photo sxc.hu)

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The Nikon D300 is interesting though. The D300 is not only an excellent dSLR camera with lightning-fast reaction time (and up to 100 frames in burst mode at 8 frames per second!), it has a very nice little extra feature that can be really beneficial to travelers.

When I look at the majority of my vacation photos, I can usually remember where they were taken because they’re usually pretty major landmarks – things like JFK’s grave site in Arlington cemetery, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Niagara Falls in Ontario. They’re obvious and I don’t need any help to recall the information.

But sometimes you see something that’s not a landmark, like an unusual store front or a nice tree in good light. That’s the kind of picture where, especially if you took a lot of photos or were on a long road trip in multiple locations, you might not remember where it was taken. You may not care and may be happy to just say, “oh here’s a strange sign on the side of the road” but if you do want to remember the precise area, the Nikon D300 can help you.

That’s because the Nikon D300 has built-in GPS support. Not many people are going to keep specific notes unless they’re hardcore pro photographers. However, if you happen to own a GPS device, you can hook it up to the D300. Every time you take a photo, it records something called EXIF data – things like the settings you used, the focal length, the type of white balance, the date and time, and more. With the GPS device hooked up, it will also record GPS information to your EXIF data. That means that when you’re at home and wondering where the heck that little duck pond was on your long trip, you can look at the recorded data and see exactly where it was.

It’s the sort of thing that might be more information than you really care about for some people but if you’re really into your photography and want to keep a good record of your trip, it’s the kind of bonus that’s a lot of fun.

If you’re interested in having GPS support, you can check out the Nikon D300 at your photo store or you can ask which other cameras offer the same feature. Alas, I’m pretty sure my Canon Rebel XT doesn’t feature GPS at all, so I’ll just have to try to remember where everything was taken!

(Product photo nikon.com)

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It only works in England and Wales, but there’s likely a similar service in other countries as well. It uses your GPS system, cellphone, or PDA to send you the location of various pubs and inns in whichever area you happen to be in. No matter where you are in England, if you have a hankering for an ale and then need a good inn to recuperate, Sawday’s will help you find the closest options.

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If you’re using a GPS device to find your way around and your idea of entertainment involves less in the way of fine dining and Broadway shows and more in the way of naked girls dancing on poles, you may find yourself wanting to try out Nudar. The site allows you to use your GPS (check the site for compatibility) to find adult clubs across the US. You can set it to search for the type of club you’re interested in (topless, completely nude, etc) and whether you’re seeking a full bar or not, and you’ll be given all the information that you need to find the sort of entertainment you’re looking for in your destination city.

The site plans to expand to include plug-ins to seek out special events and locations as well, such as Mardi Gras, nude beaches, and more. The site is currently offering a 30-day free trial.

I blushed as I wrote this, but hey! We’re an equal-opportunity site here at Geeky Traveller!

(Thanks for the heads’ up Mary Jo! I think!)

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