Off we go…

My travels have officially started as I write this blog entry at 36,173 ft above sea level somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to kick things off as I enjoy my in flight Wifi (at a small premium of course). In fact, this got me thinking a little bit about the role of technology and traveling. Gone are the days of the prospect of having to sit in a plane for over 24hrs (when flying from florida to australia via New Zealand) with only a book and Sony Walkman.

In this day and age it’s not unusual to make your way towards your seat and see people texting on cellphones, watching movies on iPads, gaming on PSPs, or just working on laptops. In actuality this role of technology has far exceeded the role of inflight entertainment to helping with actual trip planning.

I feel like this is becoming more integral to traveling with every new app, travel podcast, and device that that is created. Part of my role as a travel consultant is to help you, the traveler, have a more pleasant overall experience from beginning to end.

I have downloaded several apps on my iPad to do just this and will review them as I travel. It will be interesting to see if they are actually helpful or just another way to procrastinate the actual packing we have to do for our trip.

For the record, I’m not being sponsored by any of these companies whose products I will be reviewing.

The first app I would like to look at is Packing List Pro.

This is an app that helps you with creating a list of things to do, items to pack, and overall, things to remember. I found this app fun as I easily created a list for my trip and included things like “Remember to get Visa”, “passport”, “pack contacts solution” etc. The idea behind it makes sense, but in reality while I was actually packing last night I didn’t go to my iPad and consult this list even once.

In fact, it wasn’t until I was comfortable in my seat on the plane after we were allowed to turn our electronic appliances back on after takeoff that I remembered to check. In the end it may be a useful exercise, but not necessary. There is a free version of this in the iTunes store and Google Plays store for Android phones. There is also a premium version that costs money but in my opinion it’s better to save that for an inflight drink.

Thanks again for following this blog and I hope you find it useful, entertaining or both. Now it’s time to catch up on season 5 of Breaking Bad with a nice lager!

Cheers for now,
Ian