TRAVEL PLANNING
Kayak.com has become my #1 go-to site to search for flights and hotels. It's a consolidator site, meaning that it searches other travel sites and compiles the information from all of those sites in one convenient place. I've spot-checked prices vs. Travelocity, Orbitz and others, and Kayak usually gets you the best price (in fact, you can also compare other travel sites from within Kayak, but I fact-checked Kayak's results on my own). Kayak.com allows you to save your trip itinerary in a single place, too, regardless of whether you booked using Kayak or not -- simply email your booking confirmation to Kayak and the ghosts in the Kayak server automatically add the booking to your trip itinerary -- very neat! Kayak also offers free apps for your mobile phone (iPhone/Android) and for your tablet. There is also a "pro" app available for your phone for a minimal cost which adds currency-converter and a "buzz" feature which allows you to plot trends in airfares for a particular route over a particular period of time -- I wish these features were also available on the tablet version of the app. Best of all, Kayak is a Massachusetts company so I'm supporting the local economy.
TripAdvisor.com is one of my top research sites for the places I'm considering visiting. The site is a massive compilation of professional articles and traveler reviews of nearly every conceivable attraction and hotel in just about every city anyone would ever want to visit. The traveler reviews are really the core of TripAdvisor, though it takes a little perseverance to read through enough of them to distill the essence and worthiness of the attraction/hotel being rated. I have added to the TripAdvisor community, and you can find my TripAdvisor profile and traveler reviews here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/kennorthrup TripAdvisor also offers mobile apps for your phone and tablet. One is merely a simplified portal to the TripAdvisor content, but the TripAdvisor City Guides app is phenomenal -- you can download maps and city guides for a number of cities worldwide for offline use when traveling -- no need for international data roaming charges on your phone! I wish I had found this app on my prior travels, and I'm looking forward to using it on my next journey (Vienna and Prague are two of the available cities). Think of TripAdvisor as a Frommer's, Fodor's, and dozens of other conventional travel guides all rolled into one, but with current and up-to-the-minute information and updates. TripAdvisor is also a Massachusetts company, headquartered in Newton!
Bahn.com is the official website of the German rail system (Deutsche Bahn) and offers a great English-language site from which you can search European train timetables (although you can only make bookings for German trains on the site). Easier to use and more convenient than going to each nation's official railway site. Bahn.com also offers a mobile app -- DB Navigator -- and I used it extensively during my trips to the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Bahn.com is not based in Massachusetts ;-)
Other useful sites include the national tourism sites for the countries you're visiting, and even the websites of the individual cities you plan to visit (many European cities have their own visitors' bureaus, and they often have decent websites -- but beware, some are much better than others, and all will try to sell you tours or passes you probably won't need or from which you probably won't recoup the cost from the discounts and freebies you actually take advantage of).
A final nod to Enjoy-Europe.com -- this is a different sort of travel site, where the author gives you practical traveling information rather than descriptions of the places to go and things to see. The Midwestern author's comprehensive "How To Europe" guide is chock-full of very real travel information -- what to wear, what to bring, how to navigate rail stations, how to deal with money/ATMs, when to go, how to find a bathroom, using electronics/electrical issues, etc., etc.. Some of the information offered on the site is subjective; for example, for a pure pleasure traveler, I found that his sense of what to wear is a little too formal given my first-hand observations of what the natives wear.
WHAT I BRING WITH ME
Aside from clothing, toiletries, luggage and travel documents, my travel supplies include:
- Apple iPhone 3GS - to communicate with the folks back home, if necessary. I haven't used the phone otherwise except for offline apps or as an iPod on the trains, to save the expense of an international data plan. I do add a monthly international calling plan when I travel, for about $5.00 - better rates than standard international calling, and you can make up for the $5 quickly with just a few calls.
- Apple iPad (original) - this is my main tool for communicating with you, my rabid followers. The iPad usually stays at the hotel when I'm out and about, but once I return I use it to download photos from my camera (with a dock adapter I purchased from the Apple Store) and to post my blog entries. I usually use an app by the name of BlogPress to write my entries, embed my pictures and upload the whole blog to the world. I'm usually connected to the internet at my hotel, so the iPad is also my source for current news and to look up train schedules, museum hours, and so forth. The iPad's charger also works to charge my iPhone, so the devices take turns sipping electrons.
- Compact Three-Outlet Power Strip - this is a travel version, rated for 120-240v 50-60 Hz, meaning that it can be used in the U.S. or in Europe. Its outlets are "universal," meaning that just about any plug ever invented can be plugged into the power strip. Along with the power strip I bring a grounded plug adapter so I can plug the strip into any native outlet I find.
- Canon EOS Rebel T3-i Camera with 18-55 mm EFS lens - this is a great DSLR camera. 99.8% of the pictures I post on my blog are taken with this camera (the other 0.2% come from my iPhone). It's not a cheap camera and it has a lot of cool settings and features. Truth be told, I really need to take a class to learn how to better take advantage of what this camera has to offer. I would also like to acquire a less-expensive camera you can slip into your pocket for those times where you're out-and-about (particularly after dark) and you want to take a decent photo without risking a much more expensive camera.
A Half-Dozen Other Items - These items don't weigh much, or take up much room, but they make traveling much more convenient:
- Bottle Opener - most European beers don't come with a twist-off cap. My bottle opener is a freebie handout from Sam Adams.
- Toenail Clippers - legal to carry on an airplane, this is a useful tool to clip open packages, cut cable ties, or to, err, clip your nails or an annoying hangnail.
- Ziploc bags of various sizes - again, almost no space or weight, but very useful to package a lunch, separate stinky clothing, or waterproof sensitive items on a rainy day. I carry a few snack-sized, quart-sized and gallon-sized baggies.
- Cable Ties a/k/a Zip Ties - useful to unobtrusively secure your luggage, or to prevent the casual would-be snoop/thief chambermaid. Also handy if a MacGyver-like repair needs to be made when on the road.
- Mini-Notebook and Pen - I like the pocket-sized Moleskin notebooks sold by Barnes & Noble.
- Hidden Money Belt - I admit that I don't always use it, but I sure did on every train I took. Also useful is an undershirt with a chest pocket on it -- you can secure your passport and large bills in the pocket under your over-shirt and they should be safely ensconced and out of reach for pickpockets.
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