Summer lies just around the corner, and I couldn’t be happier. While it does bring more tourists to the city, it also means lighter commutes, fewer people at the office, and of course sunshine and warmth. This all relates to summer travel plans. If you haven’t yet booked your summer getaway, your BlackBerry can lend a hand in the process. If you already have booked, you can use your BlackBerry to enhance your trip. Hey, you already have the thing, and there is plenty of software available, so why not take full advantage? In this feature we’ll touch on a few applications that can make your summer vacation a bit easier.
Your BlackBerry can help you out in a number of ways before and during your trip.
Booking your trip
If you haven’t yet made your vacation plans, your BlackBerry can help you right from the start. A number of applications allow you to make flight and hotel reservations right from the device. These applications often do even more than the booking end. You can store itinerary, create a schedule, and more. We went over a number of these apps in our top free BlackBerry apps post, so they might seem familiar.
If you’re looking for the lowest price on airfare, hotel, or car rental, you might want to check out KAYAK. It’s a simple service that allows you to search among hundreds of travel sites to find which has the best price for the trip you’re booking. Once you find your price you can choose to book online, or you can make a one-touch phone call and book it with a human. KAYAK is available at App World. As an alternative, you can also check out HRS Hotelportal, though that won’t help with your flight.
Once you book your trip, you might want an application that can manage your itinerary. For that we’d recommend World Mate Live. It has a free membership program which provides many benefits, like storing and managing your itinerary right on your device. You can also find worldwide weather conditions, a world clock, currency converter, and map. The Gold membership, $100 per year, adds a number of premium services. These include lives updates for your flight schedule and status, plus a travel directory. You can get WorldMate Live for free, or for the $99.95 subscription fee.
Navigating
Once you reach your destination, you might need a map to find your way around. These were pretty common for tourists in the past, but now that we have GPS-enabled smartphones the physical map becomes moot. Who needs a unchanging piece of paper when we have an arrow that shows us where we are?
In the past we’ve reviewed BlackBerry map applications, though that came very early in the history of BBGeeks. Since then the BlackBerry Maps app has gotten marginally better. One app that has gotten considerably better, though, is Google Maps. Honestly, I couldn’t recommend this one more. It just keeps getting better. You can get it at Google’s mobile site.
If you happen to prefer the nostalgia of a paper map, you’ll at least need a compass to help navigate the terrain. In that case, you can check out a number of BlackBerry compass apps. If you have a non-Storm BlackBerry, check out Compass Lite. It uses your built-in GPS to handle your North-South orientation. You can get Compass Lite for 99 cents. It is also available for the Storm.
No matter the case, you probably won’t be familiar with the parking situation at your destination. For that purpose, check out VQ CarFinder. It remembers where you parked your car, and then gives you directions back to it. That can come in pretty handy when you’re on vacation. Get VQ CarFinder at the BBGeeks store.
Finally, if you’re headed abroad you might want to have the power of a translator. In our free apps post we featured Navita Translator. It’s a free application that can translate to and from 52 languages. It might not allow you to converse fluently with the natives, but it can at least keep you out of trouble. You can get it at App World.
Finding attractions
Now that you can find your away around your vacation spot, you’ll want to find the best attractions. You can do this ahead of time, or you can do it on a whim. Either way, your BlackBerry can help.
Never again will I go on a vacation without Poynt. It’s a social application that allows you to find local businesses, restaurants, hot spots, and more. For a bit more complete look, check out our Poynt for BlackBerry post. It’s free, and it’s stellar. Get it at App World.
Also to this point, depending on your destination, you can check out Urbanspoon. This application finds restaurants near you and puts them into a slot machine. Once the application decides for you, you can check out ratings and reviews. Don’t see what you like? Spin again. It’s available at App World.
Another alternative is Superpages, which you can get here.
Memorializing the trip
Forget your digital camera at home? That’s a shame. Now you won’t have pictures of your kids in funny hats that you can show them years later. You can, though, use your BlackBerry camera to capture a few memories. True, it’s not as good as a traditional digital camera. Those run high in megaplxels these days, while the highest megapixel count on a current BlackBerry is 3.2. Still, you can play with your camera settings to take the best possible pictures with such limited hardware. Check out our BlackBerry camera tips to find the optimal settings for your pictures.
