We have now traveled for 63 days. We were well prepared for this trip around the world and had researched our options ahead of time. We would like to share the details of how we are doing it hoping that it would be helpful to you when you travel. If you have any recommendations for apps we are not yet using, please let us know!
1) Finding lodging: Airbnb
Airbnb has worked out wonderfully for us. Needless to say that it is cheaper than going to hotels. People know how to make you feel at home. It is all about hospitality. The Airbnb app is extremely easy to use. Download the app on your phone or computer. You will establish a profile and an account. You can search for places, add filters such as price range, number of people, type of accommodation...then request the place you selected for certain dates. The host will decide if he/she wants to rent to you and will respond. The rental fee is taken from your account as soon as the host accepts your reservation. You will receive an email notification when the host accepts. Now you can contact your host on the Airbnb site any time you want. The host may ask you your time of arrival...all the fine tuning details can be worked out. Very easy and effective. You will also receive a reminder to "pack your bag" a few days before the date you reserved.
Airbnb is using Google Maps to locate the places rented. The day you need to go to the Airbnb place you reserved, just select the rental in "My trips", click on "Directions". It calls up a Google map and provides four options on how you want to get to your destination: "Car, public transit, foot or bicycle". Choose the option you want and the application draws the shortest distance to your destination. Hopefully your smart phone has an active GPS (some phones need the GPS to be turned on first for this to work). GPS will show you where you are on the map. We found our rentals 100% of the time, even when our host provided directions in a different language than English :))
Now the best part: the review process which we believe is what makes Airbnb works so well. The review rating system is from 1 to 5 stars. You will review your host and your host will review you. Not an obligation though. The two reviews are independent and you will see your host review only after you publish your own review and vice versa. The reviews are` visible to others. This feature insures that reviews are honest and therefore useful to other travelers.
Airbnb may not be for everyone but it is perfect for us! We love the overall spirit.
2) Finding directions and more: Google Maps
While in Stockholm, we were particularly impressed with Google Maps on the day when ventured to Uto island. It described an itinerary for us, with timing including a short walk to a bus, a bus change, a subway ride, and two additional bus rides connecting to a ferry. All bus numbers were of course specified along with the location of the bus stops. We followed it by the letter and it was all correct! I am not sure how we could have figured this out on our own!
When selecting "Public transit," you can vary the time you want to leave by clicking the slider icon in the upper left end corner of your screen. Thank you Google :)) We appreciate your connection to many other public transportation databases. Needless to say that these other databases need to be accurate to get the correct information.
3) Phone and texting connection: Whatsapp - Google Hangouts - Skype
We love to use Whatsapp for texts and phone calls all around the world. Of course, the person you are calling needs to have downloaded Whatsapp as well. It is 100% free! This will work only if you and the person you are contacting are connected to the internet. You need to establish your contacts first.
Google Hangouts is also really nice. You get a telephone number (free) and people can reach you on it. All calls are free to the United States and Canada. It is the least expensive option to call anywhere in the world and it is basically free for anyone to reach you at this number. No need for the person who calls you to be connected to the internet. It is a phone line. Texting works with Hangouts but only in the United States.
We are also using Skype with video feature. Calls are free from computer/mobile phone to computer/mobile phone. You will pay a few cents per minute (you need to add money to your account) if you call a landline number and the cost varies slightly from country to country.
4) Various mode of transportation to go from point A to point B: Rome2rio
Rome2rio is another brilliant application. It will give you transportation options to go from one city to another. It will give you information on all modes of transportation (plane, train, bus, ferry, car), and/or combinations of them, with a range of prices for each, and the time it will take you to reach your destination. It is magic! So, so useful. I forgot to mention that it gives not only one bus but all buses that you can take, not one ferry but all ferries you can take.
5) Keeping track of spending: Excel!
Simple...an excel sheet stored in the cloud! If my mom could read and understand English, she would wonder why the heck we have to store it so high......well, just so that it has NO chance of getting stolen :)) The top of the armoire is not good enough nowadays.
All expenses are entered at the time they are encountered in different categories including transportation, accommodation, food, entertainment, other. There is one tab for each country, a tab for running totals to compare spending in each country. We know exactly what we spend per day, the average we have spent per day over x many days, the amount we spent in each country per day and total....Quantitative and accurate with interesting stats at the end :)) After all, we are scientists, so quantitation comes quite naturally :))
6) Booking a flight: Google Flights-JustFly-Orbitz-Expedia
There is not one stop to buy the cheapest plane tickets. I often start with Google Flights, then Orbitz, Expedia, individual airline companies, justfly. Google Flights allows you to scan fares around the dates you are interested in flying. They also have a map showing flight cost to alternate proximal cities. As an example, we wanted to fly on a Wednesday from Tromso to Stockholm. All we found that day were non direct flights stopping in Oslo. Thanks to Google flights, we realized that leaving on Tuesday instead of Wednesday was allowing us to fly direct (2 1/2 hr saved) at 1/2 the cost of the Wednesday flight. This was quite exciting to save both time and money! Going directly to companies like United, Norvegian airlines, SAS was also worth it in some circumstances.
What we also realized is that it is usually cheaper to buy one ticket from A to B, B to C, C to D using the multi-city function, rather than 4 individual tickets covering the same route (A to B separate from B to C, separate from C to D). We experienced this situation when booking tickets from SFO to Managua, Managua to Quito, and Quito to Lima.
7) Finding best restaurants and sights to see....: Yelp and Tripadvisor
Both of these apps will help you find restaurants and TripAdvisor will detailed the "things to do" in each place. They also have reviews associated with their recommendations. The Question/Answer board on TripAdvisor provides timely information, for example, where to store your bags while you visit the town. Google also provides a local search for restaurants, ATM, grocery...and much more. We use this function a lot. We also use Lonely Planet guide book for recommendations of sites or museums to see. We were able to download Lonely Planet guides from 17 different countries using the app TotalBoox through the Palo Alto library and their E-books programs. No guide books to carry, ideal! All on our phones.
8) How many miles/kms have I walked, run or bicycled today: Google Fit
Download application Fit from Google Play Store. Make sure that your GPS is on. Answer the questions regarding gender, weight, height...The application will collect data as soon as you walk, run or bicycle. It aggregates data by day, week and each week since you started. It does not appear to consume the battery.
9) Getting news: New York Times - Yahoo News - BBC News - Biospace
We read news almost exclusively through our online subscription to the New York Times. We also look at Yahoo news and BBC news. We also read Biospace.for news in the Pharmaceutical world.
10) Text translation: Google Translate
If you download the Google Translate app, you can select any text and have the option of translating it in any language. This function will be available only on the most recent phone versions. Be aware that text translation is not always fully accurate.
No comments:
Post a Comment