Before we left on our trip we knew internet and phone were going to be huge deciding factors on our trip. Neither of us can work without internet every day, all day, and Ross has regular phone meetings that require decent cell reception. With our iPhones came AT&T and no other options. I got my phone refurbished for $99, an 8gig 3G and Ross got the newer 16gig 3GS. So far, we haven’t noticed significant differences between them.
For internet we have an AT&T USB internet device and a Verizon wifi hotspot (our second after Sprint’s service didn’t work out). If anyone cares to know, for traveling, Verizon has the BEST coverage for phone and internet – like the commercials say – 5 times better than AT&T. We learned the hard way, having not had TV in years and not listening to radio ads closely enough, we probably would have got Verizon for cell service as well. At the time, you couldn’t get an iPhone without AT&T unless it was used and jailbroken – which at the time I didn’t know enough about to trust.
I am always in the passenger seat since I don’t have a drivers license which by default makes me the navigator. While we are driving, if I’m not working, I am looking up information and weather at our next destination. Making an attempt to become somewhat informed about the place and maybe even have the place mapped out in my head. By the time we get to a town, I know where we can eat, what there is to do, where we can buy groceries, what the weather will be like all week, what our cell/internet reception will be like and maybe even why the town is called Bubsville for example.
I decided after two friends this year bought or got the iTouch for Christmas, that I would make a list of travel apps while it was fresh in my mind. They are not in a particular order except ones I use most often. I dont see a point in rating them – if they have issues – I will not hold back telling you.
First, Google Maps of course. This app comes with the iPhone and iTouch and although we have GPS (TomTom) in the RV, it has proven instrumental in finding places that either the GPS cannot find by name or provides a map view of a search, unlike GPS, letting you see things in relativity to you and each other – rather than a list that only tells you how far away from you things are. GPS is also only updated every so often and is nowhere near as thorough of a search though sometimes it will surprise you. When you cant find a place on GPS by name you can search Google Maps for the location which will give you an address. If you can’t find a place on Google Maps but know generally where it is, you can drop a pin by clicking the peeling paper in the bottom right and drag it where you want it. If its on a road, Google will tell you the location of your dropped pin, which you can then type into GPS. Do NOT by AT&T GPS if you plan to leave a major city, unfortunately iPhone GPS just isn’t dependable enough and often lags (when you need to know what your next turn is this is a no), even Google Maps gets stuck sometimes and thinks you’re in a field or the center of town – so paying for GPS that is hardly better than the free map service isn’t worth it.
Other advantages of Google Maps is Satellite and Hybrid view which will show you the topography of the region and in cases where you are really lost, you can find buildings, RV parks and even the street view of the place you are going (in a town or city – not state parks or country roads). We have many times found RV parks by looking at the satellite view and seeing a row of RV’s from space. We find most of our State Parks and RV parks though Google Maps as well as anything like vets, propane and parks for Chena to play in.
Weather is an obvious necessary app. We ran from snow storms and 18 degree nights for weeks thanks to this built in feature. It’s pretty self explanatory.
The apps I use second most often is probably a toss up between Around Me (download), Yelp (download) and Urban Spoon (download). They all do similar things in different ways.
Yelp (download) is just like the website, generally. You can find places and see their ratings – unlike Urban Spoon, it has more than just food and unlike Around Me, it has the reviews. Yelp has however gotten us lost a couple times and it’s best to confirm with Google Maps and maybe even call a place before betting money. Yelp does have a live feed though where local reviews for places pop up as a list and you can bookmark favorite places to check them out later. They also have a Talk feature where you can post or answer local questions about places to find things or just use the Nearby option to find anything near you in set categories. Retailers can also post coupons and sales on the Yelp website which show up as a category in the Nearby page giving you an edge in shopping or eating cheap.
Around me (download) will let you search many categories or use an open search for places in your area. You can search a list that tells you the address and how many miles it is or view it as a map with pins on it. They are pretty up to date on what business are actually still around, a problem you run into allot while traveling the US we’ve found. There is a category called Nearby that will tell you a short history of towns around you.
Urban Spoon (download) is strictly food as you can guess. You can search by type of food, places near you and unlike Google Maps or Around Me, you can see the price range, reviews, ratings and sometimes menus. The restaurant page has the phone number, address and a link to the map or website if they have one. Once on the map, you can send it to Google Maps which will show were you are relative to the restaurant and plan your trip there.
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