Prepare Your Smartphone and Laptop Travel Toolkit
If you're setting off on a road trip or a flight this
weekend, chances are you're frantically searching for ways to stay
connected and limit your boredom and hassles while travelling. Whether
it's sniffing out Wi-Fi passwords or checking flight information, we've
got your travel toolkit covered for smartphones and laptops.Trick Out Your Smartphone
Whether you're travelling to a brand new land or retreading the same highways you take every year, loading up your smartphone with apps is a great way to prevent anything horrible from happening along the way (like being bored or without internet).
Find free Wi-Fi: If you're in a new town, you might not feel like asking every clerk at every shop you pop into for the Wi-Fi password. On iOS, you can use previously mentioned 4sqwifi, which uses Foursquare's resource of Wi-Fi passwords to sniff out locations you can log into. For Android try Wifi Tracker to help find local and free Wi-Fi hotspots using Google Maps.
Track your trip: Regardless of whether you're flying or driving, keeping track of an itinerary can be hard. Tripit makes things a bit easier by consolidating your flight, hotel, and rental car information into one place. The suite of mobile apps makes it simple to check on the go, provided you're using an iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or Windows Phone 7. If you want to check on your flight's status, FlightStat's Mobile Site is your best free option.
If you're driving, you might want to pick up Fuel Finder for iOS or Gas Buddy for Android to help you get the cheapest gas along the way. It comes in handy when you one reststop's price is significantly higher than the others.
Figure out the weather: Swackett for iOS is a weather app that not just tells you the temperature, it also helps you get dressed. It's a little silly when you're in your home climate, but if you're traveling somewhere with a totally different winter, it can help you figure out what to wear.
Keep yourself safe and ready for disasters: If you're taking a long road trip, you're probably going to go through some nasty weather along the way, but having wikiHow: How to and Survival Kit for iOS loaded up on you phone ahead of time will ensure you now how to deal with everything from escaping a car on the edge of a cliff to starting a fire in a snow storm. Other smartphone users can use the webapp to track similar information.
You may also need help locating a bathroom in a pinch, and being in a city you're unfamiliar with doesn't make that easy. For iOS, you can load up Bestroom to help you find the closest public restroom, or for Android, use Toilet/Bathroom Finder.
Make an exit plan: No matter how much you love your family, you will probably want to skip out at some point. Even if you're visiting your old hometown, it doesn't mean you know what to do. Goby for Android and iOS is a recommendation engine that tells you everything that's going on around you, ensuring you'll have a place to skip off to if need be. Yelp, of course, is another option.
Tether: If you have a smartphone with a data plan, you might as well use it to let your laptop get an internet ride as well. previously featured PDANet for jailbroken iPhones and Android is our go-to for the best tethering app because it can hide the fact you're tethering. If you're not jailbroken, you don't have a lot of options, but the $20/month through your carrier might be worth it if you'll be nowhere near Wi-Fi for an extended period of time.
Prep Your Laptop for Travel
If you want to get a bit of work done while you're travelling, or you just want to keep your laptop handy to watch movies, you should load up a few programs before you leave the house.
Get your files synced: It's easy to forget that you might not have internet wherever you're going, so if you're using cloud storage service like Dropbox, remember to pop open the laptop and let it sync before you leave. If you're not, we've broken down the main contenders to help you choose the right service.
Find Wi-Fi: Skype is giving out free Wi-Fi at over 50 airports this holiday, but if you're not travelling on a plane or visiting one of the cities they're supporting, you might need to tap into free Wi-Fi at some point. iStumbler for Mac and WeFi for Windows can help you find an open Wi-Fi network wherever you are. Just be sure you prepare your computer for safely browsing on public Wi-Fi before you leave.
Get access to your home computer: There's always a good chance you'll forget something on your home computer, so it's not a bad idea to set up a remote login on your home computer and your laptop before you go. You have plenty of options out there, but LogMeIn is one of the simplest to use.
Don't Forget The Extra Gadgets
Depending on where you're heading, a few additional gadgets might also help you out along the way. That includes an emergency battery charger like the HyperJuice battery for your laptop or smartphone that can help prevent your tech from going dry while on the road or a plane.
If you're not comfortable or can't tether your laptop through to your phone for internet, MiFi works with most carriers and will do in a pinch. Just be aware you'll probably have some extra fees.
If you're hitting up airports or coffee shops in a new town, don't forget to load up a flash drive as privacy toolkit to keep you and your computer safe while you're jamming up the truck stop Wi-Fi trying to find new podcasts for the road.
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