5 Apps for Better Travel

In this day and age, with all the social media, electronic gadgets and the presence of the internet here, it's easier than ever to find deals on airfare, book a hotel and reserve a rental car, but what do you do when you're in-transit and find that you need to be able to make your commute faster or more convenient? This is when you whip out your smart phone and employ trusty travel apps you've downloaded. You have downloaded them, right? If you've avoided adding any apps just because there are so many that just trying to pick one or two is making your head spin, then possibly these five suggestions will break you out of your digital paralysis and get your feet wet in the wonderful world of apps, especially if you can use them to make your travel life less complicated.

Going through a new airport and need to know where to find everything? GateGuru shows you where you can grab a magazine, find a nutritious (or not so nutritious) meal, pick up a giant bottle of water to keep hydrated or even where to go to get that last-minute souvenir for someone special. GateGuru is your free guide to all the dining, shopping and service an airport has to offer.

Go paperless and eliminate all those confirmation papers you normally take with you by uploading all your trip details – airfare, hotel, dining reservations, tour info and anything else you could need on vacation – to TripIt. This free app lets you email confirmations to them and will automatically update your trip itinerary with them, saving you time and energy. TripIt will also give you information related to your itinerary, like weather and maps.

B4YouBoard is a free app that enables you to eat at the airport no matter tight your connection is. Use the app to order from available menus and have your meal delivered to your gate to either eat while you wait for boarding or once you get on the plane. So convenient and easy to eat well on-the-go. So far, it's only available for three airports (Chicago O’Hare, JFK, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Sacramento International), but more are to be added in the future.

Be totally prepared you for those unexpected flight snafus where you get bumped or your flight is canceled. NextFlight is a great free resource for the business traveler who just needs to get on the next flight out, those that don’t like to spend hours at the airport or those that have an emergency and need to get somewhere as soon as possible. The app searches over 1,200 airlines at over 4,000 airports to get you the most updated data.

Got airport anxiety? MyTSA is for those that want all the security info in the palm of their hand. Know what approximate security wait times are before you even get to the airport, as well as any general delays and TSA packing guide, including lists of prohibited items.

Whatever your travel style, there is an app to help it go more smoothly. Even just getting through airports can be challenging, especially with summer vacation coming. Why not make the most of our time and look like a pro as you navigate through security, crowds, gate changes and anything else that gets thrown at you.

Let's Plan Your Summer Vacation!

Where are you planning to go on your summer vacation?

Do You Love Legos?

You don’t have to have kids to go to Legoland, but it helps. Or maybe not. When we visited the colorful, rectangular theme park we were probably one of only two couples there that didn’t have children under 6 with us. Eric and I are children at heart, so we thought this was hilarious and we enjoyed every minute we spent in the Southern Californian park.

Legoland is great at keeping rides short to capitalize on the just as short attention spans of small kids. If you like thrilling rides, you won’t find any here. No, scratch that. You’ll find one. The Bionicle Dragon ride will give you a run for your money. You (and a friend) climb into a roller coaster seat that is attached to a robotic arm. Crew members will ask you to choose your “intensity level”. Choose between one and five. They told us the difference was that level 5 “goes upside down more”. That sounded appealing to us at the time. If you ever wondered what it felt like to be a salt shaker, this ride allows you to answer that question.

Aside from The Dragon, all the other rides are family-friendly and are suitable for little kids. Of course, if you love those kinds of rides, Legoland will be a lot of fun for you, just like it was for us. Everything is Lego branded and you will find amazing, large sculptures made out thousands of the blocks. It makes you want to go home and make your own cool things with your old Legos – and if you don’t have any, you can buy as many as you want before you leave. Of course, there are plenty of opportunities to test out your building skills throughout the park.

Here are some pictures of our visit to Legoland in Carlsbad, California. Remember, many of the older Lego statues look a lot better in pictures than in person, because they have been faded by the sun.

This is seriously the whole ride. And you get soaked! LOL!

A fun shooter game!

Yup, those faces are made of Legos!

There's a whole Vegas Strip. I just love these tourists.

Bionicle spinners, which is just like the teacups at Disneyland

And my favorite thing at Legoland is not the boat ride or the miniature Star Wars lands or the shorty roller coasters, but the signs for the bathrooms:

Funny, right? 

Your visit to Legoland could be included on your Los Angeles GoCard, which I also blogged about here. It's definitely a better deal if you plan to do other stuff on your trip. We found it fun and enjoyable and the middle of the week was a great time to go, because it was super slow and rides were incredibly short. After days of being in packed big-ride theme parks, it was a nice change of pace and pretty relaxing.                                        Have you ever been to Legoland?