Google's Project Fi for Travelers: It's Great, If You Can Use It
Google Project Fi is a new US-based cell service that is able to switch automatically between the T-Mobile and Sprint networks as needed, and you could call and text over Wi-fi. Also included are free texts, $0.20/min calls and data at $10 per GB. With no annual contract required. https://fi.google.com/about/
Memorial Day (May 30,2016) is the official kickoff for the summertime travel season. So that means that the airports will be hopping. Expect the roads to be packed with people making the most out of their four-day weekend as well. I have put together a graph of the worst travel days during the holidays here: Top Holidays for Travel & Their Rating. Weekends are the busiest travel days during the summer and holidays.
Tablet Holder
Easiest way to watch movies and shows for the rear passengers is hands-free with the iPad or other tablet mounted onto the seat's headrest
Point-and-Shoot
For a quick and quality shot from the car or a quick pit stop, a small digital camera would a great travel gadget for mom. A point-and-shoot with great optical zoom will let you shoot from a distance yet get clear up-close shots. Cameras, such as the one below, also have 1080p videos, high sensitivity sensor with 20 Megapixels.
Does your mom take the long and more scenic way on a train?
Pocket Tripod
One of the biggest benefits of train travel is the scenery. When traveling through the countryside, it is likely that you would have an opportunity to get out and take it in and take some shots. To get the best shot set up a tripod, especially at dawn or dusk. The Tiltpod Pocket Tripod is one top gadget in this category. It attaches to your camera’s strap, and is small enough to carry in your handbag. DSLR
Good camera captures a lot of light at the right moments and limits the light coming in at another. Cameras best at this are DSLRs. On train trip you would get the best scenic shots with a semi-pro camera that is quite user friendly. Top Recommendations for Travel & Outdoor Photography
Laptop
Train travel is a slower pace trip. The time spent in travel also would let your mom or anyone else traveling with her to catch up on movies, shows, and making of albums, movies and other things that have been pushed aside by regular daily activities. And, if really have to, catch up on some work stuff as well.
Portable External Battery Charger
All these devices need to remain charged up to be used during the trip. A battery charger with lots of mAh would keep your mom's gadgets going throughout the trip.
Does your mom take a flight to reach her holiday destination?
Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones
Screaming kids, teenagers, and adults. Not a great combination in a small enclosed space. Tune all of these out with a good pair noise-cancelling. headphones. Headphones, such as the Bose Quiet Comfort cancel out all noise around you. Enjoy the silence or listen to your own music, without having to turn it up to hear it clearly.
Kindle
Mom can get comfy in limited space and also tune out the surroundings with a good book. On Kindle, she can preload multiple titles to pass the time in the airport and on the airplane.
Does your mom like to take in the sites on a cruise?
Two-Way Radio
A walkie-talkie might seem like a rather old fashioned type of gadget to use, though if you’re traveling with a family or a few friends it is a great way to stay in touch on a cruise ship. Ships are well known for their lack of (or blocking) cellular services and Wi-Fi. Which makes it very hard or very expensive to communicate using your smartphone. A set of walkie-talkies makes it simple to keep track of everyone around the ship and get together whenever necessary.
Waterproof case for iPhone Waterproof cases mean you can snap pictures, watch movies and send text messages in the wettest of environments without damaging the iPhone or iPad
There are numerous benefits to this surge in public WiFi: you can book tickets while on the go, keep in contact with loved ones back home or document your adventures on a blog, to name a few. However, there is also a risk factor that many fail to consider.
This wedding season, technology gifts are in style when it comes to gift-giving Did you know? More couples consider technology items appropriate for gift registries, according to a survey of brides and grooms commissioned by retailer Best Buy.
Destination Wedding Stats:
24 % of marriages are destination weddings.
Average budget for a destination wedding is $28,000.
60% of destination couples pay for the wedding themselves.
Average number of guests at a destination wedding: 48.
9 out of 10 couples say weather is a key factor in selecting a destination.
Top 5 destinations for out-of-town weddings are (# of weddings):
- Las Vegas (125,000)
- Hawaii (20,000)
- U.S. Virgin Islands (5,100)
- Jamaica (5,000)
- Bahamas (4,000)
Why register for china when you can register for a trip to China?
Bride and groom can have their guests and benevolent friends and family make a “trip contribution,” which are funds that are transferred to the recipients by check or bank transfer. Or can register for a gift via a “resort credit,” which would be applied to the couple’s hotel account and can be used for anything that can be billed to a room while at the resort. Couples can request gifts toward a honeymoon stay or spa services and do so in small, separate increments, kind of like crowd-sourcing your getaway.
Amazon Wedding Registry Sweepstakes now through May 31st, 2016. Customers who create a wedding registry and add at least one item from the Lenox product line to the registry during the sweepstakes period (April 1, 2016 - May 31, 2016) are entered for a chance to win a Honeymoon Getaway Package. Visit the sweepstakes page for more information and official rules.
Per a Bridal Guide survey, below are honeymoon travel items wedding couples are mostly likely to purchase:
Wardrobe = 70.1%
Swimsuit = 69.9%
Sunglasses = 69.9%
Sunscreen = 57.8%
Luggage = 49.7%
Video Camera = 36.6%
Camera = 31.0% Sports
Equipment = 7.3%
Travel Gear
Wedding couples can register for many things, it does not have to be household items. The young newlyweds hopefully are planning to travel beyond just their honeymoon. Putting off traveling like the generations before have done, is not a great idea. As my grandpa stated a long time ago, go travel now while you can move around since if you wait until you are retired and have any health issues, there go your traveling plans. So get some travel gadgets for your wedding and go travel.
Noise-canceling headphones
You want to hear your new significant other, but tune out all the other noise around you when you are traveling. A great pair of noise-canceling headphones can do just that by filtering out the sound of engines and such, but keeping the music coming through clear. Top noise-cancelling headphones
Ipod/Mp3 Player
While your phone can serve as a music player, not all have enough storage to keep a full list for the trip and all the other stuff on it. So a dedicated MP3 player would be a great way to keep on jamming. Apple iPod Touch MP3 Player
Chargers
All the gadgets that are coming along for the honeymoon or destination wedding need to be ready and fully charged to not miss a bit. Anker PowerCore Portable Charger
Streaming TV devices
Using the streaming devices you can not only watch Netflix and Amazon Prime while traveling, but you can also share pictures to the group and stream music. Roku 3 Streaming Media Player
Wireless speakers
To share your tunes with the wedding party on the go, wireless speakers easily sync up with Bluetooth on your phone or MP3 player to transmit the sound out loud. DKnight MagicBox Bluetooth Portable Wireless Speaker
USB Sticks
If you want to share your wedding day with friends and family after the big day is done and you are back in town, adding photos and videos to a USB stick along with a thank you note is a great way to share and preserve memories. SanDisk Cruzer 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive
For Bride & Groom Honeymoon Keep a journal. This way you will remember all of the activities, romance, and funny moments during your trip. The main event and the trip after is going to be a whirlwind. This will also help you replay your honeymoon stories when you return.
Take photos. This is a likely a given that you will be taking a lot of shots on your travels. Photosof the two of you enjoying the activities your guests purchased from your honeymoon registry can be included in your thank you note or message that you going to put on a USB.
If you are traveling internationally and plan to call home, set-up a Skype account so your calls are inexpensive or free if you are calling another Skype account. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection.
Slip an easily compressed duffle bag into your suitcase. If you learn your luggage is too heavy when you are are the airport, or have too many gifts and souvenirs from the trip, you can quickly repack and avoid extra fees.
Luggage Scale - wedding is pricey enough, no need to pay overweight fees Digital Luggage Scale
Want to make your significant other not forget your wedding anniversary? Ever! There is a ring for that. The Remember Ring™ utilizes patent pending Hot Spot™ technology to deliver a reminder. 24 hours before your special day, the thermal spot on the interior surface of your Remember Ring™ will warm to 120º F for approximately 10 seconds, and continue to warm up every hour, on the hour, all day long. It would be hard to ignore.
For a Destination Wedding, all of guests are from out-of-town. Make them feel welcome by preparing a welcome bag that is filled with goodies, wedding favors, and gadgets:
Sunglasses
It is very likely that the destination for the wedding is warm and sunny one. A pair of nice sunglasses would be a great gift as it is functional and can be used during and after the trip.
Sunscreen
Another essential in a sunny destination is the sunscreen. The guests, and the couple, need to be in good condition, with no sunburned skin, and ready for the wedding. Travel sized containers filled with SPF 30 sunscreen are compact inexpensive and will protect your guests from the harmful rays of the sun. Luggage Tags
This is also a very functional gift for the wedding guests. They can place them on their luggage either on the way back or to if they are distributed ahead of the trip. The wedding couple can customize the luggage tags with their wedding location, date, and names so that they are unique and easily recognizable
Water Bottles
Water bottles are great option as they can be customized for the wedding couple and be useful during and after to keep guests hydrated. It would especially be a great idea if the destination wedding includes some local activities for the wedding party.
Bottle opener
These are also easily customizable and useful for the duration of the trip as well as after the wedding.
Offbeat Wedding Favor
What do most wedding guests like the most? Eating, dancing, and drinking. Not necessarily in this order. Someone came up with a hands-free option for keeping your wine or champagne glass on you at all times. With Wine Glass Holder Necklace you have hands free to keep eating, or talking with loud gestures, or if adventurous enough, dancing.
Image: Vimeo: Celebrations of Tampa Bay
The Event
One way to create an unforgettable and unique event is to add a few tech upgrades:
Drones
To get a different view of your destination wedding, beyond just ladders, hire a drone videographer. Aerial wedding videography would make for some great scenes of the surroundings, the full view of the ceremony, and layout of the party. Fotio
Fotio is a photo booth without the photo booth. If a clunky box and curtain at your wedding isn't your thing, Fotio provides a vintage alternative to a traditional photo booth, and it can be easily moved throughout the wedding. Chicago-based Fotio takes stunning photos and sends all the images to to an online gallery so you don't have to worry about carrying around printed pictures.
I Do Stream
Got out-of-town friends and family that can't make the wedding? You can broadcast the ceremony and reception with I Do Stream, a live-streaming wedding service that will capture your big day in real-time. A videographer can come onsite and perform the broadcast for you, the company can send you the equipment to do the live-stream on your own.
Wedding Wall www.socialweddingwall.com Want to see your guests' photos and messages as the wedding is taking place? Wedding Wall is a real-time, visible social media feed that runs throughout your reception. All you need is a TV or projector, and Wedding Wall grabs all the images posted to social media websites with your specific hashtag and displays them during the reception.
GoPro
A GoPro is a must-have for when the dinner ends and the party begins. You can put it virtually anywhere. These easy to use, lightweight cameras can be worn by the best man, carried on a selfie stick, taken onto the wedding dance floor, secured onto a liquor bottle and much more. GoPro HERO4 Silver
Travel makes a more rounded person, it opens you up to new experiences, people, and cultures. Seeing pictures of a place is not the same as being there. At least that has been the thinking previously. And it is true since you cannot experience the smells, sounds, and views unless you are there.
Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, and other Virtual Reality devices are looking to, at least partially, change that. Using these gadgets you can "experience" being there without leaving the comfort of your home. The videos immerse you into different locals where you can see and hear the surroundings as though you are there.
A photo posted by Lindsey Kerns (@malibumamaloves) on
This is great technology that has come a long way, but it is a preview. It does not replace the real thing. At least currently. It only satisfies two out of 5 senses. Sight and hearing. You still have smell, taste, touch that you can only get from being there. So go preview and then go travel.
YouVisit - With this app, you can experience virtual reality tours. They have a collection of different experiences such Alaska, helicopter ride, view on the cruise ship
Discovery VR - Virtual Reality can take you to new worlds like never before, such as shark-infested shipwrecks and freeboarding the windiest street in the world
Jaunt VR - has a selection of incredibly high-quality travel VR videos including Nepal, Machu Picchu, Syria and Jerusalem
Sound-off: What do you think of virtual reality travel? Would you do that or actually go to a place or both? Let us know below
If you found this page useful in your gadget search, please recommend us:
Multiple uses for feature of your device, camera, that is already part of your travel arsenal:
Use it as a mirror
The camera works great to do a quick hair, make-up and teeth check. It’s much more convenient and space saving than carrying an actual mirror. You can also use it look in tight spaces.
Record your parking spot
If you tend to forget where you parked your car in a large parking lot, then take a photo of your pot, specifically the actual spot number or wall or pole next to it. Remember, a photo of the car you’re parked next to is useless if the driver happens to leave before you return.
Save an e-ticket for flights, movies or events
These days I almost always get an e-ticket when I travel. They are easier to carry with you and don't require wasting paper and, therefore, trees. But there have been a couple of times when I’ve had slow cellular service or no WiFi, which makes it hard to access on the spot. Once you get the e-ticket, grab a screenshot so you can pull it up right from your photo library without worrying about log-ins or wireless service.
Save directions
Google Maps app is a great service to use while traveling to find directions and to find places of interest. Though it would not work well if you hit a bad reception area. I have previously put together a guide on how to use the app in such cases: How To: Use Google Maps Offline When Traveling
This way you load your directions before you leave. As an alternative or in addition, you can take a screenshot of the map and the directions in list view so you have it all easily accessible. This is especially great for rural areas with terrible reception, and urban dwellers who don’t get service underground in the subway. Speaking of which, a screenshot of the local subway map when you travel is a good idea also.
Translate foreign language text
Have you ever been in a foreign country and needed to translate some printed text? These days, that probably involves typing the foreign-language text into your smartphone or laptop and using something like Google Translate to translate it for you. However, there’s a better way — if you’re using Google Translate, you can use the camera function to snap a picture of the text. Google Translate can use optical character recognition (OCR) to automatically interpret the text and translate it for you. It’s does not translate everything it sees 100%, but it can work surprisingly well and is faster than typing in words you don’t recognize. What's also great is that the app will work with no service or in airplane mode for most basic phrases.
Create digital copies of important documents
Snap photos of your driver’s license, passport, and other important documents, especially when you’re about to travel. If your phone settings require a password to get in (which it should), you won’t have to worry about someone else gaining access. Plus, if you use an auto cloud-syncing service you’ll have it backed up somewhere besides your phone.
Scan and OCR documents
Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, is a technology that enables you to convert different types of documents, such as scanned paper documents, PDF files or images captured by a digital camera into editable and searchable data. You can use your smartphone’s camera as a scanner for receipts and other documents you come across. There are apps that are able to convert those photos by performing OCR to analyze the text and convert it into a searchable document. You won’t get the same image quality you would with a flatbed scanner, but this is a much faster, on-the-go way to scan documents.
Memo(ries) for save keeping
Using the phone's camera you can take mementos during your trip to remember later. You can take a picture of labels from wine or beer bottles that you’ve tried and loved at a restaurant or winery/brewery. Also grab a snapshot of your meal, restaurant name, and hotel room number.
Car rental and rental insurance
When renting a car, take a picture of the car and its license plate. This helps when checking in at a hotel and registering the car, not to mention finding it when you have forgotten what the car looks like. In case of a minor fender bender, pull out your phone, document the damage, snap pictures of insurance cards and drivers license info and get back to your vacation.
Currency converter “cheat sheet”
When traveling out of the country, take a screenshot of the sheet with conversion rates for easy access to the info on the go to do some quick calculations. OANDA Customizable Currency Cheatsheet - this handy tool puts together a wallet-sized 'cheat sheet' for on-the-fly converting. You input your local currency and that of your destination and you get a currency converting sheet that you can easily take a picture of since it is so compact.
Example (US to Brazilian Real):
Scope out nearby places with augmented reality
Augmented reality overlays relevant information over what your smartphone camera sees.
Just point your camera in a given direction and allow an app, such as Yelp for instance, to show you what's nearby. Once you select something you will also be able to get specific directions.
And Oh Yeah, you can also use it to take pictures and video :)
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