Headed somewhere soon? Whether you’re jet setting across the country or gearing up for a red-eye to Europe, there are several social media tools that can make planning and enjoying your trip much easier. Here are five social media tools essential to help you plan your next trip.
One of the most innovate apps for travel is Hipmunk, which launched earlier this year at the Launch Conference in San Francisco. Hipmunk helps users choose a flight not only based on the date and financial cost of the trip, but also factors in things like agony, cost, departure time, and length of the flight. With the app you can also compare the cost of flights by choosing a different airport or date of arrival or departure. You can also book your favorite flight right from the app, as well as visit an actual Web site to complete the transaction if you find it difficult to submit credit card and flyer information from your iPhone.
If you’re looking for the best possible hotel room to call home for a few days while traveling, you can always use the reviews on Hotels.com or Yelp. However, Room 77 — a winner of the Launch conference — allows users to check out reviews of specific hotels to determine which rooms to request when booking, or which rooms should prompt you to ask for a different one when you check in. Room 77 features floor maps, amenities for each room, and tips from previous guests. Not all hotels have a complete profile, but for those who do, the service can make or break an enjoyable stay in the hotel.
Traveling can be expensive. Kayak is a Web-based and mobile app for Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry that can help you find the cheapest deals on flights, hotels, and even car rentals. With Kayak, you simply need to enter the dates you are considering traveling and whether you want to find hotels too, and Kayak will return the lowest-priced options. Unlike Hipmunk, the price does not take into account the emotional and physical cost of taking a red-eye or having two stopovers, but if you’re only concerned about the cost that will hit your bank account, Kayak is a must have app for creating your itinerary.
Foursquare recently added one of the best new features since the development of its core functions. Foursquare users can now create and read lists created by their friends on Foursquare, which can be viewed on Foursquare.com. Not sure if your airport has Wi-Fi? Mashable has a list for that. Don’t know where you want to go on your vacation? Scroll through the list of most popular lists created by your friends to find out out where to go or eat across the country. Unfortunately there is no search feature for lists on Foursquare yet, but they are still a great start for gathering ideas.
If you’re waiting for friends and family to meet you at your vacation destination, you could add each of their airline’s apps to your phone to keep track of delays and time of arrival. Flight Status is an app that does all this, for all airlines, in one place. With Flight Status you can not only check the status of a flight, but get status about an airport as well — useful for upcoming winter weather, especially on the east coast. Flight Status also shows you where the plane is in flight, and can provide push notifications when there is an update about the flight. The app is available for iOS users and costs $4.99, but the price is well worth it if you frequently need to check the status of flights.
Reposted/published from http://www.lockergnome.com.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
