12 Simple Ways to Boost Your Travel Experience with Smartphones, Tablets

Modern travel can be plenty painful. Lengthy lines. Unspecific delays. Rude people. “Overbooked” flights. Mechanical issues and technical difficulties. Smartphones, tablets and mobile applications cannot solve all of these problems, but they sure can help — in more ways than you may know or understand.

During the past years, I’ve traveled frequently and, to be honest, I’m a terrible traveler. I’m impatient, I’m set in my routine and I hate surprises. The following slides detail the smartphone and tablet tips and tricks, along with the travel apps, I use to smooth the process and enhance my time away from home.

If you own a relatively new smartphone or cellular-enabled tablet, chances are it has portable hotspot features. You may pay a bit extra per month for this functionality, but if you travel frequently, your phone’s hotspot can be invaluable. Layover in Houston and you don’t want to use the potentially insecure free airport Wi-Fi? Hotel charging $9.95 or more a day for a wireless connection that will likely prove to be spotty and unreliable? Just fire up your personal hotspot and skip all the hassle—and the risk.

When you think of foursquare, you probably don’t think of travel apps. But the location-based social network is perfect for keeping an online log of the various places you visit. You can use the desktop interface to check your “history” after you return from a trip, so it’s easy to find the name of that great Mexican place with the monster margaritas, as well as the date you were there. The foursquare “Explore” feature is a great way to find just about anything while traveling, and the tips listed at venues can help determine a restaurant’s specialty dish or learn other insider information on venues. The app also tells you if any foursquare connections are nearby.

In addition to loading my tablet up with books and magazine before travel, I always download at least two movies. All major mobile platforms make it relatively simple to purchase or rent movies. Sure, you can just watch in the in-flight satellite TV on the back of the seat in front of you, or the movie on that tiny overhead display. But wouldn’t you rather pick the film or TV show you want to watch—and be able to pause it during the inevitable bathroom break? You can also stream any media you don’t watch during travel when you get to your hotel, assuming you follow my previous advice and get yourself an HDMI cord.