my must have travel apps

If you want to backpack the world and keep your backpack small and under 30 pounds there are several things you have to leave at home. For me, an easy choice was my beloved MacBook. While my laptop is fabulous, it's heavy, bulky, not exactly water proof, and I know I would be upset if it was stolen, lost, or broken.


Even though I don't have a laptop, I, of course, want to stay in touch with the Internet, send emails, keep up with the news, etc. But, I really don't want to do all of this while paying for an Internet cafe or using a computer in the lobby of a hotel.


Insert the iPod touch. My iPod is most definitely one of my favorite travel items and after doing some app adding I have definitely customized this sucker for travel.

Extra! Extra!
With regular internet connection it's easy to stay in touch with what's happening in the world.
-CNN (Free!)
-NPR (Free!)
-New York Times (mostly free. There is a pay wall for any articles that are not top stories)
-The Economist (not free at all but subscribing to the online only version is relatively cheap)


I see that my news sources maybe are slanted in one specific political direction. But honestly, I just can't bring myself to even search for an app that's for a news source that aligns itself with Sarah Palin (**shudder**). But maybe I should add The Wall Street Journal to balance things out? Not to mention support my friend Mary who is a WSJ reporter in Berlin. (Check out her articles here!)

A book or two

Chris and I also use our iPods as digital libraries.  We have copies of guidebooks, novels, and non-fiction always with us in our pockets.  While I still have traded, borrowed, and bought books I love having the electronic guidebook with me.  Nothing marks you as a vunerable tourist more than staring into a Lonely Planet on the side of the street.

The other stuff

- daily yoga app so I can get my stretch on (free. See the pattern now?)
- global convert-- this app is awesome. It not only can work between pounds to kilos (damn you metric system!), it converts currency and updates the exchange rate every time you connect to the Internet! (Fahhh-ree-heee)

- social media apps so I can keep a tab on my people and maybe do a little stalking of those Halloween costumes you'll all be sporting this weekend (ok, who's going to be the sexy cop this year?)
- free magazines like Elle and More (yes, I do realize that I'm not in their target "older woman" demographic but it was free, damnit!)

Anda suka belajar banyak bahasa? (translation from Indonesian: "do you like studying many languages?")

Whenever I arrive in a new country I like to come prepared with a few key phrases and a basic understanding of numbers. World Nomads, one of the world's largest travel insurance providers, has a series of apps for almost every major language from Arabic to Swahili to Vietnamese.


These FREE (whoop whoop!) apps provide basic translation of helpful sentences, numbers, and some even provide audio to help with pronunciation.


On the not so free side, one of the most helpful learning apps I've ever used is Anki. Anki is a online flash card program that already has thousands of card decks loaded. It's a free download for your computer but a hefty $25.00 app. While that's a huge amount of money the Anki app has help Chris and I more than any other language guide out there.

Going viral on YouTube

Chris has a fancy iPod that takes video and pictures. So we've been stock piling videos of everything from amazing scenery to a creepy spider eating a moth. FYI there are some boring scenic videos out there.

Here is the link to Chris's YouTube page:


http://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisEdTravels

My grand addition to the YouTube collection is a video of a GOP nomination rap set to the tune of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air...




What can I say? Sometimes Chris and I just have a little too much time on our hands (and maybe a little bit too much beer in our bellies). Don't worry, we're working on a new song set to "I Like Big Butts".

Enya? Hellya!

Here's a little hostel wisdom for all of you:

Hostels are loud. Really loud.

This morning I was woken up at 6:45 am. I don't think you understand. SIX FOURTY FIVE IN THE MORNING!! Because my "roommate" seemed to be packing with the light on after she had gone to bed at 9 the night before. I was NOT pleased and am still a little bitter.

So what did I do? I gave the death stare, put on my ipod, and jammed my head under my pillow with a loud huff. I refuse to be mature when
woken unnessicarily at 6:45 am. What did I choose to listen to you must be asking?

Enya

That's right my friends. New age Celtic instrumental music does the trick for me. It's soft enough to put me to sleep but encoherent
enough that I never really have any idea of words. And the strange
nonsensical rhythms help block out random noises. It's completly
perfect except I usually wake up and my iPod is completely tangled
around my body...

London: Day 1

hi hi hi!

I'm so sorry that I have been MIA these last few days. It's been kind a whirlwind of emotions ranging from excitement and joy to complete fear and panic.

So, I'll give you the scoop on all that I've done in the last three days:

DAY 1
Landed at Heathrow bright and early. I made my way through a huge customs line and when I finally got to the customs official I definitely got a through examination. I have told some of you, but in preparation for my trip I printed out bank statements, flight itineraries, and purposely went ahead and booked a hostel and a flight out of the UK and came to customs with all of these in hand. I did all of this because I have heard 5 or 6 stories from friends and read about strangers in the Dallas Morning News who were delayed in customs or actually denied entry into the country because they didn't have proof (or actually have) of return tickets, enough money, or a semi-solid plan of itinerary. So I walk up to the desk in my regular kill them with kindness (some jaded people might call it ass kissing) attitude and am immediately here's how the convo went:
- How long are you going to be here?
answer: 2 weeks and then I'm going on to Paris, sir *insert award winning cheesy smile*
- Can you prove you are going to France in 2 weeks?
answer: yes, here is my ticket, I'm actually leaving from this airport
- How long are you going to be in Europe?
answer: 4, well, no, 3 and a half months, I'm going to Turkey too in the middle. *start getting nervous*
- Can you prove you will be leaving Europe?
answer: yes, here is my return itinerary *begin looking around the area to make a Bourne Identity-esk escape... if I ninja kick that dude and steal his gun I can make it into that air vent and sweet freedom will be mine!*
- How much do you think all of this is going to cost?
answer: Well I have ##### in available funds, and then can access an additional #####. do you want to see those reports? *o.m.g. I'm never going to be allowed in!*
- No.

Then the customs official gives my passport the hard stamp as if he doesn't really want to let riffraff like me into the country but I've come too prepared to be denied.

Deep breath. I made it in!

I then took the subway/underground/I never know what to call it/tube to my stop to find the hostel. I wander around confused for about 5 minutes until I find some sort of information desk and am told which way is north. Let me warn you now, I have wandered around lost a lot lately, so prepare yourself now. Started heading north. Got kind of lost. Then due to my tremendous map reading skills (people-- i had drawn the map from the subway wall map because I hadn't bought one yet) became un-lost and found the hostel!!

Checked into the hostel. Then made my way into the the neighborhood, Camden, around the hostel. Camden is kind of a working class neighborhood filled with cheap ethnic restaurants, markets, and bars. I got a delicious giant plate of lamb shawarma for 3£. There was so much food on the plate that I was able to take leftovers for dinner!

At this point I'm still feeling fairly energetic and decide to try to press through the rest of the day to battle any jet lag I might be feeling by trying to stay busy. I decided to go to the British museum, consult my map, make it about 15 or 20 blocks, and then get lost. Stop in a random hotel and ask the concierge where the museum is; she informs me that I am approximately 300 meters away I just needed to keep on walking. It was a little embarrassing.

On the way to the museum my energy starts to wain. By the time I'm in the museum and looking at the Rosetta Stone I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. I stayed in the museum for approximately 8 minutes before I decided to bail (the museum was free, so no worries about my budget!), walk home, do NOT get lost. Make it home, lay in my hostel bed and write this in my journal:

"First night, it's 5:05 so tired too tired to have feelings or write"-

Pass out for 2 hours and wake up around 7 pm with nothing to do, no friends, not really hungry, and really sleepy. Shockingly, instead of letting myself go back to sleep I blasted some Brittney Spears on my ipod (Ashley, I know you would approve), went downstairs, made dinner of leftovers and veggies. Next to the hostel kitchen is a little tv room and I settled in with my dinner with some of the other hostel stayers (what do you call us? hostelers? guests? members?) and, I kid you not, watch that cheesy American show 2 and a Half Men (or something like that) with Charlie Sheen with them!

Whew! That was my day. I'm going to quit here and post about Day 2 and 3 separately.

All and all everything is going well. I've fought a little bit of homesickness and loneliness, but I am feeling great and even made a friend last night!

Get ready for posts later about my other days, the museums I've attended, and more!

I miss you all very much!

Biggest hugs,
M