Travel Smarter 2012: New technologies that make travel more social

by Jessica Festa on

While there was once a time when people would simply head down to their local travel agent for a trip recommendation, the world of social media and technology has greatly impacted the way we travel. And that’s not only in terms of tips and advice, but also, in regards to trip sharing, accommodation booking, finding travel companions, and even choosing who we sit next to on a flight. Here are some technologies that are helping to make travel more social in 2012.

Finding a travel companion

I wish I had known about sites like these three years ago when I backpacked through Europe. I had searched dozens of travel companion forums, only to find pervy, old men who were offering to pay for young backpackers’ trips in exchange for sexual favors along the way. Luckily, we now have reputable, legitimate technologies that can help you find other travelers with similar interests who will be in the same place as you at the same time. First, there’s Ajungo, which allows you to find travel buddies through specifying itinerary dates and destinations and by funneling through your various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Foursquare, and Flickr. There’s also Globetrooper, which allows you to create trip itineraries and invite others, or, conversely, search trips to join by region or activity, such as canoeing and rafting, food and wine touring, mountaineering, or backpacking.Booking accommodation

Social accommodation booking sites have allowed finding a hostel or apartment to become so much more than simply searching a property and making a reservation. For backpackers who want to see who else will be in their hostel before they book, Gomio brings social media into the process and allows travelers to connect before their trips as well as plan activities and excursions. Moreover, CouchSurfing not only gives travelers access to free accommodation at local homes, but also has features that allow for users to plan trips, events, and activities together through forums and groups. And if you want to stay in a private, or quirky, accommodation, Airbnb allows people to list homes and rooms, which can range from anything from a treehouse overlooking San Francisco Bay to an entire apartment in central Rome, or even an igloo in Sulzberg. You can choose to search the entire site’s listings with reviews or connect through Facebook to see if anyone you know is renting out a space or has previously stayed at an Airbnb property.

Finding travel deals

You no longer have to wait and hope to stumble upon great travel deals, as social networking has not only made the world of travel more communal, it’s also made it cheaper. Personally, I find Twitter to be a really helpful tool in finding great travel deals by simply following certain handles that promote just that. Following @traveldeals, @triptwitnews, @travelbargains, @airfarewatchdog, and even airlines, hotels, and tour operators themselves will allow you to find out about promotions as soon as they are publicized. Moreover, “liking” business pages on Facebook, such as Best Travel Deals or Liberty Travel, allows you to see deals, sales, and contests as they become available. If you’re a Foursquare user, there are appreciation programs that exist to give you points whenever you check-in with a certain hotel, airline, restaurant, spa, bar, tour company, or business. For example, Topguest awards loyalty points for checking-in with companies like Clubhotel, Kimpton InTouch, Hilton, Virgin America, and more.

Connecting with local hosts

Instead of booking with an expensive tour company and getting a one-size-fits-all experience, there are many social tools that exist to help connect people with local hosts. CouchSurfing, which I mentioned above, offers an enormous database of users all over the world. There is also TripTrotting, which matches you to locals based on similar interests as well as Tripping, which allows you to connect with locals and also connect through Facebook to see if you have any mutual associations. If you’re not actually traveling but would still love to visit a city, the new Wander app links you up with a local guide who will “show you around” via texts and photos in exchange for a similar virtual tour of your city.

Finding a seat on your flight

Last year, KLM airlines announced a social seating service called Meet & Seat. Passengers share their Linkedin and Facebook profiles on the KLM Booking Engine and from there can browse other passengers’ profiles and seating arrangements. Though availability is currently limited to flights between New York and Amsterdam as well as San Francisco and Sao Paulo, the company will be expanding the service to more flights in the near future.

Travel planning

While travelers perviously were only able to rely on their guidebooks, there are now a myriad of resources available for sharing travel tips with like-minded travelers as well as getting reviews from locals, and creating and sharing organized documents. Spotted by Locals is a resource that includes city guides, blogs, and iPhone apps written by European locals about their home cities, while Gogobot is a travel review site that allows you to create your own travel network, share tips and advice, and connect through Facebook to read friends’ reviews. The site also ranks users based on their activity and review count, so you can see how much of a “travel expert” someone is when reading their reviews. Travelmuse is also a great social planning resource, as it allows you to add a bookmarker to your toolbar and save photos, websites, and text to a trip research folder. You can add destinations to your trip and look at what other users have done in the past to get ideas. The tool helps you stay organized with an itinerary calendar as well as get collaborative feedback from friends through Facebook. Once your trip planning is complete, save it to your computer or print it out to carry with you.

Journal sharing

With all of the social networking available, there’s really no longer a need to document your trips with a pen and paper diary. Tripline is an excellent social resource that allows you to create interactive maps of your journey by pinning locations as well as connecting to your social media sites to add Foursquare check-ins, Twitter updates, Facebook activity, and other social sharing to your interactive maps. A similar tool is the free TrackMyTour app, where travelers can create waypoint destinations, tweet updates, follow friends’ journeys, browse already completed tours for inspiration, and share their trip with friends via the TrackMyTour website. Moreover, Trip Journal uses Google Earth integration, allowing for every detail of the trip to be documented and shared in real-time, including routes, distance traveled, stops made, time, and speed. Blog entries, photos, videos, and comments can also be easily stored and shared through Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, Flickr, and YouTube.

[flickr image via SteveGarfield]

Gadling gear review: Camelbak All Clear water purification system

by Kraig Becker on

Finding safe and clean drinking water while traveling can often be a real challenge, particularly if you’re visiting some of the more remote destinations on the planet. Wandering off the beaten path may be one of the more rewarding elements of travel, but it can also be detrimental to our health as many of the world’s water sources contain bacteria, viruses and even parasites. Fortunately there are a number of ways to treat potentially contaminated water, making it safe to drink, including water purification tablets, micro-filters and treatments of ultraviolet light. Of those, UV light is the most effective and has become a much more viable option over the past few years.

Camelbak, the company that practically invented the hydration pack, has recently introduced a new product called the All Clear that looks to marry a high-quality water bottle with a UV purification system. The company has cleverly integrated an ultraviolet light into a specially designed lid for the bottle that when activated will kill more than 99.99% of all bacteria and viruses found in water. That makes it an incredibly useful item to have in our bags when visiting destinations where clean water can be at a premium.

Using the All Clear couldn’t be easier. You simply fill the bottle with water from any source you have at hand, secure the lid on top of the container and activate the UV light by pressing the power button. That will initiate a 60 second countdown timer on the integrated LCD screen which serves as a prompt to begin slowly rotating the bottle back and fourth in 180 degree turns. That motion helps to ensure that all of the water inside the bottle receives equal exposure to the purifying light, which is vital for killing off the harmful bacteria. When the countdown has finished the UV light shuts off and the contents of the bottle should be ready to drink.The All Clear is powered by an integrated battery pack, which is recharged using an included USB cable. That means the device can be powered up by plugging it into your laptop, a USB battery pack or even a portable solar panel. This adds a great level of versatility for travelers but brings a bit of unevenness to the process. Recharging from my laptop took about 4 hours but Camelbak estimates that it will take 15-20 hours using the sun. When fully charged the All Clear is good for about 80 uses, which is enough to purify 16 gallons of water.

Camelbak has clearly taken great care to consider the needs of travelers and backpackers while designing the All Clear. For instance, they have included a second lid that is better suited for drinking from the bottle and have added a convenient carrying case for the UV lid to the package as well. They’ve also printed step-by-step instructions on how to use the device on the outside of the bottle making it nearly impossible to get the process wrong. Those little touches may not seem like much, but they are greatly appreciated when packing for a trip.

For many of us a good water bottle is almost a mandatory piece of travel gear these days and having one with an integrated UV purification system is a great option. That said, the All Clear’s UV lid is a bit on the heavy side – especially when compared to the competition – although it isn’t particularly large or bulky. The heavier cap does include a more powerful ultraviolet light, however, and is designed to work well in a variety of conditions including colder weather.

If you frequently find yourself traveling to destinations where the drinking water is suspect then the Camelbak All Clear is the kind of purification system you’ll want to take with you. It is an easy to use system that knocks out nearly all of the harmful bacteria and viruses that we could potentially encounter on our journey and it does so in a fairly compact and rugged package. The system comes with a $99 price tag and includes a good water bottle, two lids, a carrying case and a USB charging cable. That is a very good package for the price and one that I think you’ll appreciate on future excursions.

Gadling gear review: Keen Harrison 15 messenger bag

by Kraig Becker on

When setting out on any trip these days, a good carry-on bag is one of the best items that you can have at your disposal. Considering we rarely leave home without our laptops, tablets, iPods, and various other gadgets, the ability to carry all of that gear comfortably and safely is a high priority. It doesn’t hurt if that same bag can help us quickly and easily navigate through airport security checkpoints while still managing to look good in the process.

The Harrison 15 messenger bag from Keen meets all of that criteria and then some. Designed from the ground up for travel, this bag has plenty of options that frequent fliers will definitely appreciate. It not only features two large compartments for carrying a laptop, iPad, or file folders, but also includes an interior mesh pocket and a larger exterior pocket located just under the lid. All of those storage options come in handy and are extremely helpful in keeping us organized while on the go. The bag’s wide shoulder strap allows travelers to carry large loads with aplomb, while its high quality zippers and Velcro fasteners keep interior items safe and secure as well.

Built from water resistant fabrics and sporting heavy duty buckles, the Harrison 15 is also designed to handle the rigors of day-to-day use without showing too much wear and tear. I’ve been using the bag on an almost daily basis for a number of weeks now, and it still looks like it just came off the rack. That speaks well for the overall build quality of the Harrison, which should prove to be a loyal and sturdy travel companion for many years to come.
Perhaps the best feature of this bag is that it doesn’t require travelers to remove their laptops for inspection by airport security. The Harrison 15 conforms to new TSA specifications that allow computers to stay safely inside their protective sleeves while passing through the x-ray machine, keeping them well away from prying eyes or a potentially tragic fate on the airport floor. As someone who rarely travels without his laptop, this was a major selling point in favor of this bag. There is an undeniable sense of satisfaction that comes with breezing through security as quickly and effortlessly as possible, and the Harrison 15 can help accomplish that.

Traditionally I prefer to use a small backpack as my carry-on bag, but I found some nice benefits in going with the messenger style instead. For starters, it provided more convenient access to the various items stored inside the bag and kept everything well organized too. The shoulder strap design also provides hands-free access to the interior, which is much appreciated when juggling passports, boarding passes, and a cell phone while standing in line.

The Harrison 15 won’t completely replace my backpack however, as I found that it doesn’t carry larger loads quite as nicely as I’d like. For instance, while it was great for hauling my Macbook Air and iPad, along with other basic travel items, adding a DSLR camera to the mix made the bag overly bulky and less comfortable to wear. This may simply be a personal preference of course, but for me, the messenger bag was much better suited for lighter tasks.

That said, the Harrison isn’t just for travel. Commuters will find that it is an excellent bag for general day-to-day use and I’m sure that more than a few students will enjoy using it on campus as well. This is a durable and versatile bag that helps keep you organized and provides plenty of space to carry all of your gear. With a price tag of $110, it is an affordable option for someone looking for a high quality carry-on for their next trip, that can also pull double-duty while at home.

Gadling Gear Review: Heat Holders Socks

by Pam Mandel on

I suffer terribly from cold feet; it’s why I don’t cheap out on socks. It’s also why I have one of those electric heater mats on the floor under my desk (a gift from my mate who sometimes just nails the gift giving with weird yet supremely likeable prezzies). Socks are way low on the scale of glam gear down with quick-dry underwear and refillable three ounce bottles, but they’re essential, and having warm feet can really make the difference between a lousy day or a good one.

Because of my terminally chilly paws, I was keen to see if Heat Holders are any better than the merino brands that stuff my sock drawer (SmartWool, IceBreaker, Dahlgren, and Darn Tough Vermont) at keeping my feet warm. (I am a fan of good socks, you may have guessed.) The short answer? Well, sort of.

I have a strong preference for natural fibers, it’s a “less plastic stuff” thing. I’m not totally naive; I do know that sometimes, the synthetics are the way to go. I’m just not that keen to spend a couple of hours waxing a canvas raincoat because I want to go with heavy cotton over far superior modern materials like GoreTex or PolarTech. Heat Holders are an acrylic poly blend; there’s nothing particularly natural about them.

They feel fine, though. They have a deep pile fleecy inside, they’re kind of cuddly, furry, even, a little bit like the inside or your lambswool slippers. (No, I don’t have those. The husband does and they’re sweet.) Outside, they’re, uh, a little plastic-y. I’ve been spoiled by merino, which I tend to prefer. But it’s the outside of the sock, who cares?

Here’s my issue with these socks. They’re really bulky. All that fluffy really does work to keep your feet warmer, and they’re great for sleeping in. But I couldn’t get them in most of my shoes. I’m not totally sold on the idea that adding bulk is the best way to stay warm. I get it — loft is how you hold heat and the loft that these socks somehow manage to provide, even after a full day’s wear, works. They worked great in my wellies, which are a little big, but I couldn’t wear them with many of my other winter boots. I’m wearing mine around the house and with my rain boots out in the wet, but for travel? Nope, too bulky.

The marketing text on the elaborate packaging says that these socks are “seven times warmer than your basic cotton sock.” That’s probably true. But I’m not sure they’re seven times warmer than some of the wool or alpaca fiber socks I’ve got, and that’s a more useful comparison.
Heat Holders socks come in a few styles: stripey, long, and in a slipper sock. Their original sock goes for just just under $20.00.

Gadling gear review: Lenovo IdeaPad K1 tablet

by Kraig Becker on

Over the past two years, the introduction of tablet computers have had an unmistakable impact on how we travel. Smaller and lighter than laptops, yet with plenty of power and versatility, these devices allow us to stay connected, entertained, and productive, while on the go. Obviously, Apple’s iPad is the most well known of these products, but there are a host of other tablets available as well. Take for example the Lenovo IdeaPad K1, which is an affordable option for those looking for an alternative to the Apple hegemony.

Powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, and sporting 1GB of onboard RAM, the IdeaPad offers plenty of performance in a relatively small package. The tablet features 32GB of storage and has a built in SD card reader that allows users to expand that capacity even further. As you would expect, it features both WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, although there is no option for 3G or 4G service. The IdeaPad’s 10.1 inch widescreen display is adequate, if not exceptional, and like most tablets (iPad included), sound from the built in speakers is underwhelming. The IdeaPad has two webcams, a 2MP camera on the front and a 5MP on the rear, both of which best the iPad’s cameras by a considerable margin. I also liked that Lenovo’s included a built in HDMI port, which makes it easy to display content from the tablet on an HDTV.

Of course, all of that technology doesn’t mean much if the software that runs on the device isn’t up to par. The IdeaPad uses Google’s Android operating system (version 3.1 Honeycomb) to tie everything together, and that OS is both a strength and a weakness for the device. For instance, Android comes with a full featured app store, complete with every major app – or at the very least a worthy equivalent – to what you would find on the iPad. But the Android experience doesn’t feel quite as cohesive or intuitive to use as Apple’s iOS, and at times I had to search hard to find a particular app or setting.That isn’t to say that Android doesn’t bring plenty to the table to help distinguish itself from its biggest competitor. I love the desktop widgets that display weather, my personal calendar, and unread e-mail messages on screen at all times. The multitasking capabilities of the OS were also impressive, and I found it faster and easier to switch between running apps on the IdeaPad than on my iPad. I also came to appreciate the virtual home button and the ability to access installed apps from any screen, and the overall level of customization to the interface is greater than what you’ll find on iOS too. Android also happens to be compatible with Adobe’s Flash, although performance is a bit of a mixed bag, to say the least.

Despite those features however, I found that there was a general sluggishness to the IdeaPad that wasn’t common on Apple’s device. The K1 was slow to switch screen orientations when you flipped the device from portrait to landscape mode for example, and there were times when I’d end up tapping an icon twice because the OS was so slow to respond that I didn’t think that I got it right the first time. I’m told that the latest version of Android, code named Ice Cream Sandwich, addresses most of these issues however, and that update is expected to come to the IdeaPad in the semi-near future.

Other comparisons to the iPad are inevitable of course, starting with the physical aspects of the two devices. While the K1 doesn’t feel heavy in your hands, it is noticeably bulkier than Apple’s tablet – something that becomes more pronounced with extended use. It is also thicker than the iPad, although some may appreciate the added girth, which makes the device easier to hang on to for those of us with larger hands. The IdeaPad lags behind in battery life as well, clocking in at a bit over 8 hours in my tests. That’s far below Lenovo’s promised 10 hours, which is a mark that the iPad can hit easily.

To their credit, Lenovo ships the IdeaPad with quite a few good apps already installed, including NetFlix, Amazon Kindle, and even Angry Birds. They’ve also incorporated their own personalized launcher widget, that gives users quick access to the Chrome web browser, e-mail, music, movies, and more. It is a different approach than the dock that is found on the iPad, although I didn’t find it as useful since you had to be on a specific screen panel to access it.

So how does the IdeaPad fair as a travel companion? Overall, quite well. Despite a few nitpicks with performance and battery life, this is a solid device that will deliver everything you expect from a tablet. It offers movies, music, and games on the go, and serves as a good way to stay connected to friends and family while you’re away from home. The e-mail client is easy to configure and use, and the built in cameras work well with Skype too. Throw in the ability to read books and magazines on the device, and you’ve got everything you need for your next long international flight.

Better yet, Lenovo is selling the device at a very good price. With an MSRP of $399, the IdeaPad comes in at a hundred bucks less than the cheapest iPad, while still delivering twice the storage capacity. If you’re in the market for a tablet, but don’t want to pay the “Apple tax” or simply want to stay outside of their ecosystem, than the Lenovo IdeaPad K1 is a worthy alternative.