The life of the road warrior is somewhat improved by a new travel companion who helps out - the host of new smartphone apps available for multiple platforms today. The scenario is being stuck an extra day at a conference (pesky customers), and several apps saved the day: my trip schedule of course was downloaded to TripIt for easy access; when I arrived at the hotel I checked into foursquare so my friends & staff knew that I had arrived; when I had to change my flight I used KAYAK; then I needed to find a close-by restaurant and Frommer's Travel Tool helped with that; Google Maps helped us find out where we were going; the local taxi app allowed us to call a cab; since we were in Berlin and went to a very local restaurant, Google Translate helped with our language challenges; coffee after at Starbuck's included the "My Starbuck's Idea" app when we designed a new drink that we thought they could sell; almost forgot my Anniversary, so had to use Shopping Guide for last minute ideas; saw someone who I should have known, so got a (secret) picture and used Google Goggles to find out who it was; used Agoda to find another hotel room as ours was booked for the extra night; set up Chang! to remind me of my new flight (TripIt would do this too); used Window Seat to watch the ground below me as we flew home (late booking, aisle seat); my wife used FlightTracker to make sure that I was on time for pick-up; and finally, I had some time to waste waiting for my bags, so Angry Birds was in order (we do 200M minutes a month of this now!). What did we do before Steve Jobs' smartphone and apps?
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