Are you dreaming of your summer holidays? Us too – snap! While we’re waiting for the fun times, let’s think about where we’ll go, how we will save the memories with a few snaps of our trip, a few apps to make our lives easier and more. Let’s start using our smartphones to the absolute max on our holidays with these ideas…
Maps
Let’s Plan it Out – Google Maps has a great feature that allows you to start mapping your favorite spots. And that’s not all – now you can share your fav’s with friends and family! How does this help when planning? Pick a place, any place and set up your own itinerary of places that you really want to see and add in the things you want to do. For example set up the perfect day in Paris: Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, a snack at Popelini’s, Paris Cooking Class, Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre. Tomorrow it’s Disneyland Paris or Versailles. Loop in your family and friends – they may have a few ideas too!
What’s next? Now you have a plan, let’s talk. Our Cruise and Travel Solution Specialists can assist with your travel prep and booking. Plus they probably have a few more suggestions that you haven’t thought of yet!
Music
Let’s get you Hooked Up with some Tunes – already hooked up to Spotify? Or SoundCloud or Jango? Or any number of other music sites. Yes, we know… you’ll be TOTALLY immersed in the country you are visiting. What about the times where you just want to chill and listen to your favorite tunes? Sun setting, wine chilling, complete relaxation and some tunes to set the mood.
Right, so let’s start setting up your Summer playlist. Spotify has ready made playlists – Summer Fun, Summer Hits, Summer BBQ, Heat, Vibes, Cocktail, Party – all an easy click away. Or set up your own – country, acoustic, funk – whatever you’re into. Just remember to include ABBA for that universal sing-along!
Photo Storage
Snap Snap Post Post – Start now by Spring Cleaning your pics/vids/apps and clear out some more memory for your new summer photo’s. Download to your to computer, or upload to Cloud storage such as Dropbox, Apple iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive and others. Easy! Once done, you’re free to snap as many images as your phone allows – plus you’ve got a great selection for social posting.
While we are at it. Take some time to really get to know your smartphone, how the camera actually works, roaming options, posting, updating and more. How much storage do you really have? Is there a flash and can you turn it on/off? How do you improve your pics? If you are heading off to an iconic destination – say Africa or Alaska – it could pay off to invest in a photography course…
Selfies
Selfie-stick or Meet New Peeps? – Ever been hit up to take someone’s photo? Absolutely! What if you are the one asking? Preference is to choose someone who is obviously on holiday too. Then you can reciprocate. You could look for someone who has a professional looking camera, or a similar smartphone to yours. They (hopefully) will know what they are doing when it comes to a great photo. What’s in it for you? Bonus – you get to meet new people! (Still need that selfie-stick? Check them out on ebay, target, aldi – pretty much everywhere now.)
Money
Let’s look at some Handy Apps – A great app for download is the FIND AN ATM ANYWHERE app. As it says on the box, find ATMs near your location, anywhere in the world. Handy when you run out of cash and you are in a foreign country, don’t speak the language and not sure of where you are. Simply start up the app and you’re good to go. Tip: It may be a benefit to download an app onto your smartphone for currency exchange rates – XE.com is a popular app available on iPhone and Android
Never get caught short with this app to locate a flush toilet anywhere in the world. Downloadable to both IOS and android phones this simple app will save you when you are out and about. (Note to self: No guarantee the facilities will be as pristine as those from home. It’s just a locator.)
Here’s another app worth downloading. It’s for countries where you do not speak the language. You could of course learn the language using Babbel or similar, although this may take more time than you have. Or… simply download a translation app. Top contenders are Google Translate, iTranslate Voice (this one provides text to speech or speech to speech translations – very cool!), Trip Lingo and there are more.
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