APPS FOR ENHANCING YOUR GETAWAYS ALASKA AIRLINES

Android, iPhone, iPad; alaskaair.com We have an app for that! Alaska Airlines makes managing flights easy with real-time updates on arrivals and depar-tures. Users are able to book tickets, select seats and check in to receive mobile boarding passes.

BOOKING.COM Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone; booking.com/apps More than 580,000 worldwide listings range from hostels to apartments to B&Bs to

luxury hotels. An easy search function allows users to search by city, landmark or hotel

name, and then manage bookings.

Booking.com released a new app in January, Booking Now, which allows users to find quality accommodations on short notice.

App, App and AwayTech tools to help travelers enjoy vacations By Tanya Friedland

It’s difficult to imagine a more appropriate use for mobile technologies than for traveling, when you are constantly seeking quick information on the go. And with apps that address nearly every travel situation—from finding where to eat or sleep to figuring out what to do—making the most of vacation time can be greatly enhanced. Whether a traveler is looking to go abroad or stay stateside, the following apps will be helpful from the plan-ning stage through the plane trip home.

CITYMAPPER Android, iPhone, iPad; citymapper.com With functions available for major cities in the U.S. and Europe, Citymapper provides real-time arrival and departure info for various forms of transportation, plus route-planning and other tools.

GOGOBOT Android, iPhone, iPad; gogobot.com/mobile Gogobot allows travelers to make and share plans with friends, and to join groups, called tribes. The app generates recommendations from like-minded users about where to stay and what to see and do.

GOOGLE TRANSLATE Android, iPhone, iPad; translate.google.com It may seem intuitive to use Google Translate while traveling, but the app includes features that many users forget,

including abilities to translate spoken phrases, handwriting, and pictures of words taken by a smartphone camera. Google Maps, mean-while, contains maps and transit directions for more than 15,000 cities.

KAMINO iPhone, iPad; gokamino.com Explore cities on foot via walking tours created by other users—or create tours yourself. The app also has a trip-planning feature that allows users to save on local guide services, read posts by travel writers and book accommodations.

UTRIP Android, iPhone, iPad; utrip.com Utrip allows users to build dream vacations by entering basic data about where they want to go, how much they want to spend and what their interests are.

TOP TRAVEL APPS

Some of the most-downloaded travel apps on iTunes:

Foursquare foursquare.com

GasBuddy gasbuddy.com

HISTORY Here history.com/interactives/history-here

Kayak kayak.com/mobile

PayByPhone Parking paybyphone.com/mobile-apps

Skype WiFi wifi.skype.com

TripAdvisor tripadvisor.com/apps

Viator Tours & Activities m.viator.com/mobileapps

WhatsApp Messenger whatsapp.com

A traveler uses the Citymapper app.

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