02 Apr Yoga & Travel – There’s an App for that
When I started planning international yoga retreats I tried many different recommended apps for travel. I’m not techie so won’t suggest anything complicated here. But there are a few tried and true that I consistently use and share with fellow travelers. They are now staples on my screen’s “travel app” folder. I am still waiting for the holy grail of yoga travel apps which connects you to the closest class in your journey, outside of Mindbody which doesnt represent every studio. It doesn’t exist yet. But if you are attending a retreat or even just some International travel, here are some of my other must haves.
Tripit
This app conveniently keeps track of all of my travel details. I just forward email confirmations and everything I would need to know it organized. This prevents walking digging through my purse trying to find my confirmation or looking for my flight number. It covers flights, hotels, car rentals, and even event tickets. There is a profile page too that is protected by password. All of my family passport details and loyalty reward numbers are stored there.
Weather+
Knowledge of the impending weather is pretty important on your journey and I like the display screen of this weather app. In addition, there is a nice 5 day and hourly glance right on the front page. Wondering what the weather is like in Split, Croatia and Pienza, Italy? Sunny!
XE
This is one of the few currency converters that allows you to see several countries at a glance. This helps me to manage my budget during travel. Shopping for a lunch restaurant in Siena, I can compute with XE the estimated cost of my lunch much faster than my brain would. Also helps when you are traveling with both USD and Euros.
Cluster
It took a while for me to find the best photo sharing app for my retreats becasue there are so many of them but most are only good for one kind of device or require an account with a specific provider. Cluster lets you share a pic, others can comment, and all can downoad to use for Facebook and Instagram. On a yoga retreat it increaces your number of beautiful pictures and memories shared twentyfold. One bonus as a leader, I can communicate with the group through this this apps if plans change.
WiFI Map
Find the free Wi-Fi. Take it from someone who made a very big mistake the first year of traveling. I assumed I would pay a price for roaming but it was more than painful to open up my AT&T bill and suffer the $500 plus sticker shock because I was careless. This was despite the fact that I had pre-purchased an International travel plan. I guess I use a lot of data.
WhatsAp
This is such a great ap but not as widely used in my neck of the woods. I encourage all of my retreaters to download it for an International retreat. Whats so great about it? WhatsApp Messenger is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay for SMS. It is available for iPhone and Androids and these phones can message each other! WhatsApp Messenger uses the same internet data plan that you use for email and its free. Refering back to my need for low cost communications(see WIFI Map).