Part of what I loved about the adVANture was our four-day off schedule. Not only were we not working, but we tried hard to be completely offline those four days. Usually this was made easier by being in the backcountry without coverage. Sometimes it was harder - there was coverage at the campsite and well, let me just check my email, or post something interesting to facebook.
The weekends we were offline are some of our favorites.
However, I also think technology's pretty darn cool. And without it, our trip would've been very different. We both have iPhones and there are a few apps out there that we used all. the. time.
I thought I'd share those with you, along with a few others we enjoyed.
App #1: Google Maps
Probably THE most-used out of everything. It got us places. And I found I really enjoyed navigating (and got pretty good at it).
There were a few times I got us turned around, or Google was convinced there was a better, 300-mile-out-of-the-way route (that actually only happened once in Monterey). Lucky for us, I ignored that one. There had been a landslide a few months earlier on the road Google directed us to, and it was closed.
Before the iOS 5 update, only one route was given (I *love* the new multiple options), so we'd either take that one or I'd guess at my own. We saw a lot of backroads thanks to Google. We actually really appreciated seeing less-traveled, more local scenes, and it got to be a joke between us.
In Canada we got to know just how much we'd come to depend on Google maps. Without a data plan (I'd turned it off to avoid paying tons of international roaming fees), we were limited to only using it when we had wi-fi.
Hint: Pre-load your map and go through all the legs before you leave wi-fi. The phone caches it to the hard drive and you'll have your directions to where you want to go.
We consulted our paper map (aka the Atlas) only a few times over the course of the year. Being able to enlarge, scroll in and see street names, traffic directions and such was really helpful.
App #2: Starbucks
Say what you will about Starbucks, but I'm incredibly grateful they exist. Yes, it's a chain. But it's a chain that allowed us to travel around the country and continue to work and earn money along the way. When we couldn't find a local coffee shop with reliable Internet (which happened often), we were usually able to find a Starbucks.
And their app for store locations is exactly what we needed. You can search by zip code or city name (or zoom in over the area you're looking for) and green pins will appear where the stores are.
Tap on a pin and it'll tell you if it's in a Target, QFC, Safeway, etc., or whether or not it's free-standing. This is important when you're working on the road. Stand-alone is what you want. (The ones in Targets and supermarkets rarely have wi-fi, outlets or comfortable seating.)
The app also tells you if it the store you're looking at has wi-fi, a drive-thru, hot food available and the hours they're open.
Being able to know their hours the night before you drive is really helpful! When one of you (me) has a 6:00am conference call (this happened a lot when we were on the west coast) and the other one doesn't, having a Starbucks that's open that early is a lovely convenience so you can go in and work.
I only saw a few errors with the hours, and always when a store was open until midnight (as in Midland and Odessa, Texas - seriously, the Starbucks is *the* place to be late at night... those stores were hopping!). The app would say it closed at 12pm instead of 12am.
Hint: If you're mapping to the store, get the address from the Starbucks app and then find it on Google maps. It's much easier.
App #3: Allstays: Overnight Parking Walmart
Walmart, as evil as many believe it is, knows its customers. And they're savvy business folk. They allow overnight parking in most of their lots for RVers and others needing a catch some sleep. Which is awesome. And really convenient. Without Walmart, it's incredibly difficult to find a place to park overnight that's legal and free. (The "and free" part is the tough part to find.)
So we appreciate Walmart these days (even if we no longer choose to shop there). The Allstays app is functional. It's not an elegant interface, but it does the job it sets out to do really well.
It's goal is simple: To show you which Walmarts around the country allow overnight parking and which ones don't. It's based off user comments and feedback (if they'd been hassled or not, etc.).
Red means no. Yellow means probably, so check the updates and look for other RVs when you get there, but most likely you're okay to sleep there if the pin has a yellow "W."
The southwest was especially difficult since many local laws prohibit overnight parking. I wish I knew why. I wish I understood why it's illegal to park overnight at a trailhead or an otherwise empty lot. But I digress.
If in doubt, you can always go and talk to customer service and let them know. Some Walmarts have security patrols (we never could decide whether that was a good sign that it was safe or a bad sign that they needed the patrol in the first place).
Hint: Park near other RVs toward the back or side of the lots. Look for shadows and green spaces if you don't want to make the mile-long trek into the Walmart at 3:30am too pee.
Bonus Hint: Cracker Barrel Restaurants also allow overnight parking. They're not 24 hours, so no available bathroom, but it's definitely a nice option that many don't know about.
App #4: Yelp!
Yelp! reviews restaurants. It's great because you can find spots that you wouldn't normally come across. It's also great for finding coffee shops.
It can also be time-consuming because you can spend a ton of time reading the reviews trying to find the "perfect local flavor." It also wasn't that helpful in Canada. I don't think there are as many restaurants in the system there, and not a ton of reviews on the ones that are.
But, being able to filter for budget and location and whether you're looking for breakfast, coffee, lunch or dinner is really nice.
Other Apps we used and enjoyed:
Flixster - it's part of the "rotten tomatoes" movie review system and will also find where you are and show the nearby theaters and movie's playing. We didn't see a ton of movies on the road, but when we did, this was easy and quick to use.
Crosswords - I mention crosswords because I played it a lot. Nice interface, user-friendly and every week I got updates.
Hipstamatic - Many of you know I used this app since many of the pictures I posted here are from it. It's a photography app, for those of you unfamiliar, that puts fun and vintage effects on your image. Like this one from our swamp tour in Louisana last February:
And finally, Instagram. It's another photography effects app that can take pictures like this (one of my all-time favorites from the trip) taken along the California coast:
What apps do you guys love for travel?
This month I'm participating in Think Kit 2011 (
http://www.smallboxweb.com/think-kit). Today's prompt is:
"What technology changed your world this year? Pick a gadget, a website... how did it make a difference for you?"
