Tom’s Tuesday Tech Tip: Travel Apps for the Connected Certified Legal Nurse Consultant

Vickie and I travel a lot, so I’m always on the lookout for travel apps. I’ve come across some great apps that legal nurse consultants can use everywhere from Paris to Poughkeepsie and, with the exception of XE, I use all of these right in my hometown. Most of these are free and I’ve indicated where they’re available for iPhone^®, Windows^® Phone 7, Blackberry^® and Android^® users.

Here’s six of my favorite travel apps.

1. XE Currency Converter: A FREE app that quickly converts one currency to another. You select the currencies you want to track. It can tell you what an individual Swedish Kroner is worth in U.S. dollars or, if you type in the amount of a meal in Kroners it’ll tell you how much that Swedish meatball costs in your home currency. I love this app! Available for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. There’s no Win Phone 7 version, but it does have a mobile site you can access. Get your copy at XE.com.
2. iTranslate: A FREE app that will quickly translate short phrases from one language to another. I learned about this from a friend who uses it to insult his buddies in their native language (Men and their toys!) I find it keeps me from ordering the sea urchin off the sushi menu in Japan. It doesn’t translate Klingon yet so I can’t use it to connect with our techies. Available for iPhone, Android and even Blackberry. Get your copy from your phone’s app store.
3. Yelp! This is a crazy little FREE app that, once it locates you, will help you find just about anything nearby – gas stations, banks, restaurants, etc. My favorite part is it rates restaurants with user reviews and tips. It works overseas also. Thanks to one of the CLNC^® Mentors for tipping me off about this app. You can use Yelp! without registering for their community. Available for iPhone, Win Phone 7, Android and even Blackberry. Get your copy at Yelp.com and you’ll have the world at your fingertips.
4. Zagat: Zagat is a ratings community for restaurants, hotels, bars, etc. It’s a little more elitist and a little less populist than Yelp! It doesn’t help with gas, banks, etc., but I find that I generally agree more with Zagat when it comes to food and I’ve used their web-based service to make advance reservations nationally and internationally. There is a cost to use the website and app, but it is well worth it. Available for iPhone, Win Phone 7, Android and even Blackberry. Register or get your copy at Zagat.com. This will keep you from taking your favorite attorney-client out for a bad bowl of Tom Yum.
5. Google Maps: FREE in exchange for your soul. Google already knows everything about you so extending this to maps helps me find my way to obscure, hole in the wall places. Plug in your destination and it’ll take you there! Probably available for every mobile OS known to man and a few that haven’t been invented yet.
6. Flashlight: FREE from various sources for each of the different mobile platforms. This helps you find your way to the beach at night, your keys in the movie theatre and as an added plus, I can hold up a colored screen and lead Vickie right to me in a dark room (Heh, heh!). It has so many uses that you should drop what you’re doing and get one today. One incidental benefit is that this app can be used to quickly drain your phone’s battery when you need to drop below the threshold level for recharging.

FINE PRINT/CAVEAT: You’ll need to have your location services on to take advantage of most of these apps, data transfer and other hidden costs may apply, blah, blah, blah.

Those are a few of my “can’t live without” apps. How about yours? I’d like to hear from my CLNC^® amigos about their favorite app, travel or otherwise.

Keep on techin’,

Tom