Summer time is here and with that comes the yearly travels! To plan your travel you probably have used common applications such as Trip Adviser or Expedia to get ideas and reviews on where to go. These tools are great, but often times lead you to overcrowded resorts and locations. Today Tech2U is going over the best travel applications that aim to get you the most unique experiences that lay off the beaten path.
Homestay is a great application that connects you with the locals of wherever you are going. Just open the app and request a place to stay and you can spend your vacation on the coach of a local! Homestay is great as it lets you get the most out of your visit by having a local give you the scoop and engage in a more genuine experience. If you are looking for a unique luxury travel experience, than Black Tomato is the website for you. Not only will they take you off the beaten path, but Black Tomato will match you with the perfect locations based on where you want to go, and how you want to feel. Just type in your location and what experiences you want to have, and Black Tomato will match you with the perfect luxury trip up to your standards.
If you aren’t trying to go on an expensive luxury trip or backpack a trail that has only been seen by humans once, but would rather take a more relaxing structured vacation, than these tools can help. Jetlag Rooster is designed as a personal sleep schedule to ward off any jet lag on long trips. By entering in your travel details at least 3 days before your flight, Jetlag Rooster will plan out an easy to follow sleep schedule that is designed for the jet lag. Rome2rio is another helper app that gives you a handy reference on how long your travel times will take. Just enter in your home zip code and travel destinations, and Rome2rio will give you an accurate estimate on your arrival times, perfect for the daily planner!
The last travel application we will be going over is aimed at making your travel more sustainable and respectable. Responsible Travel is a cool application that lets you plan your trips with an environmentally conscious mind and emphasis on respecting local cultures and environments. Check it out at http://www.responsibletravel.com/ and feel good about taking your vacation!
App of the Week:
BrightNest is a great app that is free on iOS and Android that aims to inspire you to take care of your house. With guides, tips, and topics like spring-cleaning or re-decorating, BrightNest is the perfect app to help you keep your house in shape!
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Video Transcription:
Wallace: So time for summer and a lot of people planning their vacations. And when it comes to travel on the internet, many of us think of the travel booking sites like we mentioned, maybe Expedia, or review sites like TripAdvisor. Mr. Wispy, Mike Wispy from TechTU is here with insider travel sites that offer services you may not know about. So we were talking about the traditional ones like VRBO or Homeaway. You have Homestay. What’s that?
Mike: Yeah, Homestay is the first one I want to talk about. It’s kind of like AirB&B but instead, someone renting you their house to stay in, they’re going to stay there with you. And they’re going to teach you about the local area and take you around to the local sites and cook you breakfast and cook you dinner. So it’s kind of, if you’re looking for that kind of thing, it’s pretty good. You just type in where you want to go and it will come up with some people.
Wallace: Do you get good prices on that?
Mike: It’s pretty good, actually. It’s pretty competitive. Basically, someone is opening their house up to you so it’s not like it’s going to be as expensive as a hotel. The scary thing about it as well, and this is what scared me about it first of all, is you don’t know who these people are. But this site will let you talk to them, build up a relationship, see if you want to go and visit the house and hang out with them.
Wallace: You have another one. It’s Black Tomato. These names are all very cool. So what’s Black Tomato?
Mike: Yeah, they’re a little different. Now Black Tomato is a site that lets you put in where you want to go and it will give you some really off the beaten track things to do. So really unique things. So let’s say you want to go to somewhere in Asia somewhere, like Vietnam or somewhere like that. You can actually book a very once in a lifetime experience, like maybe you have to swim out for five miles out into the ocean.
Wallace: Sure. You can pick something really unusual. No kidding.
Mike: Crazy things. And this will set you all up with it and give you an itinerary. And like you can just pay them and they’ll sort it all out for you.
Wallace: Okay. Responsibletravel.com is another one.
Mike: So Responsible Travel focuses on…so tourism can be really bad for some areas of the world. Some businesses are really taking advantage of local communities in third world countries. So Responsible Travel is really mindful of that and it will book somewhere that is really good for the local environment and the local economy so you can feel better about going there and exploring.
Wallace: Okay. What about, you want to book a run of the mill beach getaway? You do have some secret tools. And again, another cool name, Jetlag Rooster.
Mike: Yes. So let’s just imagine you just want a normal trip, your run of the mill beach vacation somewhere. Jetlag Rooster will give it three days notice of where you’re going and you plug all your details in. It will work out a schedule for you so you are not jet lagged. So it will tell you to go bed two hours earlier and then the next day go three hours earlier. Set your watch at a certain time.
Wallace: So arrive fresh, you’re ready to go.
Mike: Yeah. It limits the effects of jetlag which can be, if you’re going on a long haul trip, that can be really bad.
Wallace: Okay. And the last one you have is Rome to Rio. Does it mean you have to go to Rome and then go to Rio? How does that work?
Mike: That’s what I thought. But actually this is kind of a similar thing where you plug in your information, your zip code, and it will tell you how long it’s gonna take to get to your destination, including all the layovers and the different…like traveling to the airport, it factors that in. And it’s a really good idea to get an idea of…like it says a six-hour flight when you book it. But it’s actually going to take you twelve hours because you have to travel to an airport which is way out of the way, and then the transfer on the other end. This factors it all in and it’s pretty cool. And you can work out how long you are going to need.
Wallace: And your app of the week, another cool name, BrightNest.
Mike: I know. We’ve really got the cool names this week.
Wallace: Yes, this is the cool name segment.
Mike: So BrightNest is a app that lets you, it gives you tips and tricks on how to take care of your home the best way. So one of the examples is the top five ways of cleaning your bathroom and things like that. It’s kind of like little articles that are collected from the internet. And it gives your real inspiration on how to improve your home and get the best out of what you have.
Wallace: Wow. I was already imagining being somewhere on a beach in Vietnam with tropical stuff, and now you’ve got me cleaning the toilet. Yeah, I was way up here and now I’m way down here.
Mike: Well, you’ve got to do that first before you go.
Wallace: Oh, okay. We should have started with the app of the week. And then…okay. Yeah, thank you. Mike Wispy with TechTU. Deana, over to you.
Deana: I love all of those. And I’ve saved Jetlag Rooster, Rome to Rio, and BrightNest.com. I’m going to pass that website along to your wife, Wallace. So that she knows that you know how to clean the house.
Wallace: Yes, that’s right.
Wallace: That’s free to use.
