46 Travel Tools to Optimize Your Next Vacation

Last week I shared with you some of my favorite iPhone apps for when you’re in Australia. Yesterday I came across this great article featuring 46 tools to help you make the best out of your next vacation.

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As we bathe in the memory of friends, family and BBQ over this week’s Memorial Day holiday, our minds are now tuned up and ready to hit our favorite travel season – summer.

Let the games begin.

Happiness Factor

Did you know taking a break from it all actually benefits your psychological health?

According to Journal Applied Research in Quality of Life studies have shown the largest boost in happiness comes from the simple act of planning a vacation. In the study, the effect of vacation anticipation boosted happiness for eight weeks.

“Vacations do make people happy,” says Mr. Nawijn, tourism research lecturer at Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. “But we found people who are anticipating holiday trips show signs of increased happiness, and afterward there is hardly an effect.”

So Many Apps, So Little Time

While there are literally thousands of online tools and apps to help you plan the perfect retreat, here’s my top 46 list I hope will make your travel season one that’s effortless, fun and filled with great memories.

So get your Pinterest boards rolling and start pinning your next vacation. Perhaps even create a bucket list board to showcase places to want to visit within your lifetime – you’ll be happier for it.

Visualize

• Pinterest – No explanation needed here. (Web, iPhone and Android)
• Trippy – Like Pinterest, but dedicated exclusively to collecting and sharing travel ideas (Web, iPhone)

Plan

• To Do – Powerful set of tools that makes task management simple and fun (iPhone and iTouch)
• Flight Tracker – Only free flight tracking/flight status app (iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows)
• Travel Channel Layover – Travel like Anthony Bourdain and explore Tony’s favorite places to stay, eat and drink in 10 major cities around the world. (iPad, iPhone and iTouch)
• Tripit – Keep all of your travel plans in one spot. (Web, iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows)
• Plnnr – Customized point-to-point trip guide for 20 popular urban destinations across North America and Europe. (Web)
• Award Wallet – Track all your frequent flyer miles in one place. (Web, iPhone, Android)
• Goby – Search engine all about finding fun things to do with your free time, from this weekend to a fantastic vacation. (Web, iPhone, Android)

Speak

• Speech Trans – Enables the user to have a coherent conversation with someone who speaks a foreign language without the need for an interpreter. (iPhone and Android)
• Byki – Take your language learning on the go. (iPhone)

Pack

• Packing Pro – Your very own personal packing assistant. (iPhone, iPad)

Read the rest of the article at Convince & Convert and then come back and tell me if you’ve used any of these apps or if you think there’s a good one missing from the list.  I have two I’ll add. I’ve been using SeatGuru (Web, iOS) for years to see maps of airplanes and help me select the best seats. Postcard on the Run (iOS, Android) sends an actual postcard created from your smartphone’s digital photo. It does the work for you; you don’t have to buy stamps or mail it. Let’s hear from you!