Exploring the World with Your iPad
- Arranging Travel Using the Kayak App
- Using the AARP App
- Finding Your Way Using the iPad Maps App
- SeatGuru by TripAdvisor
- Communicating in a Foreign Country Is Easy When You Use Talking Translator
- Getting Travel Advice from Others Using TripAdvisor
- Exchanging Homes Is a Great Way to See the World
- Understanding Foreign Currency Exchange Using XE Currency Converter
In this chapter:
- → Use Kayak to create and manage your next trip.
- → Find interesting locations to visit using the AARP app.
- → Use SeatGuru to make your in flight time as comfortable as possible.
- → Let Talking Translator help you communicate while traveling abroad.
- → Find your way using the Maps app.
- → Take advantage of other’s travel experiences using TripAdvisor.
- → Travel the world living like a local using the Intervac Home Exchange app.
- → Find like-minded seniors to exchange homes with.
- → Use XE Currency to keep track of what you spend in a foreign country.
The iPad makes traveling easier and more enjoyable. Not only can you book your flight from your easy chair, you can plan your itinerary, scope out amazing restaurants and markets, and find key things to do and sights not to be missed so that you take full advantage of your destination. And the great news is that most of the best iPad apps for travel are free!
Arranging Travel Using the Kayak App
Kayak has the ideal app to help you find the best way to travel to your next destination. Through Kayak’s app, you can book flights and hotels, reserve cars, and maintain your travel details all in one place. Kayak searches the travel options of many airlines and then refers you directly to the airline to make the purchase. A notable exception is Southwest, which doesn’t participate in any of these apps. If you want to fly Southwest, you need to use its website to search for flights.
Search the App Store for Kayak. Tap Free and then tap Install to download it. Open Kayak by tapping its icon on your screen.
- The example in this task shows searching for a round-trip flight from New York’s JFK airport to San Francisco, departing April 10 and returning May 10. There are several easy ways to modify your search. You can choose different dates, locations, and cabin options.
- One option is to choose seating other than economy. Your choices range from economy to first class; tap CABIN line to access other seating options.
After you make all your choices, tap Search to find your outbound flight.
- This search yields round-trip flights starting at $647 (US Airways).
- The time for the least expensive option to San Francisco is 9 1/2 hours. However, looking at the other results it appears that Delta has a flight with a duration of 6 3/4 hours, at a cost of $661. The $14 additional cost per ticket is well worth the shorter flight.
In this example, the second Delta flight, departing JFK at 3:30 p.m. on April 10, was chosen along with the return flight departing San Francisco at 4:00 p.m. on May 10. You can see that each flight is nonstop and travels across the country in the shortest time.
The next screen contains a summary of your flight choice. The summary has two options for next steps: You can either tap the upper-right corner to email the information to yourself or fellow travelers, or tap the arrow after Delta to go to the airline website to buy the tickets.
- For this example, tap the arrow after Delta to buy the tickets. At this point, you leave the Kayak app and go directly to Delta’s website. When at the Delta website, you can proceed to buy your tickets, choose seat assignments, complete passenger information, as well as add on other optional items such as baggage fees and other extras.
You can use this same process to search for hotels and car rentals to add to your itinerary, or you can book only hotels and a car rental if you don’t need flights. Kayak also has a My Trips option that enables you to save your travel itinerary in one place. Time to pick a destination, book your flight, and start exploring!