The hardest part of vacationing, for me, isn’t the crowds or the time in airports, or long lines at travel destinations. That’s what I have an iPhone for, anyway, right? Killing time? What’s most difficult in my world is the deal searching. Getting the best hotel, car, airfare deals is tricky and time consuming, and I just wish I could hand it all off to an assistant and be done with it.
Fortunately, there is an app to help with this sort of thing.
TripIt is like that assistant I mentioned above. When you get a confirmation from your airline, hotel, or even a travel site like Expedia or Orbitz, forward the email to plans@tripit.com. The service will figure out the salient details of your trip and save them in one place, which is accessible via the website or the app itself or. It can then sync your details with your iPhone, iPad, Mac and online.
TripIt says it will recognize reservations from over 3,000 different sites, including cruises and restaurants. That’s pretty sweet. In addition, you can share your trip plans with other folks you know, or send to Facebook or Linked in.
For $3.99 and an additional annual fee of $49, TripIt Pro is available, which will do all of the above, but also monitor your flights for airfare savings and will send you flight status alerts, all from the same app you track your details from.
Seems like the free version is a great place to start and see if this app works for you. Download this universal app from the app store, and let us know in the comments what you think.
