Before packing your suitcase, read up on these must-have tools for travel.
In 2015, I traveled to over a dozen countries and lived in three different states in the US. As a lifestyle entrepreneur who is often on the go, I’m always looking for tools to help me stay productive and organized while I’m traveling. Whether it’s sorting my inbox, organizing loyalty points, collecting virtual business cards or converting currencies—there’s a tool for everything, many of which are available for free.
Here are eight highly rated and widely used travel tools to help you stay on task while on the road for business. You’ll never want to travel without them.
- Points: This platform allows you to keep all your loyalty activity in one place, with one login. Store and organize over 110 airlines, hotel, retail and credit card programs from around the globe in your wallet. Sure beats having all these cards hanging off your keychain or stuffed in your wallet!
- CamCard: Use CamCard to capture all your business cards, and all the contact information can be quickly and accurately read and saved to your smartphone. This tool is a huge timesaver at conferences and events where you meet several people over the course of the day. Simply scan in cards and you’ll have a new contact in your phone.
- XE Currency Converter: Need to calculate currencies on the go? With the XE Currency App, you can access live exchange rates, view historical charts and calculate prices on your smartphone or tablet. With over 25 million downloads worldwide; this free app is available for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows and Firefox OS devices.
- Wi-Fi Finder: Quickly and easily find free or paid Wi-Fi when you travel with the JiWire Wi-Fi Finder for iPhone and iPod Touch. Traveling entrepreneurs simply can’t function without Wi-Fi, so this tool is invaluable.
- Luggage Forward: Luggage Forward’s door-to-door luggage shipping service is easy, safe and guaranteed to arrive on time. You can breeze through the airport when you ship luggage to your hotel, cruise line, golf course, residence or office where it will be awaiting your arrival. Luggage shipping provides total travel convenience.
- GateGuru: GateGuru is the first door-to-door solution for a traveler on their day of travel. GateGuru on the mobile device radically transforms the day-of-travel experience. Check arrivals and departures, find airline information and research rental cars all on one app.
- Expensify: Finally, a less cumbersome way to file expense reports. This tool offers hassle-free expense reporting and is both built for employees and loved by admins. Quickly add cash expenses, automatically import all card transactions, and capture mileage, time and other reimbursable/billable expenses. Code expenses to GL accounts, clients/projects and custom fields.
- Prey Project: Getting your laptop or your phone stolen is an ordeal, but finally there is something you can do about it. Prey is a lightweight theft protection software that lets you keep an eye on these devices whether in town or abroad, and helps you recover them if they’re ever lost or stolen.
I know there are a ton of other great travel tools out there. What’s your favorite one and why?
The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.
Image credit: CC by Sean MacEntee
