SMARTPHONE TRAVEL APPLICATIONS ROCK

I love my iPhone. I especially love it when I travel. Everyday new applications come on the market which make traveling easy and fun. One can also rely on the old favorites. Fodor's has travel guide apps, so does Zagat. If I want to find a restaurant there are apps like LocalEats and Restaurant.com. The AroundMe app will help me find banks/ATM's, hospitals, movie theatres, gas stations, restaurants, supermarkets, taxis and even the local weather. Built into my iPhone is a superb weather app that lets me select cities and towns from around the world for a seven day weather forecast. At the bottom left of that app Yahoo provides specific listings for local news, events, relevant websites, etc., all for the actual town I selected. If I am traveling abroad and need help translating, there are apps for that. Currency Converter makes purchases in foreign countries go smoothly. If I want the news I tap onto my NYTimes app, for hotel prices, I tap on Priceline or Sidestep. If I need to check up on a flight I use FlightTrack Pro. The list goes on and on and makes me wonder how Columbus ever found the new world let alone a good place to eat.