Originally posted on January 2, 2015 @ 1:49 am
Not everyone has the luxury of dropping work to travel whenever they feel like it and picking it back up seamlessly when they return. Sometimes you have to bring some work along with you on family vacations or overseas visits with friends. You can enjoy evenings sightseeing with family and friends while accomplishing all you need to during the day. Grab some of these apps to make your work away from home as productive as you need it to be!
1. Entrain: Beat Jet Lag
If you lose out on sleep because of jet lag, you could spend the first day or two just getting on your feet when you need to be able to work. Program Entrain with information about your typical sleep cycle — when you go to sleep, how much light exposure there is, and so on. Then follow its schedule to recover from jet lag faster on a trip. You’ll have plenty of time for both work and play, instead of spending 36 hours just trying to catch up on sleep!
2. Worldmate: Create Your Business Itinerary
Provide Worldmate with info on your flight, hotel, and car rental, and it’ll create a business itinerary for you, along with a meeting schedule. You can even integrate it with your LinkedIn account and share your information with colleagues, so that everyone knows where and when they can reach you. This allows you to schedule your time wisely, and it may even give you some extra free time to check out zebra migrations in Botswana and other time-sensitive activities!
3. The Converted: Budget for Anything
While traveling, sometimes you have to pay a little extra to be able to work. Maybe you need faster Internet speeds so you can video conference with your colleagues, or you need to pay extra to bring your work on the bus. Use The Converted to quickly convert from one form of currency to another, so you know what you’re paying for. It even converts between metric and Imperial measurements, such as kilometer and mile, so you’ll have all the information you need at your fingertips.
4. Skype: Talk to Home for Less
Most people have this simple video chat app on their phones anyway, but if you don’t, now is the time to get it. Skype supports simple voice chat as well, and if you need to talk with colleagues, it’s often significantly cheaper to call them on Skype over Wi-Fi than to use pricey per-minute international plans from your cell phone provider. The Travel Channel blog even mentioned this as one of their top ten apps for business travelers. It’s absolutely the most cost-effective way to call people back home.
Armed with these apps, you can journey anywhere with your work in tow, from the jungles of Africa to the ancient churches of Europe to the snowy mountaintops of Asia. Mixing work and play has never been easier. Download them now and be ready for your next trip!