Apps that do everything but pack your bags

Now that June is here, millions of Americans are going on vacation. We already covered how the Nokia Lumia 900 is the perfect companion for your summer roadtrips, but what about air travel? How can your Lumia phone help you plan and execute the perfect summer trip?
How to pack and plan in style

So you’ve decided to go on vacation!  Congratulations. Now, what do you pack? Also – how do you know you won’t forget anything?

Packing Assistant enables you to plan our baggage strategy ahead of your trip. How does this work? Well, imagine you’re commuting on the train a week ahead of your trip and you remember that you need to be sure to pack sunscreen for the kids. In Packing Assistant, record a note of this in the app, along with all your other packing needs, for easy reference later.

Also, for the next trip you take, you can easily retrieve your list you created earlier for future reference!

Kayak is my destination of choice when I’m trying to research flying, rental car or hotel options. The site scans all airline, hotel and rental car sites to report the lowest price based on your exact itinerary. Need to fly from L.A to New York and want to specify exact time frames and specific airports you’re willing to connect in?  Kayak will help you do just that and will show you prices and available airlines all in one slick mobile interface.

Another option for finding your travel is the always-reliable Travelocity.  This online seller of travel has been around forever and is a nice option to compare costs. I like using Travelocity because the service lets you book your entire package including air, hotel and car all in one step, saving time and hassle.

The Travelocity app will let you view hotels on a pinpoint map and see description, photos, amenities and travel reviews. It’s a handy app every traveler should consider.

Keep your wits about you

There’s no denying that air travel is stressful. Between security checks, rude passengers and delays, travel takes a lot out of you.  Once you have all your reservations made, how do you keep all that data together?  This is where MyTrips comes in to play.

My Trips is a TripIt application that puts your most useful travel details within one easy click. I like the fast user interface that gets me to flight information and status quickly. Want to know if your gate has changed?  The data is there. Can’t remember your confirmation at the rental car counter? My Trips has it.

My Trips even works offline, so if you arrive at a destination and can’t get online, you can still get to that confirmation number you seek. You can also set live tiles for destinations and Tweet/Facebook from the app when you arrive.

If you aren’t a TripIt user but want to access flight information, look no further than Flight Tracker. This simple application does one thing extremely well: gives you realtime flight and arrival information via real-time flight status. You can look up flights worldwide by searching by flight number. Also, Fight Tracker gives you arrival weather so you know how to dress once you arrive.

Know where to go once you arrive

Once you’ve arrived at your destination and checked in to your hotel, it’s time to consider your restaurant options. Look no further than Zagat To Go to help you find the top-rated eateries around you.

Zagat To Go costs $9.99, however, this app will be a huge value to you because you’ll be able to avoid the bad experience of a terrible meal. The app lets you find restaurants based on location and even lets you filter by food, dress code, cost and other facets.

My favorite facility in Zagat To Go, is the “Best of” lists such as Best Burger, Best Mexican Cuisine, Most Romantic and so on. If you want to keep notes on your restaurant visit, you can keep them in the in-app journal. Finally, if you want to make a reservation in the application, you can do so via Zagat To Go’s ability to book tables via OpenTable.