I have spent the last few days traveling. I started in Ireland, travelled to London, and now I am in the US. I will be visiting Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and several other cities during my trip and I just wanted to share with you how I used Mahalo, the internet, and technology in general to make my trip more manageable and more enjoyable.

When traveling to many cities in only a couple of weeks with no set schedule you come across some problems. How am I going to make sure I get a good, affordable room at the last minute? How do I keep track of flights, bus and train schedules and still have a good experience? Well the answer of course is technology.

The first thing I needed to find was cheap flights. Unless you can afford to fly business class you probably want cheap flights. So the first question I asked myself was where can I find out the best way to get cheap flights? The answer: Mahalo. There is a great how to article which explains how to book a cheap flight and ensure you are getting the best deal. Another great article explained how to bid on travel. After reading through both of the great articles I was able to find many good deals and find the ones which suited me best. Expedia and Hotels.com turned out to be two invaluable sites for me when booking flights and hotels.

The second way in which technology has helped me on my trip is keeping me informed of addresses, flight times, and important phone numbers. A few years ago these pieces of information would have had to be noted down on paper. Now however, with the power of smartphones, all this information can be kept in one device and remain up to date. I brought my iPod touch with me and I have found it perfect for my travelling needs. When in hotels and airports I was able to access the internet through it. With an app named Flight Track Pro I was able to find out my flight times at a glance and find out if there were any delays. I also create a group in the Address Book app which I added hotel addresses and phone numbers to.

To be honest I’m not sure how I would have coped without the recent advances in technology, particularly in mobile computing. I’m currently still travelling so if you have any tips please let me know in the comments.