Happy Travels

Traveling can be hectic, confusing, and tiring. But it can also take you to beautiful, relaxing and interesting places. People travel for weddings, for work, for fun, for family, and there are a few essentials that we think everyone should have, no matter where they’re going.

The Kindle Fire, Amazon’s newest tablet, is perfect for reading, watching TV and movies, and playing games. The touch screen is non-reflective and easy to use, and the colors are vibrant. And if you thought it couldn’t get any more perfect, brace yourself. It’s small (7.5 X 4.7) and lightweight enough to slip in your bag (or briefcase) to take with you anywhere. ($199 on www.amazon.com)

If you constantly find yourself in airports that you don’t know very well, this may be the app for you. Flysmart (Free, from www.apple.com) can download and tell you almost anything you need to know about the airport. The app can download flight numbers and their gates, terminal maps, and lists of all of the stores and restaurants. This app helps you stop getting lost in, say, Atlanta, (what a way to start your honeymoon, searching for your flight!) and find your gate quickly and without stress.

Once you reach that honeymoon, or destination wedding, what do you want to do? Take pictures. Beaches in Hawaii, Cancun, the Caribbean…who wouldn’t want pictures of those? But unfortunately, getting married on the beach at sunset can make for bad lighting. This little camera, the Lytro, ($399-$499 at www.lytro.com/camera) can take pictures in low light, as well as extremely fast, and you can focus after you take them. This means that the slight fuzziness of the picture of sunlight hitting a wave behind the happy bride and groom is no longer a problem. Not to mention all of those pictures of everyone having a good time at the beach party (which just happens to be lit only by tiki torches).

And if you travel for business more than for pleasure, but you still have to share documents with people on the opposite side of the country, then maybe you need this item. The iTwin ($99 on www.itwin.com) is a USB drive in two parts. You just have to plug it in to one computer and then take off the other half and give it to someone else. They can plug it into their computer (or you can plug it in to your laptop) and then you can access all of the files through the Internet. Traveling for work just got a little less stressful.