Great Travel Apps for Your Mobile Device

TripIt

TripIt links to your e-mail account and scans your inbox for items containing reservation numbers for flights, hotels, and dinner reservations. It will put them into an organized itinerary. Flight delays and changes sent to your e-mail are updated automagically. Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or higher.

Photosynth

Photosynth Interactive Panorama Capture and Sharing combines your photos to create 360-degree panoramic images. Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (4th generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi, and iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G. Requires iOS 4.0 or higher.

Instagram

Instagram is like your very own Photoshop. With effects such as 1977 and Nashville, Instagram gives your photos professional, antiquated, or unusual looks. The tilt-shift blur effect is pretty wild. Instagram makes sharing photos across social media networks very easy. Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.2 or higher.

Postagram

When you are on travel, do you send postcards to friends and family? Well, here’s the app for you. With Postagram, send your very own postcards to anyone, anywhere. Postagram takes your photo and prints it for you for less than a buck. You provide the mailing address from your mobile device, and Postagram sends your travel photography via snail mail. Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or higher.

Urbanspoon

Urbanspoon uses GPS to pick popular restaurants in the neighborhood you’re in – in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia. When you “shake” your phone, restaurants in the area spin and stop on your screen like a Vegas slot machine. Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or higher.

OpenTable

As an alternative to Urbanspoon, consider OpenTable, which is a domestic- and international-restaurant locator. It provides instant reservations, reviews, and lists of local restaurants with open tables for your desired reservation time and the size of your party.

-- Joe L., CruiseCounselor