Escapees March/April 2016

App-y Travels By Evanne Schmarder #65409

Maximize RV Adventure with Your Smart phone

Perhaps you’re of the age that can recall pulling out of the driveway with the then-essential travel communication device: a dime. How about funny flash- backs of having the brick-sized mobile phone—such a sexy status symbol! Fast forward 40-plus years and we now live in an ultra-connected world where it’s believed that 64 percent of Americans not only have a mobile phone, they have a smartphone. Pew Research Center calls it an essential travel guide. It’s even overtaken Karl Malden’s American Express catchphrase—we simply don’t leave home without it. E ven if you aim to get away from it all, disconnect from society or explore untethered, a smartphone or tablet is a veritable digital Swiss Army Knife, ripe with tools that make life easier. I know. Sixteen years ago, I tried traveling unconnected, but the practicality of cell service in the case of an emergency, combined with a wealth of low- or no-cost fun and useful apps, helped me save money, get the job done and enriched my day-to-day explorations. Now, I’m hooked. After all, I would be crushed if I’d passed by the Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, Minnesota, and learned about it later.

“ 64 % of Americans not only have a mobile phone, they have a smartphone.”

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