Take any vacations lately? My wanderlust friend is currently on an Alaskan cruise that started in Canada.  She’s smart. I sit here in 110-degree heat and she sends me pictures of her in cold weather. She’s thoughtful too.

Apple has some great free apps for travel that I wanted to share with you.

Currency:  Check conversion rates for more than 100 currencies worldwide with Currency. Choose your master currency, enter an amount, and see what that souvenir would cost back home.

Tripit Travel Organizer:  Put all your plans in one place.  No matter how you booked your travel, TripIt Travel Organizer puts all your travel plans right on your iPhone. So you’ll be prepared wherever you are — and wherever you’re planning to be.

TripCase:  Named “Best Travel App” by Business Week, featured in USA Today, CNET & The Wall Street Journal. The best travel app for aggregating & organizing the maze of travel information; real-time flight alerts, gate information, and critical updates before & during travel; sharing with friends & family. Also gives alternative flight information.

Around Me:  Great for locating restaurants, banks, gas stations, hotels, and even hospitals within the area it identifies.

Kayak:  Compare flight, hotel, and car rental deals. Track flight status. View and manage itinerary. Look up baggage fees. Access airline numbers and airport information.

Google SMS: Big tip here.  If you don’t have a smartphone, or you are in an area where the data plan doesn’t work but you can still text you need to know this. Text 46645 (that’s Google without the E) and you can get Google search results back in a series of text. I use this all the time, even locally. For example, you can text “Starbucks, Dallas” and it will give you a series of Starbucks addresses and phone numbers in Dallas. Also, you can get current sports scores by texting team name: “Texas Rangers score” It will also give you movie information “Movies Dallas”. And so much more. I have GOOGL entered in my cell phone as a contact so it comes up automatically to send a text.

There are many apps out there for travel. Please share your favorite apps with me in the comment section.