The tour company China Travel Guide has launched a new free app for iPhone, China Trains, which allows users to check China’s train schedules, plan trips to many cities, look up trains by number and check ticket availability, all in English.
Tickets cannot be purchased from the app, but the schedules can be downloaded for offline use. The app is available on the Apple App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Welcome to the 447th issue of your monthly foreign-travel magazine. If you’re reading ITN for the first time, here’s what it’s all about: travelers keeping other travelers informed.
With the México Tourism Board’s free “VisitMexico” app, travelers can find information from Mexico’s six regions and 32 states, with in-depth content for 27 destinations. News, weather, maps, events, videos and activities are featured.
The app is available for Apple, Android and Blackberry platforms and can be used in English or Spanish. Download from the Apple App Store, Google Play (for Android users) or on BlackBerry App World.
Dear Globetrotter:
Welcome to the 445th issue of your monthly foreign-travel magazine. Champagne all around — ITN is beginning its 38th year of publication!
For a 5-day London visit, Nov. 15-20, 2012, I took my cell phone which is capable of being used outside of the US. I had planned to buy a SIM card in London, but upon arriving at Heathrow Airport I saw a vending machine offering SIM cards from a couple of different companies. I purchased a LycaMobile card for £10 (near $16.25).
A couple of days later, after using the phone for a couple of brief calls, I checked my remaining balance. I was shocked to find that I had less than £2 left.
Turespaña, the Tourism Institute of Spain, is offering a free app for iPads, iPhones and iPods, “Experience Spain.” Using data gathered from Minube, the social network for travelers (with 450,000 members), the app includes information about 350 destinations and includes maps, 800 photos and 950 experience stories from travelers plus lists of “favorites.” Download on the Apple App Store.
My wife, Paula, and another couple and I visited the Republic of Ireland, June 14-25, 2012. I have a few tips on topics that did not receive sufficient coverage in the guidebooks and Internet resources which we consulted pre-trip.
The “Discover HK City Walks App,” compatible with iPhone, iPad Touch and iPad, guides visitors to Hong Kong on four themed walks: architecture in Central and Western districts; Garden Road leisure walk; cosmopolitan Tsim Sha Tsui, and “living culture” of Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok.
For Android and Apple devices, the free app “Lough Derg Trails” describes 21 walking itineraries in Ireland, with photos. Itineraries may be downloaded to the phone for use without a data connection.
The iPhone application “Visit-TLV” provides images, descriptions and locations of museums, restaurants, bars, parks and hotels in Tel Aviv, Israel. It is updated weekly re concerts, exhibitions and street fairs and also lists free guided tours and walking routes. For a free download, visit the Apple iTunes store.