A cell phone can make your travel a little more comfortable if it has the right features and programs installed.

• If you're flying, get flight status alerts sent to your phone. Most airlines now offer this service, or you can join FlightStats.com which will send flight alerts to you via text message or email so you can be notified of delays. This is also a great service to use when you are picking someone up from the airport, plus FlightStats.com has a mobile version of the site which you can use to get real time flight status updates. Bookmark it.

• Download a travel program to your phone especially if you travel often. Most programs come with weather, world clocks, currency converter and even tip calculators. I have tried Fizz Traveller (no flight alert and not even the ability to set a reminder, but the weather feature is very nice), Spb Travel (no flight status but you can set reminders - which you can also do from the regular phone calendar) and WorldMate, which is the ultimate, but most expensive option. There is a free version, which has weather, world clocks and currency converter plus the ability to enter your flight information. The Pro version has flight status enabled and it is very, VERY sweet, but it costs $74.95. If you travel often enough to justify the cost, then this is THE program to get.

• If you're driving, download Google Maps or Live Search mobile versions to your phone. Directions for Live Search (and Yahoo directions) online can also be forwarded to your cell phone via text messaging.

• Download Soonr to your computer. This allows you to access files on your computer from your mobile phone plus access your Outlook email and make calls to via Skype without being at your computer.

• While traveling overseas, your phone may still connect to an available roaming network if you have it set to update automatically or fetch emails periodically. So keep your phone in Airplane mode (even when you are no longer on the place). This shuts off the phone, wifi and bluetooth and therefore avoids any "accidental" connections.

• Sign up at GrandCentral.com. From here you can access your voicemails, plus you get a phone number which is yours for life. You can have this number ring any phone you chose - home, cell or work, personalize your voice mail greetings by caller or group, record calls on the fly and access recordings online and much MUCH more.

• Consider buying a GSM phone if you travel internationally often, because they (Quad band) will work in most countries. In the USA, the carriers would be ATT and TMobile (check out our article, The difference between cell phone carrier networks explained). Don't forget to unlock the phone so that it will work with the SIM card of another carrier. My service provide is ATT and I have never had a problem just calling them and asking for the unlock code. A pre-paid SIM card for international countries can be purchased prior to travel at CellularAbroad.com.

• Get a Smart phone or Pocket PC. It's nice to be able to check email and keep up to date with websites by getting RSS feeds. In a pinch, you can even Turn Your WM6 Device into a Wi-Fi Router by downloading the WMWifiRouter app.

• If you travel internationally, then WiFi on your phone is a very nice feature. When there is an available open wifi network, you can quickly check emails, get on the net, make voice calls using Fring or Skype Mobile, and use instant messenger services (some of which you can also use to make voice calls - Windows Live for example).

• A decent camera phone can eliminate the need for another gadget and there are many services where you can upload pictures to the net via email or by sending a multimedia text message (check out our article on How to get photos from your cell phone to Flickr). The picture above shows the view above the clouds when I was in the plane headed for Jamaica, taken with an ATT Tilt.
  

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