The absolute must for me is to bring my iphone.
I have an iphone 4 and would not contemplate a holiday without it.
Here is my list of reasons why the iphone is so useful.
1. You can make phone calls with it
(I thought it best to get that out of the way)
First you can call your friends or family to find out where they are in the supermarket, we've all done that right? You can make arrangements to meet up with friends whilst on holiday and they are coming out a day later and you need to advise them of that last scary steep hill and narrow road to avoid when they approach the site, all good uses of the phone.
You can use the phone to call someone in an emergency, hopefully you will never need to but if you've got your iphone with you you have the option to summon help.
2. Sat Nav or gps navigation.
I use the Tom Tom app on the iphone and find it much easier and smaller than my normal in-car device and I never forget to remove it from the car when I have finished driving. The app comes with all the maps pre-loaded so it doesn't matter if you drive through a 'no-signal area' the maps keep showing and directing you to your destination. one thing to point out is that when visiting campsites with a caravan please always make sure that you have read the campsites' website for any roads that are unsuitable for large vehicles such as a caravan. A lot of sites are in the countryside and some routes are impassable.
As soon as Tom Tom release and app that has gps for caravan or truck drivers I will be buying it.
3. Internet Hotspot Tether for website usage
When you are in your caravan or motorhome and it's raining or dark and you've finished your day and are settling down for the evening, you may want to update your blog or do some website surfing to check out your next day trip to that beach down the road you saw on the journey to your campsite. I simply turn on my internet tether (you may have to ask your mobile provider to give you this feature and there may be a small charge), click on the internet tether icon in settings and connect your laptop to the internet and away you go.
Some campsites have wifi available but I have found that it is expensive and I prefer to use my iphone to connect to the internet.
4. Reading on the iphone
I know a lot of people prefer a book or a kindle or similar to do their reading but I have used my iphone for reading over 200 books in the last 2 years and I prefer this to any other method of reading. I use the Stanza app but ibooks is also recommended. You can carry all your books with you in your pocket and will never be without a good read.
5. Text messaging
The iphone has a fabulous text message app and the uses of texts for conversing with your friends cannot be understated. You can also use imessage for iphone to iphone texting.
6. A Weather App
When you are living life on a campsite and most of your day is spent outside it always a good idea to know what the weather is going to be like. I use the built in app and it gives you local weather based on where you are at the moment or you can enter the towns you are visiting to see what the weather will be like when you get there. Recently I have tried Yahoo!'s weather app and that looks pretty good, but I'm still testing it so not sure if it's a keeper.
7. Online Banking
When you are living month to month and money is tight it is very useful to see how far into your overdraft you have gone, so an app to check your balance is very useful. It depends which bank you use as to how good or bad your app will be, but all the banks should have an app that will hopefully be of use to you.
8. Email
I know we shouldn't but email has taken our lives over and it can be ok to check some of it as long as you are not spending too long working on Office/work emails, a small use of email can be tolerated. If you run an online business then it is probably essential that you access your emails and respond if you need to, so that you don't lose a customer. The iphone built in email app allows you to have many different email accounts on the go at once.
9. Wifi finder
If your campsite doesn't have wi-fi or if the mobile signal is poor or non-existent for your network you may want to find a wifi nearby such as a pub or supermarket that you can connect to for free. I use FastConnect which shows me where the nearest 'The Cloud' hotspots are and I can get connected when I need to.
10. A Torch
Have you needed a torch and couldn't find it because it was dark? Well, in your pocket you have a fantastic led bright light that your iphone uses for the flash. If you haven't downloaded an app, simply put the video camera on and choose the flash 'on' setting for a bright light.
11. Geocaching app
You've always wanted to go geo-caching but were not sure how to go about it, well there is an app for that.
Geo-caching has been going for years but there are still lots of people who haven't any idea what it is or why they should be doing it. It is great fun and gets you out there to places that are new and interesting.
Have a look here for more details My geocaching page
12. Social networking - Google +, Facebook and Twitter
Most people these days have a social networking account, either facebook or twitter or the newer Google +.
Whichever you use you, can get an iphone app for it and do your usual retweeting or sharing or liking etc.
Or to simply tell your friends and family what you are doing today whilst on holiday and they are not with you. My twitter feed can be followed here @caravantourer and I hope you can follow me and retweet me as often you as can.
13. Blogger
If you keep an online blog about your travels like I do and you can't get to a laptop when you are at the top of a mountain or sat at the beach, you can update your blog with your blogger app.
14. Camera, photos and videos
I take hundreds of photos and videos with my built in iphone camera and video app. Occasionally I use Kitcam or 360 panorama but the main thing is I take lots and lots of photos that I upload to my blog to share my experiences with you, the readers of my caravantouring blog.
The camera is probably the most used app on my iphone and I've left it until near the last, for no particular reason. It's important to me to capture memories and fun times that I can refresh my memory when a few years have passed and I can re-capture the fun that I am having.
15. You tube uploader - capture
The app that I'm going to mention last is called capture and is made by youtube and allows you to upload directly to your youtube account with all your great videos.
My videos can be found on youtube here
Do you have any Must Have apps or disagree with any of my choices?
Let me know in the comments below.
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