I have been checking out travel apps for my PDA and wonder if anyone out there has experience with any of the following: <BR> <BR>Zagat <BR>Michelin France & Europe <BR>Weismann - various cities <BR> <BR>Any other suggestions? <BR> <BR>Here's one of my favorites: Information on Metros world-wide: <BR> <BR>http://handango.lycos.com/PlatformPr...productId=6064 <BR> <BR>Regards ... Ger

Ger: As one blue-eyed, blonde Irish person to another, how about you explain to me exactly what this Palm Pilot can do? I've got an expensive but dead laptop sitting in my house in France that I'd ideally like to resurrect solely for the purpose of writing from France, but in the meantime, I've got plans to travel to France, Morocco, and India in the next 6 months and was thinking of buying a Palm Pilot, but am not sure it will do everything I need it to. Can you provide me a primer, please?

Well to be TOTALLY honest, I have been using mine as a very expensive address book! I'm really only beginning to use the capabilities. <BR> <BR>As regards travel, the is a growing selection of free software (such as Metro) that are very handy - currancy converters (very useful for me as I usually travel to 4-6 cities in two weeks and can't keep track of exchange rates) travel planners (record flight arrangements, train etc)and Low cost language converters. Several airlines offer free downloadable flight schedules (I am about to download the STAR Alliance one). <BR> <BR>The apps I metioned above provide recommendations on restaraunts (Zagat)& hotels (Michelin Red Guides) and brief city guides (Weissman). <BR> <BR>I could also hook my PDA up to my international cell phone and send e-mails ... I do love my toys! <BR> <BR>My Palm Pilot Vx is definately NOT a substitute for a notebook but some of the more expensive models may be (e.g. Compaq, HP). <BR> <BR>Hope this helps! <BR> <BR>Regards ... Ger <BR> <BR>(What's happened to the screen?????)

What does being blue-eyed, blonde, and Irish have to do with anything? Wanna hear some dumb blonde jokes? Since you're an AOL member, you may wish to spend some of your obviously plentiful travel board time on the PDA boards instead. You might learn something there.

Thanks, Katie, but good-natured banter is obviously lost on your type. I was simply trying to find out from fellow poster Ger what this Palm Pilot can do and if it can substitute for a laptop. <BR> <BR>But never mind.....Ger answered the question to the best of her ability and for that I am grateful. You can go away now and get a good night's sleep and feel better in the morning.

Palm Pilot applications: <BR> <BR>I have one called Travel Assistant ($20) that adds a translator (your choice of 1 or all of 39 languages); a metric, size, currency and temperature converer; an itinerary planner; and an alarm clock to your PDA. There's also a free world clock program you can download. Delta airlines now has a program on its site that allows you to download the entire Delta flight schedule (updated monthly) to your PDA, and that includes a one-touch process for adding the flights you select direct to your datebook. But my favorite Palm toy is the full-size keyboard that collapses in quarters into a case only slightly bigger than the Palm III itself. You unfold it, pop the Palm onto the plug-in, and can type on a keyboard right into the PDA. Lets me use airport layovers to start work on travel articles without lugging a laptop along. <BR> <BR>For the record, I am a green eyed, dark haired Eastern European PDA GEEK!

I've got Fodors reviews on my Palm. Basically it has hotel and restarurant reviews for hundreds of cities. <BR> <BR>Go to http://www.avantgo.com, register and check out their "travel channel". You can add Fodors from there. It's better than carrying a bulky guidebook around...

We used it to track expenses. Once home, we could dump the data into a spreadsheet program and add up the costs by category. <BR> <BR>I suppose it would also be useful as a memo for one's itinerary, or an address book of hotels, but since I always print out and bring an itinerary and our hotel confirmations, this feature is redundant. <BR> <BR>The real application is to keep my nerd, and proud of it, husband from suffering hypocomputia on vacation (malaise brought on by being away from computers.)

Escritora, <BR> <BR>Where do you purchase the Travel Assistant software? <BR> <BR>Thanks

I got it at a local electronics store. It's made by Handmark--www.handmark.com.

Thanbks, Escritora - that keyboard sounds like it's exactly what I'm looking for.

Wow, barring the obvious some great suggestions here. AvantGo is my personal favorite. Sue don't worry you are not the only subjected to, "Hypocomputia" ( never heard that one) my wife will love that. They call me MacGuyver 'cause I have so many techy toys strapped to my belt. My wife makes me leave my toys (beeper,cel phone, sat phone, lap top and more ) when we go on vacation, but I always get a fix later on when she's not around from my PDA.

Tahnks for our suggestions - I will check them out. <BR> <BR>Downloaded the Star Alliance Scedule from: <BR>http://www.star-alliance.com/cgi-bin...serTemplate/39 <BR>Looks pretty useful as long as you know the three let code for your airports (note: if you don't, then there is an app on the Handango site that provides same) <BR> <BR>St. Cirque: For helping you decide on the PDA best suited for you, check out: <BR>http://www.zdnet.com/special/filters/sc/pda/ <BR>I tend to consult there before purchasing techie toys. <BR> <BR>And for free and purchased apps, this site appears to have a decent selection: <BR>http://handango.lycos.com/PlatformSo...2&platformId=1 <BR> <BR>Regards ... Ger <BR>