Take these apps on the road when you travel: Talking Tech podcast

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Hey there listeners, it's Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. Spring has sprung, it's finally here, on March 20th, it officially became spring. Which means obviously it's going to get warmer, but also a lot of people out there are likely going to be very eager to travel. We've been cooped up the last couple years with the pandemic and so now that it seems like restrictions are being lifted, a lot of us are itching to get out of the house. But before you start packing bags and planning and doing all that stuff, you want to make sure that you have the right tools available so that you can make the most of your trip and that it's as stress-free as possible.

My colleague Jennifer Jolly writes about this in a story that you can read on tech.usatoday.com. She talks about some helpful apps that you can download before you go on your trip to help you make the most of it. I'm going to point out a couple here, and then you can read the rest in her column. Let's start with The Points Guy app, which is a really great way to keep track of points and miles across different banks, airlines, whatever programs you use. You'll basically download the app, it'll ask you to add information like credit cards or link your rewards programs, things like that. Then you can search for trips, you can also keep progress of your points and see how much you've accumulated and you can figure out if you can use those points maybe for your next trip. It's available only for iOS at this time, but there is a sign-up page on the website if you want an Android version, so if you have Android and you want it, you can sign up for it on the website, and the website says it's going to be due very soon, so we'll see what happens there.

Another really cool app, and this is one if you're planning something where you're going to need to bring more stuff, it's called LugLess. And according to Jennifer, what this service does is it takes any bags or boxes that you plan on bringing with you to a destination and it ships it for you. So you go through this service, you take your stuff there, you fly, you get back, and then it's there for you when you arrive or you can pick it up at one of thousands of FedEx, UPS or Walgreens locations. So if you're not planning like a quick getaway, if it's something where you're going to be away for a little bit and you have to bring lots of extra luggage, a super easy, convenient way to do that without having to pay all the extra fees and stuff for checking all those bags.

Another must have app, this is a good one too, the MyTSA app. It's available for iOS and Android. Really one of the biggest perks for this app is seeing the estimated wait times in security lanes. Obviously there are going to be a lot of people that are likely going to want to be traveling, and so those security lines might be pretty long. So it's nice to have an app there where you can just check the security line, helps you prepare to get on your flight. Last thing you want to do is miss your flight, so definitely a really handy thing to keep on your app, just to keep track of security checkpoints and just know how long you're going to be waiting at the airport, so you can plan accordingly.

You can read more of Jennifer's tips in her column on tech.usatoday.com. Listeners, let's hear from you. Do you have any comments, questions, or show ideas? Any tech problems you want us to try to address? You can find me on Twitter @brettmolina23. Please don't forget to subscribe and rate us or leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcasts. Don't forget, we have a newsletter too, The Talking Tech Newsletter. It's available every Thursday. You can subscribe by going to newsletters.usatoday.com. You've been listening to Talking Tech. We'll be back tomorrow with another quick hit from the world of tech.