In the Know About On-the-Go

It’s vacation time! When I was deciding how to spend it, I knew there were two things I needed to think about in my hotel selection:

• Location – a hotel close to the attractions I wanted to visit

• Features – WiFi for the laptop. After all, even vacationing geeks like to have Internet access at the end of a long day touristing.

Here are a few things that may help simplify your travel this summer:

Map Out Where You Want to Stay

I knew I was going to the COSI science museum in Columbus, Ohio and the US Air Force Museum in Dayton. So, I pulled up both locations with Google Maps. From there I could easily search local lodging by “Search nearby” and typing in “hotels.” If the area you’re looking to stay has Google Streetview, you can even check out what the street outside your potential hotel looks like.

After you land on a hotel, check prices using both the national chain Web sites for the hotels, and through travel Web sites like Expedia or Orbitz.

Update Your GPS

Having a GPS in your car for any road trip seems like a no-brainer. Getting lost on a long drive is annoying and can suck up a lot of time. Before you go, make sure to update the firmware on your GPS – updating firmware by downloading the software updates from the manufacturer’s Web site and then connecting your GPS to your computer via the provided USB cable.

Updating the firmware on my inexpensive Garmin nüvi 255 provided access to a great new feature called “ecoRoute” that added a “Less Fuel” route preference option in addition to the usual “Faster Time” and “Shorter Distance” options.

A Well-Prepared Geek is a Well-Rested Geek

Through a little prep, my week away was great and didn’t break my budget. Even better, it made for a good learning experience to provide tips to my Geek Squad clients on how they can use all the tech tools around them to make their time away the best time ever.