I hate things that are way harder than they need to be. You should know that if you’ve read my previous post on The Biggest Thing Wrong With Snow Travel.

I love technology and I love things that make my life easier. I was amazed in NZ when my housemates asked me “What’s TripIt?”. I feel it’s something everyone should be using to make travel easier.

What is TripIt?

A simplest explanation of TripIt is that it organises all your trip details automatically and displays them via an iphone/android app.

You just forward them any itinerary from your airline booking and it organises everything including trip dates and flight numbers / flight times.

They can even scan your Gmail inbox for itinerary’s and add them automatically if you wish!

They also make it easy to share your trip details with family and friends. If my family need to know my flight details, I can just add them to my trip sharing list and they can visit a link to see all the information on my trip.

Best of all, it’s FREE! You only have to pay extra if you want certain features like live airport gate changes and automatic trip sharing with friends, but for all the standard features you don’t pay a dime!

Yeah but I don’t fly that much, why is this awesome?

1) Carry all your trip details on the go.

There’s a million times when someone has asked me what my exact schedule is and being able to whip out my iPhone and tell them my exact flight times and dates is great!

2) Sharing your trip details is a breeze.

Recently, I was visiting a friend and he asked the usual “What time does your flight arrive?”. Instead of checking my details and emailing him, I just added him to my trip and he had all my details instantly by visiting the link that TripIt sent him.

I think his reaction was “WTF! It even shows me the weather for the days that you’re here?”

3) Live flight status updates are awesome.

You have to pay extra but it’s only $49 per year and it’s nice when you know that your gate has been changed or your flight delayed.

It’s not uncommon that you’ll find out before airport staff even announce the changes.

4) Flight refund for cheaper fares

Did you know that sometimes you can get a refund if the ticket price of your paid flight drops enough? Neither did I. TripIt Pro automatically notifies you if this happens so you can get your refund and buy at the cheaper price.

So what about you? Found any neat ways to make your travel easier?