FAVORITE TRAVEL APPS FOR iPHONE

As I mentioned yesterday, the iPhone is a traveling photographer's very best friend.  I love that I'm able to manage most aspects of my business - right from this little computer in my pocket.  Even more helpful, when I'm traveling my iPhone doesn't just help me keep in touch - it me keep my travel organized.  Below are a few of the Travel Apps I LOVE.

1. Tripit Pro

Tripit is by far my favorite travel-related iphone app.  Tripit is a service where you simply forward your travel itineraries, it reads the emails and then organizes them by trip.  It's really quite genius, and it's super helpful when you're trying to keep track of flights, hotel, rental car and more.  You can tap on any of your reservations and it gives you all the details for that component.  It also has some really useful features like being able to check for alternate flights in the event your travel is disrupted.  It tracks the status of your flights and alerts you if things change.

The app syncs with www.tripit.com, and you can view and manage all of your itineraries online as well.  It also has a social feature where you can connect with friends.  This allows you to see trips your friends are planning, see who's close by when traveling, and even sharing trips with your contacts (when traveling together).  Finally, it syncs to your google calendar or ical, which makes viewing your travel plans in context with the rest of your schedule a breeze.

There app is free, and so is the basic subscription online. If you're a regular traveler, the Pro subscription at $49 is well worth it.  With it comes the mobile alerts, auto-sharing and loyalty point tracking.

2. Flight Tracker Pro

Flight Tracker Pro is another can't live without travel app.  In fact, it's the Flight Tracker engine that powers some of the features in Tripit.  Tripit syncs your flights to FTP and it gives you the up-to-the-moment information about your flights.  In fact, I often get an alert from FTP about a flight delay/cancellation before it's reflected by the airline.  Seriously, I've been at a gate and gotten an alert that my flight was cancelled 5 minutes before the airline boards reflected the issue.  The pro version is required for the sync features, but the free version still lets you enter and track any flight.  

3. Kayak

Kayak is my favorite way to search for flights and hotels.  The search filters are super easy to use, and Kayak always has the very best prices (excluding deal sites like hotwire/priceline).  It also lets you search other sites like Orbitz and Expedia.  The interface is really easy to use, and it makes searching for travel arrangements super easy.

4. Gate Guru

Sometimes you're in an airport and you want to know where the closest bathroom, or ATM, or Chick-Fil-A is.  If that's you, this is the app for you.  Gate Guru uses GPS to give you local info about where to find when you're traveling.  It lets you search by terminal, gate, or by type of service.  It makes finding the nearest Airport club or coffee shop a breeze.  Best part  It also allow people to share reviews of different vendors in an airport - and in that way, its' a lot like YELP.  It's free!

5. Seat Guru

Seat Guru is a nifty little app that lets you put in your flight information, select the aircraft, and view information about which seats to choose, and which to avoid on your next trans-continental red-eye flight.  It makes it easy to identify the best seats, and the very worst - using red/yellow/green coloring.  Wanna know which exit row seat has the most leg room? Seat Guru has the answer

6. UBER

Hate trying to hail a cab? In a city where cabs aren't quite as convenient as NYC? Maybe you'd like to call a car service, but the idea of waiting 30-40 minutes for your ride to the airport isn't very appealing.  That's where UBER comes in.  Simply open the app, and UBER finds your location.  Then it dispatches one of it's black cars (luxury SUV or towncar type rides) to your location.  You can actually track your car on the map, and see when they're going to arrive - usually within 4-8 minutes.  When you're done, you simply get out.  UBER handles the payment - including the tip - without you having to do anything.  Of course, UBER is more expensive than a cab - but it's definitely one of the best transportation experiences I've ever had.

7. HOTEL TONIGHT

It's not very often that I travel to a city without pretty thought out plans, but on the chance that you are looking for a last minute place to crash for the night, Hotel Tonight is one of the coolest new apps I've seen.  In each of their cities, they negotiate "Hotwire"-like prices at 3 hotels.  Unlike Hotwire, you can see exactly what hotels they are offering for that night, with some pretty killer photography to show you exactly what you're getting.  It really is for the last minute booking - you can't book a room until after noon on the day of your stay, but you do get to book right through the app. If you sign up using code JATEN, you'll get a credit of $25 towards your first stay (just cause I'm nice). 

What about you?  What are you favorite travel apps that I might have missed? Leave a comment below!

GETTING SOME AIR

I was in Boston this week, speaking with a pretty rad group of photographers about Marketing.  One of them asked me about traveling - since I do a fair amount of it.  With that in mind, I've compiled a list of my top 10 travel rules for photographers.  This isn't a brand new list - I've actually shared it before, but it's timely - so here it is!

1. ALWAYS, ALWAYS insist on making your own travel arrangements.

No matter what, you should always be in control of your travel. This includes hotel, air, rental car, subway, whatever.

The moment you allow a client to book your flight, etc is the moment you find yourself on a 3 connection red-eye on an airline that is one pretzel cart away from bankruptcy.

Sometimes clients want to use their frequent flier miles to pay for your ticket thinking it saves everyone money. First, It actually doesn’t save you anything. Second, Award tickets are at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to travel disruptions. They’re right above Non-revenue passengers, which means that when your flight is canceled, you can count on being the last guy to get a seat on the next flights.

You can pay now, or you can pay later

2. Take advantage of Frequent Flier programs.
This applies to hotels and rental cars too. Not only are frequent flier points nice, the real benefit is in the Elite Programs. If you travel enough to qualify for even the lowest tier of most programs (around 25,000 miles a year), the benefits can make travel much more enjoyable.

Sure, upgrades to first class are nice – but even better are some of the other benefits. Access to priority customer service reps on elite lines can mean the difference between a dream trip and a nightmare. These people often have the ability to do things that you wouldn’t think possible. Not to mention that they’re usually based in the US, speak english, and answer the phone without waiting on hold for hours.

The same is true for hotels. Many programs like Hilton, Marriot and Starwood Preferred Guest, will guarantee availability for their top tiers, and offer amenities like free wi-fi, and free upgraded rooms when available.

3. Plan for the worst
When traveling internationally, I always book two tickets. The itinerary I plan to take (usually a cheaper fare, non-refundable, etc) – and a fully refundable, full fare ticket that routes through a different airport/etc in case the first is canceled. If I HAVE to be somewhere on time, I HAVE to have a backup plan.

If I make my flight, I simply call and cancel the refundable ticket – and I get all my money back – no sweat. If I end up needing the full fare ticket, It will cost more, but I can usually fight to get my other ticket refunded (again, by accessing the elite line CS reps), and even if I can’t, the additional dollar price is worth the peace of mind that I won’t miss shooting a wedding in Venice, or wherever.

4. Go early
Time is your friend. It’s always better to be there excessively early. Never mind that travel almost always includes some kind of complication – even if it doesn’t, you just bought yourself time to relax and prepare for your job. I always plan to be at least 24 hours early. Internationally, we build in even more time.

5. If it’s Mission Critical, keep it with you
Never, Never, Never, check anything important (in my case, camera gear). Airlines won’t reimburse you for lost/stolen camera equipment. They specifically decline liability for it. Get a carry-on camera bag so that you can keep it with you.

It helps to make sure your flights are on planes that won’t require you to gate check this either – gate checked bags aren’t covered by the Warsaw convention and are subject to even less airline liability. If you are asked to gate check it, and you know your bag is a legal carry on – refuse to check it. I have a Tenba roller bag – which is as big as a carry on can be for domestic travel, and I personally know it will fit under the seat of a CRJ. It won’t fit in the overhead, but I can still carry it on if I have to. That said, I go out of my way to avoid regional jets for this very reason.

You’re better off to FedEx your equipment ahead of time (seriously).

6. Airport “clubs” are your friend
If you travel a lot, it might be worth joining. They aren’t cheap, but can be worth it. Or, the AMEX platinum card includes membership to most of the major clubs. The card isn’t cheap, but considering you get about $2,000 of club memberships, it pays for itself if you use them. They also have a travel concierge service that is top notch.

Otherwise, it can be worth it to pay a daily fee (either in cash, or miles) if you have a long layover. Depending on the airline, they can offer amenities such as workspaces, TV, showers, free drinks, snacks, top-notch customer service agents, wi-fi, comfy places to sit (or sleep), quiet, newspapers, etc. I happen to think that NW’s world clubs (now Delta Sky Clubs) are the very best – especially considering that they don’t charge for alcohol OR wi-fi.

7. Use resources that are available

A few of my favorite:
http://www.flyertalk.com (you won’t believe how much information is here about EVERYTHING travel related)
http://www.farecompare.com
http://www.flightracker.com
http://travel.state.gov (helpful to understand international travel requirements)
http://www.kayak.com (my favorite travel search engine)

8. Carry at least a days’ worth of cash.
Or traveler’s cheques – especially internationally. They charge a small fee, but if you loose them, they replace them. I carry cash because if your credit card is lost, stolen, or otherwise unusable, it’s no fun being stuck somewhere with no money.

It’s also worth noting that some cards are better about helping you when you need it than others. With AMEX, you can purchase travelers cheques against your account, even if it’s lost or stolen.

9. All airports are not equal. It pays to do a little research on your airports. For example, it helps to know that out of LAS, you can expect it to take at LEAST 45 minutes from the time you arrive, to the time you get through security. In ORD, if you’re on UA, or AA, it helps to know in advance that a connection can require a good 20-30 minutes. IMO, the best airports to travel through are DTW, MSP, DEN, SFO, and PHX.

The worst are ORD, ATL, IAH, CVG and LAS.

10.  The iPhone is a travelers best friend

I started writing #10, and realized this was a much longer subject.  Check back tomorrow and I'll share my absolute must have iPhone travel apps.

Your turn! What are your best travel tips and advice for fellow photographers?

Did you find this post helpful? CLICK HERE to have posts like this delivered to your email inbox, then CHECK OUT YEAR ONE: to learn how to build a profitable and sustainable photography business.

WHAT'S THE POINT OF AN AUDIENCE?

What's the point of having an audience?  Everyone has an audience - a circle of influence. Whether it's a father with his children, a teacher in a classroom, or a social-media guru with his twitter followers, we all have an audience.  Building a social media audience, or platform, takes energy and time - two highly valuable forms of capital.  Those who are good at it, work hard to cultivate a following.  They create meaningful content, and share it in an intentional way that adds value to their audience.  

An audience is a very valuable thing.  An audience gives you permission to share and engage with people who are passionate about what you're passionate about.  An audience helps you spread the story of your brand, and creates opportunities for you to engage with people you'd never be able to reach otherwise.  

The people in your audience have give you permission to be a part of their space.  They've invited you to tell your story - at a cost to them.  In order to be a part of your audience, they've given something up.  Perhaps they've simply given up the time it takes for them to read your "tweets," or comment on your Facebook post.  But just as likely, they've invested more.  

Here's the thing - your audience is a gift.  It's not a God-given right.  It's a privilege, and it can be revoked at any time.

This weekend, I replied to an uber-rockstar photographer on Twitter.  Well, at least that's what this particular photographer thinks about himself. He's someone with a very large audience, and he's pretty smart about leveraging it for his advantage. His audience is mostly photographers, and he writes about succeeding in photography and business.  He's written books and even hosts a podcast on the business of photography.

Over the weekend he posted something and I replied.  He posted something, and I called him out on it.  Apparently since my reply wasn't of the "kneel down and kiss your ring" kind of tweet, I was "blocked."  He even took the time to reply to my tweet to let me know I was blocked - as well as letting me know what he thought of me.  Ironically, he and I have met.  We've had face to face conversations, though I doubt he would remember me. 

Here's the thing, if someone who has been a part of your audience for years, someone that has continuously given their time to read and engage with your content, someone that has given you money, calls you out on something - it's not because they're a troll.  That doesn't make him or her a "hater."  It means that someone in your audience is noticing something.  It means they're giving you feedback that might be helpful.

Of course, if you're audience is only about helping yourself, then you probably don't care about what they think.  I'm sure it's easy, at some point, to stop thinking about your audience as a collection of individuals that have given you permission to share with them - and start thinking of them as some single entity that exists for your own benefit.  Here's the thing:

The moment you stop caring about your audience is the moment you stop deserving one.  

This is true for you - no matter what your audience.  As a photographer - your clients are your audience.  Your network of photographers are your audience.  Your peers in the wedding industry are your audience.  Sometimes it's easy to think that your audience exists for your benefit. That's when you remind yourself that without your audience, you're really just making a bunch of noise.