There's an аппаратчик for that! Part I - keeping in touch

Oh, iPhone, how did we manage to travel without you back in the days...?


Stay in touch and communication аппаратчикs:

Flickr: Take pics, upload pics, share the sights. Let them get jealous. Or worried.

(iTuneslink)













facebook:The facebook app, essential to keep up with the gossip from home. How could you survive without being in the know that Natasha is single now, Vladimir became a fan of "Vodka Putin" and - most important - what is happening on all those farms and in all these mafias out there? Never leave home without!!! (iTuneslink)

twitter: 140 characters.
A sign of life from the road or a shout out to the rest of the world. It probably won't become a trending topic, but at least it keeps you up to date with the headlines and keep your own journal of the road in a condensed fashion... (iTuneslink)











foodspotting: Food. Omnomnom. A major part of travelling. Remember that Blini in St.Petersburg? Or rather want to forget the Plov in Ashgabat? Food recommendations for the road and warnings for fellow travellers. Foodspotting is about dishes not restaurants. The application lets you picture, tag and place the food you had and upload it to the site. The site lets you search food by location. Sweet. Or Savoury. (iTuneslink)

skype: Get connected on WiFi and call other skype users for free of landlines (and in some countries mobiles as well) on the cheap. Need I say more?Many hostels and cafés offer free WiFi to their customers. The calling costs and rates can be found here.

You can charge your account online and have it topped up automatically once the remaining balance falls under a certain limit. You can also buy flat rate packages that allow you to call a certain country, continent or worldwide for a monthly subscription fee. The iPhone app allows you to access the numbers directly from the contacts list of your iPhone, so no awkward typing needed. Also, there's the possibility to set up a caller ID for free and to set it to e.g. your mobile number, so your friends and family can see who's calling and don't ignore the call because this weird number from Mongolia is showing up again. (iTuneslink)

audioboo: What I missed from previous trips was to take typical sounds home. Like the constant washing up of aluminium dishes at the Golden Temple in Amritsar where the pilgrims are fed 24 hours a day with free daal and rice. Or the shouting at Iranian Bus terminals. 
Or the haggling about a goat on Kashgar's livestock market. Or the debating of the buddhist monks in the courtyard of Sera monastery. Or the entrepreneur human telephonekiosks standing with a mobile phone chained to themselves on the streets of La Paz constantly calling "Llamada, llamada, llamada..." (which I first mistook for "Your mother, your mother, your mother..." and left me wondering why mum should be calling me here when she isn't even aware of my whereabouts). audioboo does just that (without telling your mum where you are hiding). Record a sound, name it and tag it and then upload it. audioboo also places a marker on a map where the recording was done. (iTuneslink)



Note: some of the аппаратчикs require an internet connection which may cost you an arm and a leg when abroad and roaming in a GPRS/3G network. Avoid costs by using the WiFi connection of your iPhone (where available) instead. You can disable data roaming in the settings of your iPhone.