OnTheRoad.to is a pretty cool, free application for creating travel journals directly via phone application: iTunes, Android, email, SMS or MMS, or web browser to share travel adventures online with friends and family.

On The Road To Travel Tool Application Homepage

Our regular readers know that we from time to time like to make reviews of different travel related things, this time another travel tool. Yes, it’s necessary to keep up to date what’s going on in the travel world.

Insider at the Olympics

One of the accredited journalist for Olympics, a Swiss journalist and blogger, Urs Berger, is blogging live from Vancouver for them at On The Road To new Olympics blog.

Special Olympics blog from Vancouver at On The Road

This means that his press pass will get him into places where regular visitors wouldn’t usually, so be sure to keep an eye on his writing for live experiences.

On The Road Main features

On The Road has a lot of features which I can’t go into in details, so I listed the most useful here.

Main features of the travel application are:
 
• Publication of articles together with photos and videos, accompanied by an exact GPS location
• Possibility to export the GPS coordinates directly to a navigation
• Google maps integration
• Google Latitude integration available
• Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed integration available
• Easy organization of trips, articles and comments
• Offline mode (phone app) – store travel adventures to the phone and upload them at once
• NearByMe feature (phone application) – Find cool places and events nearby at any time
• Subscribers – Track and organize the followers of a certain trip
• SMS, MMS, email article publishing available as well

I really like the interactive maps that more easily can let friends and family follow our location and see where we’re going next, but also the drag-and drop sorting is making everything more easy. Plus I don’t have to worry about compatibility since all image, video or audio format seem to work.

Seeing the local weather is another thing that comes in handy for us travelers. If creating a schedule, our TripBook will even keep a record of the weather on our trip - nice!

Friends and family can send comments on our created trips and photos and we’ll get an email notifications about it. If we reply to the comment, they will receive an email as well. They can also subscribe to the trip and get email notifications every time wel post something new.

One of the perhaps most useful features after a trip, is that you can make it available as a web widget on your blog, to show your articles from On The Road.

Of course there is also possible to share everything to different social networks: log in to account, go to “Share” and select your favorite social networks.

Phone application quick glance

Since everyone nowadays seem to be totally into iPhone or similar applications, I thought I would show some screenshots from the apps too.

On The Road To iPhone Screenshot of Articles and Trips

Don’t you just love how simple it looks? Despite that it has those really useful features, making it worth trying yet another travel tool.

On The Road To iPhone Screenshot of other features

Oh, and don’t miss On The Road To’s Video’s, if you want to learn more about how to use it!

Different from other travel apps?

Yes, it’s true, there are a lot of other travel applications that are similar - or travel tools that I prefer to call them - out there already, but are we really satisfied with them?

I would say most of us are not. There are still a lot to wish in all of them, but I think that this particular one is “On The Road To” some new ways of seeing things at least.

Let us hope for more interesting features to come, to really fill all our travel tools needs!

Lifecruiser ♥ Travel Tools
 

It’s not always possible to give our beloved one the absolute dream trip. Here are Lifecruiser’s top tips of affordable, but yet most romantic Valentine dream trips. Short or long, they’ll stay for long - in your spouses memory!

What is the most romantic nearby place you can think of?

Just go there if it’s nearby. Pick the best spot you can find to watch the sunset together - and don’t forget to bring a picnic basket loaded with goodies with you.

If the weather is too cold, go there but stay in the car with pillows and cozy blankets. I promise, you’ll keep each other hot enough… *giggles*

The Hawaii Spa Resort

Another alternative is to try to make your home be like that place you dream about taking a trip to. If it were Hawaii like in my dream, decorate like it were there, put up pictures of the islands, try to make some Hawaiian cuisine, make tropical drinks, play Hawaiian music, do a hula-hula dance wearing flower wreaths - use your fantasy.

Spoil your beloved one with Champagne and lighted candles, a warm bath with a nice bath oil and flowers floating around, pedicure or massage - anything that will make you both relax and enjoy!

Where did you first meet?

Try to replicate it, if not fully, so try something that relate to it. It tells that you remember it all like it were yesterday. For me that would be that special café we did meet first time, eating apple pie with lots of vanilla sauce…

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

Again, try to replicate it, if not fully so something that reminds you of your honeymoon and what you did there. Bring forward all the photos from your honeymoon to re-experience them.

If you went to the Greek island Crete on your honeymoon just like us and did drive around a lot in the mountains, you could drive to the nearest mountains on an excursion to do something crazy, like standing on the top of a mountain (OK, hill if you have no mountains) and shout out to the whole world that you love her/him. Can it be any more romantic?

… or dancing Greek dances - whatever you find most suitable for you. There are no rules, just make sure firing some love flames!

Love is in the hot air balloon

Yes, take that hot air balloon trip and surprise your beloved! Let her/him lose her/his breath from all your long passionate kisses and not just from the breathtaking view from the air…!

If you research properly before and make some contacts, you might get away pretty cheap if it’s low season in your part of the world.

Surprise with an unusual secret destination

Keep it secret, keep it unusual - how about a beach resort in the winter when the beach is covered with snow and totally deserted? That will probably be at a good price. You’ll feel like you’re the only ones on earth together under the stars!

We did our engagement alone on a winter beach… opening a champagne bottle and toasting for our future totally alone under the stars - with sand blowing in the glasses! *giggles*

Get a last minute hostel deal

Nowadays the hostels are often like 3-star rated hotels when it comes to the standard and they do have private double rooms and some hotels, so why not check out hostelbookers extended January sale to find some good deals at interesting locations?

Bring with you the stuff to “romancify” your room: flower petals, champagne, music player… Remember: It will be what you’re making it to. Romance is where we allow it to be.

Ask around for private rentals

Ask around among your friends if anyone is willing to lend you or let you rent their summerhome. Sending out requests to your friends in social networks like Twitter or Facebook can be very effective. You’ll never know until you ask, right?

Hot Valentine Tips

Avoid crowded tourist attractions and areas, you can lose that intimate feeling in a blink. Though if your love is strong enough it can manage even that. Hubby proposed to me below Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris and there were thousands of tourists, but we saw none of them… ah… *dreamy sigh*

Give your beloved one total focus and appreciation. Be romantic, passionate, kiss all the time everywhere - just make sure you don’t offend anyone: check up what rules goes in the place you are and adjust to custom behavior a bit - but just a bit!

Dare to show your passion, you have no idea how many plus points you get from that!

An absolute minimum of activities is to cook a romantic country themed dinner together, you can have a lot of fun in the kitchen while cooking… *hint*

Leave rose petals on the bed, upon a nice looking love letter… maybe with a promise of another real trip later on. Look her/him in the eyes properly and tell your beloved one all the things you haven’t had time in ages to say, but always think.

Be creative, don’t just come home with the usual flowers or chocolate box! Take a road trip, break loose from the every day behavior and spend some quality time together in the car experiences new surroundings and your love once again.

Whatever you do: do NOT take your beloved to see your family or relatives. That does not count and especially not the parents!!!!

Lifecruiser ♥ Romantic Trips
 

Stockholm got a new awesome world attraction: SkyView. Glass gondolas goes up on rails outside the Globe which gives the visitors a fabulous opportunity to see Sweden’s capital 130 m above sea level.

SkyView attraction premiere, Stockholm Globe Arena, Sweden. Photo Copyright Globe Arenas.

This is actually a top attraction of a top attraction since it’s situated on the Stockholm Globe Arena which in itself is quite remarkable - the worlds largest hemispherical building, used for sports events and music concerts.

It was built in less than 2 1/2 years, constructed on top of 48 curved main columns a Mero space frame carries the dome shaped structure. The new SkyView where built on top of that with help from ski lift builders.

The two SkyView glass gondolas has room for 16 persons in each and the ride to the top takes 3 minutes. The gondola stays at the top of Globe approximately 10 minutes before going back on the same rails.

Skiss of SkyView glass gondola attraction, Stockholm, Sweden, Image Copyright Globe Arenas

• Size of each gondola: 4.5 meters in diameter
• Weight of each gondola: 7,000 kg
• Maximum speed: 1 meter per second

Impressed? No? Maybe these facts will impress you:

42,000 kg of steel have been added to the original structure to strengthen the exterior and 70,000 kg of rail have been assembled on the outside of the Globe with the help of mountain climbers and a helicopter!

Have we been up there ourselves? No, we’re waiting for the spring with better weather - or to get a special invitation with a free ride…. *giggles*

Seriously: it’s fully booked all weekend and they have even squeezed in extra rides, that gives a hint of how popular this is gonna be.

There is no doubt at all that SkyView really will become one of the most important symbols for Sweden internationally, visited by every tourist that comes here.

They claim that you should prepare yourself for shivering kneecaps and sweaty palms - would you like to take a ride in it…?

Read more about SkyView here.

Lifecruiser ♥ SkyView