BlogIssues

“12 Google Shortcuts Every Traveller Should Know” some recent article off the Vagabondish

#1: Get Local Weather

Type: “weather [city name or zip/postal code]”

Example: “weather 02818″ or “weather london”

#2: Check Flight Status

Google pulls flight data from Flightstats.com.

Example: “aa123″ or “united 959″

#3: Currency Converter

Type: “[amount] [first currency] to [second currency]”

Example: “1000 usd to euro”

#4: Find the Local Time Anywhere

Type: “time [city/state/province/country]”

Example: “time london”

#5: Identify People, Foreign Objects, and More

From Lifehacker.com:

Google Image search results show you instead of tell you about a word. Don’t know what jicama looks like? Not sure if the person named “Priti” who you’re emailing with is a woman or a man? Spanish rusty and you forgot what “corazon” is? Pop your term into Google Image Search (or type image jicama into the regular search box) to see what your term’s about.

As Vagabondish pointed out, this is useful to find out what someone or something looks like, exotic fruits for instance.

Guava is… this…

#6: View Airport Conditions

Type: “[airport name/code] airport”

Example: “heathrow airport”

This doesn’t seem to work everywhere unless you add “conditions” to your search query.

#7: Convert Temperatures

Type: “[temperature] [C/F] to [F/C]”

Example: “40 C to F”

and vice versa

#8: Convert Distances

Type: “[value] [first distance unit] to [second distance unit]”

Example: “500 kilometers to miles”

#9: Convert Driving Speeds

Type: “[value] [first distance unit] to [second distance unit]”

Example: “70 kph to mph”

#10: Find a Phone Number

Find a Person:

Type: “[person’s name], [city or zip/postal code]”

Example: “john smith, london”

Find a Business:

Type: “[business name or type], [city or zip/postal code]”

Example: “apple store, manhattan”

#11: Find Local Food and Restaurants

Type: “[food type], [city or zip code/postal code]”

Example: “pizza, london e1″

#12: Track Your Packages

Type: [any USPS, UPS, or FedEx tracking number]

Example: 706479610009807

All this you can do with Google, provided you have access to the Internet.