[Anonymous]

[IanFromHKG]

Well, here I am, adapting from an all Windows/Blackberry environment to a Windows (desktop), iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Blackberry environment. Despite the challenges of having to learn how to use iOS instead of my beloved Windows-based HTC mobile, it is going fairly well. Except for one thing. I have for many years used iambic’s TripTracker which, despite its clunkiness and lack of connectivity, did lots of things I really liked, such as keeping a record of all my past flights and not forgetting them when the trip was over, synchronising seamlessly between the desktop and mobile version (wonderful, as it is so much easier to plan on a desktop) and with Outlook, showing my itinerary in local time but adjusting for timezones when syncing with Outlook (automatically, as you had to load a location for meetings), storing passwords and FFP details, and allowing me to enter expenses on the go and then syncing to the desktop which let me spit out the result as a spreadsheet. But there is no iOS version and, as I said, it was getting very out of date and the lack of connectivity meant compiling itineraries was a manual process. So now, I am looking for a replacement, and would love your thoughts. Here is my wish list. Is all this too much to ask?

APP/PROGRAM vs WEB-BASED
Based on my experience with iambic’s TripTracker, I really want a full desktop program with corresponding apps on my mobile devices. Much of what I want can be done on a web-based system with related apps such as WorldMate, but it is so slow using the web version on the desktop I gave up using it. Furthermore, some of the functionality I want (such as exporting information) would be best done by a proper program

COMPILING ITINERARIES
Automatically loading itineraries from Outlook email, as can be done with Worldmate and Blackberry Travel
Ability to manually load itineraries on the desktop version (preferably offline for quicker response time, although conversely it would be nice if there was connectivity so I only had to load flight numbers and the system automatically loaded flight times etc)
Corresponding ability on the mobile versions so I can make adjustments on the go and have them sync back to the desktop so I have a record I can refer back to (for example to calculate how many days I was in the UK for tax purposes at the end of the tax year)
A meeting planner with automatic time zone adjustment so I can load those too and keep them in the same itinerary (and have them sync to Outlook)

ON-THE-ROAD FUNCTIONALITY
I want to be able to load expenses on the fly
I want to be able to adjust the itinerary on the road
Ideally, flight status reports etc, although less fussed about this because Blackberry Travel already does this free and suits me fine
I want it to keep details of FFPs and hotel schemes, and other data (such as my passport details) so I can access them quickly. However, I don’t need it to track mileage or status

IN-OFFICE FUNCTIONALITY
Obviously I want the desktop and mobile versions to sync automatically. This should be two-way, so when I get back expense reports etc are uploaded to the desktop version
Export functions, so I can spit out copies of my itinerary, expense reports etc
I want full synchronisation with Outlook, with automatic timezone adjustment

There are other things I would like (for example I have seen apps that link to maps, seatplans, and lots of other funky stuff which would be nice to have) but the above is what I really, really want – and I can’t find it! There are plenty that offer some of this, but nothing I have found that offers it all.

Any suggestions or advice, anyone?

[BeckyBoop]

Ian, have a look at “TripIt” they also have a business version. I know one of our partner companies uses it for all their sales peeps on the road. Its also compatible across all phone platforms 😉

http://www.tripit.com

[IanFromHKG]

Thanks, Becky, but I saw that already and it doesn’t come close, sadly. Something with TripIt built in might work, but even MyFlights doesn’t do everything I want. TripIt Pro has some things, TripIt Business has others, but it appears you can’t get the functionality of both. No desktop app, no expense reports, no meeting planner… Sorry, it just doesn’t give me what I am looking for.

Closest I have found so far are Silverware’s TravelTracker Pro and MyFlights, but neither have desktop versions.

[BeckyBoop]

The expense reports might be a tricky one as all companies in my experience do it differently. For that you have to usually use the ERP tool or specialist travel expense tool for billing. Doesn’t your company give you a credit card to charge to then at the end of the trip/month you give copies of your receipts and they automatically pay your bill?

I noticed Tripit has a calender function so you can integrate it with outlook. It may even work for outlook web mail (if your company uses it) make sure you scroll down.

https://www.tripit.com/uhp/calendarInfo

[LuganoPirate]

Sorry Ian, I can’t help here. I just bung all my receipts to Mrs. LP who sorts them and accounts where necessary.

Main purpose of my missive is to bump this up so others will see it.

[IanFromHKG]

Thanks LP!

Becky, don’t know about you, but not all my expenses are paid by credit card. Tips, snacks, drinks, taxis…

[Swissdiver]

Ian,
Not sure this will fulfil all your expectations. But this is what I use (iOS): http://www.silverwaresoftware.com/TravelTracker.html. Wonderful in my view as it is tracking flight delays, includes a seat guru access (directly to the right plane), deals with my expenses (multi currencies of course – can export either by email or via an excel spreadsheet – .csv actually)… Miles management is also included but given the complexity of the matter nowadays I tend not to use it any more (I look at it after the credit). And there is a lovely feature that allows to download from tripit the itinerary (that I sent to the website, forwarding any confirmation to <a href="mailto:[email protected]“>[email protected]).
Regarding the miles tracking, awardwallet.com is the answer, on my Mac (web-based) as well as on my iPhone (via their app).

[IanFromHKG]

Thanks, Swissdiver. TravelTracker is one of the apps I had identified as coming close (see my post above at 08:42 yesterday), but no desktop version. I hadn’t picked up on the .csv export function, which makes it much more likely I will end up with that, unless other posters come up with better alternatives! It doesn’t have a meeting planner, though, unless I am missing something, and that is something I find really useful, especially for multi-country trips where trying to juggle the timezone differences causes way too much brainache!

[Swissdiver]

For Mac users, iCal is managing multi-time zones meeting/calls…

[sthomas7]

Hi there,

You may want to try Bon Voyage a new app which may not do all as per your requirement above but i find it quite handy for my business travel as well as holidays.. basically,

– set your trip details, Travel Budget and start to log in your expenses
– you can create multi-destinations trips & if international you can set our expenses in destination currency and set your exchange rates
– start logging your travel expenses
– attach receipts
– view dashboard of your expenses by trip or by individual destinations
– exports a report with all the receipts attached.. i use it for my claims
– also has travel checklist & reminders.. you can actually customise your own checklist and use it for all your trips
– synchronises via iCloud between iPhone and iPad, however you need to backup on one device and restore on the other..

check it out here
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/bon-voyage-lite/id590417393?mt=8

free limited version is also available here, give it a go
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/bon-voyage-lite/id590417393?mt=8

for me it works fine and is quite simple to use..

[IanFromHKG]

Thank you very much for the input, sthomas7. It sounds as though Bon Voyage is more focused on expenses, whereas my priority is more on planning, so I don’t think it will work for me. Thanks for the information, though, it may help other readers!

I thought it might also be helpful for other readers to let them know of my experiences. I opted for TravelTrackerPro in the end as my travel tool. Incidentally, I gave up on the idea of storing passwords and so on in that program (the way I did with the iambic Triptracker I used before) and after much research I opted for 1Password to store that information.

Generally, TripTracker Pro works quite well. I had a number of issues with the way it worked which I reported to the company, and always received a prompt reply from the developer (it wasn’t always the answer I wanted, but at least I received prompt personal attention!).

Good points:
It is intuitive and easy to use
It sucks down flight information from the internet, so all you need to do is enter the airline (and it has a “frequent choices” memory which speeds this up), flight number and date and all the rest of the information is downloaded automatically
It synchronises well with TripIt, so if you forward itineraries etc by e-mail to TripIt you can then download those changes into the program; and similarly you can change details on your device and upload changes to TripIt
The TripIt web interface was quite familiar to me as it is similar to that used by WorldMate (which I also used to use) but much quicker, so working in a desktop environment – at least for flights and hotels – was quite easy
When hotel information was loaded, it automatically loads maps and directions from the airport, which I thought was a really useful feature
The program works well on both iPhone and iPad environments

Now, the not-so-good:
Synchronisation between devices is clunky. You can’t synchronise directly, so this involves uploading changes to TripIt on one device and downloading them from TripIt on another. This works fine for functionality that TripIt supports, but not for anything else, so you can’t get all information to synchronise. This is particularly a problem if the itinerary involves someone else – I still haven’t worked out how to get that to work properly, and I do like to use this feature to check on flights by family members and get flight alerts
There is no option for wired synchronisation either
Although it supports expenses quite well, it keeps reverting to default currency – this means, for example, that while in India I am constantly changing the expense currency to INR from the default – rather irritating
Exporting expense files requires a WiFi network – which means I can’t do it at work, I have to do it at home, and then transfer the file back to my work computer. Why this is necessary when I enter the expenses on my phone, which is 4G and for which I have an unlimited data plan, I don’t know – but it is a pain

No doubt I will think of more things as time goes on!

[Swissdiver]

Ian,
As a TravelTracker Pro user from some time now I share your analysis. An iCloud sync would be great! Just one thing regarding the expenses. For each trip, you can change the default currency. From the trip’s main screen, select “Details” at the bottom and here you are :-). Now of course on a multi countries trip, the issue remains… I tend to select the currency of expenses reporting since it will ease then my invoicing.
Also what I usually do is sending to TripIt the booking confirmations (<a href="mailto:[email protected]“>[email protected]) and then download from TripIt. Faster 🙂
FInally something you didn’t mention and that is for me paramount: flight delays are announced!

[IanFromHKG]

Thanks, SwissDiver, especially for the tip about default currencies!

I use the TripIt mail-in functionality as well (see my third comment under “Good Points”) and it works very well

And yes, I should have mentioned the status update functionality as being one of the good points!

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