Part of a recurring blog style, I want to share my favourites of the moment with you! As I spend more time on the road, I start to pick up on things that make life easier for those of us who live Hotel to Hotel, and spend more time on an airplane or in a car than in your actual house.
1.
Sirius XM radio: My car came with sirius radio, and I can't imagine traveling without it! No more scanning for stations when I move out of a radio tower area, I can save my favourite stations and listen to them no matter where I am. Only downside: my car's sirius xm expired after 6 months, and the $12/mo is a steep price for someone who only listens to 12 stations.
2.
Renting audio-books from the Cracker Barrel: For those of you who don't have sirius radio, or would rather catch up on your reading list but can't because you're, i don't know, behind the wheel of a car 14+ hours a week (c'mon, raise your hands!), Cracker Barrel has a great solution for you. They allow you to rent audio-books for $3.49 a week, and return/exchange them at any cracker barrel. Their program works by you paying the initial cost for an audiobook (usually ~$45), then after you bring it back to trade out, you're refunded the full amount minus $3.49. You're then lent another one for $3.49 a week. I have gotten in the habit of saving all of my discs to my itunes so that I can listen to them on the ipod instead of having to switch out CDs, but it helps the time go by fast. With great selections like John Grisham and Lee Childs, I'm pretty happy with this program so far.
3.
WWW.Manilla.com: Since I am a road warrior, I am not home all that often to check my bills, and I frequently will leave them at home forgetting that they are due the week of. Now you may say "well emily, why not just use automatic billpay?" and my response would be I don't know how. I can not figure out for the life of me how to set up my bills on my banks website. In comes manilla.com. I use it to manage my hotel & air mile rewards accounts, credit card bills, checking account, magazine subscription, and internet bills. I check one website, it tells me whats due, how much, and when (yay!!! easy organization!). Only thing I could wish for more was the option to access it from my Blackberry & upload my giftcards to keep track of balances (hint hint).
4.
Exxon Speedpass: this handy little gizmo hooks onto my keychain, and makes filling up at the station so quick. I scan it at the pump, and it has my credit card information and preferences stored. This saves me time by not having to dig out my credit card, confirm its a credit card, type in my zip code, say 'yes i want a receipt', and eliminates the worry about losing my receipt because it saves all of my transactions on their website. Me being the misplacing person I am (seriously, ask my boyfriend. In my personal life, I can't find a darn thing), this is quite helpful!
If you have anything that you find helpful when you're out on the road, feel free to let me know! I am always open to new ideas to making life easier.
