What do we really want on a trip to the cities of the world?

The trip started with a newsletter from seatwave.com, which brought my attention to a show by Ricky Gervais at the Wembley Arena. I purchased tickets online and also managed to buy tickets online for the Arsenal - Manchester City game that same weekend. These last tickets were from a reliable looking website with a rather dodgy paying procedure. Our suspicions appeared founded. We ended up with two ‘borrowed’ Arsenal seasons-tickets for seats that where not even close to each other. Once inside the stadium, we bluffed. We sat down on the first empty chairs available so we had great seats instead.

We also asked friends for tips and did some online searching for more serious guide lines, like places to eat and sleep. That's how i stumbled upon inamo, an oriental fusion restaurant and bar with an interactive ordering system. You can place orders from an illustrated food and drinks menu projected on to the table surface, and even set the mood with this.

With all these different communication and information channels and additional up to snuff gear I began to wander: 'What do we really need or actually want on a short trip to the cities of the world?’

The iPad can easily replace the function of a laptop, when taking a city trip. It's lighter, easier and much more useful. You can read books, play games, watch movie's, have access to the web and even get some work done if you want. But the iPad, on the other hand, won't replace my iPhone. It's just not that comfortable – and too expensive – to carry around as a tourist. My iPhone is perfect for easy traveling.

For on demand information, we downloaded a few traveling apps; The Lonely Planet, Wallpaper City Guide and the Time Out London. Especially this last one appeared to be very useful.

The Lonely Planet gives you all the basic plus additional background information of the city. It has something for absolutely everybody. Therefore too much text and  too limited functionality for me. The Wallpaper City Guide is a whole different league. Do not expect to find your regular tourist information. It offers a small selection of the ultimate places to enjoy art, architecture and to sleep, eat, drink, shop, exercise and relax. But my absolute favorite was the Time Out London, even with the Smirnoff sponsoring. Best thing is, it quickly shows you what is happening ‘now’ and where you need to be. The search tool works perfect. There are top 10 Hot Picks in different categories: covering arts, entertainment, restaurants, cafe's, gigs, bars, pubs and clubs. That's exactly what I was looking for in the 'Capital of Cool'. Thanks to Time Out we ended up on a UK Designers Sale on Brick Lane near Shoreditch, where, as it happened, a lot more was going on. It is a melting pot of people, nice food, vintage markets and even a free concert from a popular punk band, judging from the crowd and the sizeable queue at the entrance.

Traveling apps are iPhone / iPod Touch size. They are compatible with your iPad and even resizable, but it feels like reading a book with a magnifying glass. It works, but not really, yet. So on an iPad you may just as well use the web when it comes to traveling information. You can define your own proportions and turn the device anyway you like.

The overall problem with these devices are the high charges for roaming data and Wi-Fi is not always available. The data is often slow and the battery eventually runs out. A dead phone always comes at a bad time.

You would say with all this fancy stuff, what could you possibly need? A map. We bought a handy pocket size folded map. Printed guides have a few indispensable values of their own. It's mobile, cheap, light weight and it can not break nor run out of battery life.

There remains one more very essential thing to most travelers; the weather forecast. Unfortunately, no matter what you check, it is just too hard to really predict. Hope for the best and be prepared for the worst and ask the locals, they always know best.

I really liked to use the best of most worlds. Use the internet or apps for the fast and most up to date information, making reservations or buying tickets and off course, the instant trouble shooting, like when getting lost. Tips from insiders are invaluable and printed matter such as maps are much more useful when navigating and choosing (public) transport. I would love to have a proper travel app for city information on the iPad, until then I think I will stick to the small books, and make dog ears all I want.