Five phone apps to ease holiday travel

Greenwich Village cafe. Sue Frause photo.

Here are five phone apps to make holiday traveling a bit easier:

1. Fluent News. Although I’ll be home for the holidays and getting my news the old-fashioned way, if you’re flying from New York to LA, Fluent News is a cool option. Developed by Fluent Mobile, it’s delivered in one, intuitive and up to the minute mobile newspaper and works even when you’re not connected to the Internet. Selected as App of the Week by The New York Times and CNET News.

2. Google Earth. If you can’t wait to exchange your evergreen tree for a palm tree, check out your next tropical paradise from your phone. Google Earth allows you to see panoramic views of beaches and cities and browse millions of geo-located photos from around the world. Preview a destination prior to your arrival or start planning your next trip by checking out images of potential vacation destinations. Of if you’re homesick, just phone home.

3. Yelp. If you’re looking for a restaurant, bar, cafe or shop … Yelp to the rescue. It lets you narrow searches by neighborhood, distance, price and hours of operation. The app will also look up addresses and phone numbers for thousands of businesses – and then call or map them from your phone.

4. Urbanspoon. After you’ve Yelped, Urbanspoon can solve your taste-bud troubles. With a shake, the Urbanspoon slot machine selects a good restaurant, displaying its name, cuisine and price. The app uses GPS to find the nearest restaurants and allows you to filter by neighborhood, cuisine and price. Includes ratings and reviews from newspapers, bloggers and fellow diners. May be used for most North American cities along with London, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

5. Trapster. This is your personal police spotter when you’re behind the wheel, warning of speed traps, cameras and other roadway hazards. By detecting live police, red-light cameras or temporary laser traps, Trapster can help you safely navigate unfamiliar streets.