On Monday, May 28th, the United States will celebrate Memorial Day, a day of remembrance to honor those who have died while serving the United States in war.
Memorial Day weekend is also the unofficial start of summer vacation season for Americans. Millions will travel to a vacation spot while others will host a backyard barbecue for family and friends.
However you plan to celebrate this weekend, your Lumia smartphone is the ultimate companion to have by your side.
For the entertainer and backyard chef
For those entertaining at home, there are a few apps and services you shouldn’t even consider hosting an event without. First, to help plan out your backyard cookout, consider these apps:
Epicurious is a not only a recipe finding application, its a social network based around food. You can see recipes by cuisine, main dish and many other categories. In addition to user generated recipes, there are amazing dishes from Bon Appetit, Gourmet and SELF magazine. You’ll also enjoy Epicurious’ shopping list feature, which lets you build your list according to the recipes you select.
Bartender helps anyone become an amateur mixologist. Bartender will help you find a cocktail based on your current mood in taste or cocktail type. Do you only have a limited set of ingredients in your cabinet? Bartender will also let you find mixes based on what you have at hand. Lastly – frequent users of this app will appreciate that you can save favorite drink recipes for easy access later.
More of a wine person than mixed drinks? Food and Wine Pairing will help you customize your wine offering based on the exact food items you wish to serve. Wine is a complex beverage and the getting the proper pairing right is key to any host or hostess who wants to pull off a party. Take the guess work out of pairing and load this app.
Don’t feel like cooking and want to just enjoy your company rather than slave away in the kitchen? Give Pizza Hut a try. The Pizza Hut app will let you order pizza, pasta, wings and other items directly from your phone. Specials and most popular items are available readily available in case you want to get a pizza for your guests to enjoy. You’ll enjoy the ability to pay for your order via credit card, right within the application.
For the road warrior
Heading out of town and not sure where to stay? Having a bad hotel experience can ruin a weekend roadtrip. Instead, rely upon the fantastic reviews available to you in the TripAdvisor application. TripAdvisor is handy for hotel recommendations in addition to amusement parks, experiences and restaurants.
For those going to Orlando to tour Disney’s series of theme parks, Disney World Hours gives you the daily operating hours for Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach and Downtown Disney. Also, once you get into the park, it’s hard to keep track of events, parades and special parties going on inside each park. Disney World Hours kelps you track those as well for up to 6 months into the future.
With millions of Americans hitting the road for the weekend, traffic is inevitable in all corners of the States. INRIX Traffic is an amazing traffic map application that shows traffic on your route. I discovered this application through Mike Macias’ homescreen post from a few weeks ago and use the app daily since then.
If you’re heading out into the great outdoors, then you will likely be looking skyward at night too. Load up SkyMap before you head out so you can know which celestial bodies you’re observing at any point. With SkyMap, you can point your phone at the sky and see which stars, constellations or planets you’re currently looking at.
Think of SkyMaps as GPS for the night sky.
Photo credit: mark sebastian and woodleywonderworks
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