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New tech-dimensions to travel

"Will you get that thing out of your ear?"

I'm sitting in a cafe in Lisbon, listening to my iPod, and my husband is not pleased. I'm on my honeymoon, after all, and it's a little early in the game for me to ignore him. But I have good reason to keep that thing stuck in my ear: It's instructing me how to ask for a bottle of red wine in Portuguese.

Welcome to the world of tech-enhanced travel. Thanks to a growing array of products for mobile devices like iPods, PDAs and cell phones, it's possible to defy the laws of physics and fit an entire city in your pocket. Whether you're traveling for work or play, mobile gadgets can help you speak better (if you're in a foreign country), eat better (by picking stellar restaurants in unfamiliar cities) and tour better (without being tethered to a guide or tour group)."

Yes, the days of just going off to Europe armed with the book 'Europe on $X a Day" are well and truly of a bygone era. The advent of technology has changed things - ipods, internet cafes, etc. etc. Read this interesting article from the Travel section of the LA Times here.

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