Two years following its debut and 10,000 skills after, Amazon’s voice-powered virtual assistant, Alexa has truly proven her worth and has become a must-have in every household.
Alexa is the brain of Amazon’s smart speakers – the Echo, Dot, Tap and Show. It’s also available in other Amazon devices like Fire TV and a number of products made by other tech companies.
In this blog, I’ve talked about Alexa-enabled devices many times already, and how these skills can help users in many ways – from holiday preparations, health management, smart home control and how it can help save lives.
Today, let’s talk about how you can use Alexa for your future travels.
1. Planning your trip.
Alexa works with Kayak and Expedia, which is great if you are already frequent users of these travel sites. With a few voice commands, you can check flights and prices, select seats, book hotels, reserve a rental car and even explore potential destinations based on your budget. Just say, “Alexa, ask KAYAK where I can go in September for $500.”
2. Checking the weather.
Alexa can give you a detailed, extended weather forecast which is very helpful when packing for clothes and planning your itinerary for each day.
3. Checking Airport Security lines.
Check security wait times in any airport in the country with the help of the Air Time skill. This is very convenient when determining what time you should leave and be at the airport. All you need to do is search by airport code, city or state through voice.
4. Searching train schedules.
If you are traveling through train or subway, Alexa can help you search for the next train or find out the train schedule for a specific day or destination. This way, it’s easier for you to plan rides ahead of time for a smoother and more cost-effective trip.
5. Book an Uber or Lyft ride.
Get a reliable ride without lifting a finger, just say “Alexa, ask Uber for a ride” or “Alexa, tell Lyft to rate my driver five stars.”
6. Finding things to do.
Alexa can help you look for restaurants, outdoor activities, upcoming sports events and other fun and interesting things to do wherever you plan to go. When planning your itinerary, you can ask Alexa to pull up a city guide for you to find out the top things to do in the city you are traveling to.
7. Getting translations.
Lastly, seek the help of the Alexa when traveling to a foreign country. With the help of certain third-party apps like My Linguist, (edit 4May2019, no longer available) you can get instant voice translation as well as language cards that will show up on your smartphone app. Just say, “Alexa, ask My Linguist to translate <your word or your sentence here> in <your requested language>.”
