Skype is a popular communications tool for many business travelers.  Skype for iPhone, which also works on the second generation iPod touch, adds Skype calling and instant messaging to both devices and is available from Apple’s App Store, free of charge.  I installed it on the iPod touch the first day it was available and, while there have been a few glitches, my experience has been pretty much stellar.  The application opens up myriad communications possibilities for the business traveler, including the ability to assign multiple “local” numbers to an …

16 days later, I’m back.  (See Part I as well.)   I found a few things rather useful for those traveling on business and wanted to share these with you.
Skype Pro
Skype Pro is a relatively new offering that costs only $3 per month but offers many features particularly useful to the road warrior.  Most notable is the international traveler calling plan.  Users pay no per minute charges for calls to landlines within the same country or region (a connection fee per call, $0.045, may apply).  Coverage includes 28 countries, all …

It’s been said that the telephone is one of the most important business tools ever invented.  Today, given the popularity of the mobile phone, that statement is more true than ever.
Why is it then that many business travelers fall off the communications grid when they travel internationally?
Perhaps the greatest reason is the fact that the United States has multiple mobile telephone standards (the two most popular are CDMA and GSM, but there are others as well).  The rest of the world, with the exception of Japan and some parts of …

FOR FORTY YEARS, AMERICAN BMW BUYERS HAVE BEEN TAKING THEIR BRAND-NEW CARS ON A FINE VACATION
Since the 1960s, several thousand Americans each year have taken a trip to Munich, Germany with one goal in mind.  Unlike the other American tourists, they are not there for the beer, the Schnitzel, the museums and art galleries, and the Gemütlichkeit alone.  The real reason for the trip: to pick up a new BMW at BMW’s factory delivery center.
For years, BMW has been among a handful of European automakers that offer Americans the option …

Friday, November 11, 2005, Munich Germany
Last week, we left off with success (insofar as Internet connectivity was concerned) in the Confetti Suite; this after two other suites had no connectivity.  Prior to my departure from the hotel (today’s plans called for a drive from Munich to Italy via Innsbruck across the Brennerpaß
as far as Sferzing, and looping back to Berchtesgaden), I passed by the front desk just in time to hear another guest complaining about problems with Net connectivity.  He was quite upset (apparently, his room had no connectivity) and …