How Steve Jobs Changed the Way We Travel

Boston Globe: I sighed the same collective sigh everyone took last night around 7 p.m. when news broke that Apple founder, genius, and make-life-easier entrepreneur Steve Jobs is resigning as Apple CEO. Where would we be without the products Jobs helped discover and design?

His resignation letter was simple:

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,’’ Jobs wrote in his resignation letter. “Unfortunately, that day has come.’

Jobs has been sick for some time, and in the midst of the thoughts and prayers I silently sent his way, I also thought about how dramatically different our world would be without Steve Jobs. He changed the way we listen to music, watch videos, read books and magazines, take photographs, and organize expenses. Quite simply: Steve Jobs managed to change the way we live, including how we travel.

I stopped and looked around my office -- a MacBook Pro on my desk, MacBook Air in the side drawer for traveling, iPhone and iPad. I hereby proclaim I am an Apple geek, and it's all Jobs' fault - he made it so easy. Everything talks to one another, everything syncs with one another.Travel was made easier with the touch of a button. My job, and the leisure lives of others, are drastically different thanks to the Apple inventions.

Thanks to Steve Jobs, you can find hotel rooms on your iPhone, book flights from your iPad, run presentations from your computer in Boston when you're in a boardroom in Hong Kong, and arrange for a cab pick-up from 35,000 feet up in the air. You can Facetime with friends from atop a camel in Morocco, check-in with family from a cruise ship in Alaska, and work remotely with the boss from your lounge chair on the beach. Steve Jobs found a way to make life easier, while keeping travel enjoyable.

On any given trip, I've got my iPhone in hand to remind me what time zone I'm in and what time it is back home. My alarms automatically reset so I can keep up with deadlines and still make meetings. I can access every story pitch, expense report, and travel itinerary from one device. I can make new plans on a moment's notice and switch hotels within 30 minutes of check-in. There's nothing a travel app can't do for you, thanks to one man's vision to keep people moving around the world.

Thank you, Steve Jobs, for the inspiration. I hope you take a nice, long vacation.