BlogTouch Pro

As a cruise blogger, I enjoy sharing our adventures as well as pictures.  Many know it takes time to sort through the many pictures I have taken and then to spend time writing about our travels.  It used to be on most sea days, I could easily spend an hour or two "blogging" and burn through our Internet minutes on the ship.  

Over the years, I have tried to streamline that process through gadgets (laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc) and various software apps.  Overtime, the process gets shortened and well I have more time to enjoy our adventures.  The only thing that remains constant has been the ship's Internet speed.  It's just downright slow.  

When I find a decent software application or product I tend to try out all of it's features.  When it exceeds my expectations I can't help but share my experiences.  This post is dedicated to this wonderful application and I will include some screenshots.

This screen shows a new post where you can add a title and labels.  You tap into the body of the post to start typing.  You can see menu bar is quite extensive and you can basically be very creative with your blog posts.  Here I am demonstrating a format option where I can type on the right side of my picture.  

The following screen shots show what each of the icons can do:

 

 

When you have several blog entries posted, you can easily change the listing.  This custom listing is only used with this app.  It's an easier way to review previous posts or select certain ones (by label, date created, date modified, etc) I might want to look at.  This will sure help me when I need to go back to a specific date or port and do updates to the post or add missing pictures.  

Here's what my cruising blog looks like.  On the left side is my past posts/entries.  On the right side is the post I've selected:

 

 

While I have a blog entry shown, I can do several things to this post.  In this screen shot you can see the menu selections I have available.  One of the most helpful feature is to "View Post".  This will open a window that will show me what my current post looks like at my site.    This is helpful to show if my pictures are too large or the text is not correct.

Depending on what screen I'm in (publish, draft, offline) the menu will give me different selections.  

 

Cruising Thoughts

It looks like my BlogTouch Pro app is working out great and so I will continue to use this process to update my blog.  

Yes, we will be cruising again real soon.  We are going back to my second favorite cruise ship the Caribbean Princess.  This year we are handling things differently.  For the first time, we are not using a travel agent and I've been handling all the cruise arrangements.  Also a first, we will not use the Princess transfers nor the contracted hotels they use.  I have to say there's a bit of freedom I'm feeling and I actually like it!

By not using a travel agent I have access to more information than I did before.  Yes, I had an enlightening moment.  The only time I called Princess was to check if our cabin rate changed and also to fix an FCC issue.   Other than that I do like having some control over our travel arrangements.  While online, I've ordered 24 bottles of water to be in our cabin when we arrive, put in our flight information, and selected one Princess excursion.  

I've been collecting warm weather clothes and setting them aside.  Travel gadgets are also being collected.  Travel documents have been printed as well as the luggage tags.  We can not wait to go cruising again, but first we have to get through the upcoming holidays.  

Of course, we are heading back to the Caribbean again.  Looking forward to another year of beach time, snorkeling, and many photog moments.

Test Post Using New Blog App and Gadget

This is a test post using a new blogging iOS app called BlogTouch Pro.  My Blogger app that I've used for the last two cruises is no more.  Nada.   It's a good thing I tried to use Blogger  now versus later while on the upcoming cruise.  A fellow cruiser is using this BlogTouch Pro app while she and her hubby are cruising on the Pacific Princess in the Mediterranean.  Looks like it has been working well for her.  Glad she posted the tools she was using.  :)

To make my blog posts go smoothly while using my iPad Air, I've found a cool typing case by NewTrent.  So far, it's comfortable to type on and the case itself is not bulky.  There are many things I like about this case.  My iPad snaps into the top part of the case.  The top part can also swivel from side to side.  When the case is closed, my iPad turns off.  I can also release my iPad from the keyboard.  Yes, I've done my research and quite happy with this new gadget.  

I hope to edit this post by adding a picture.  A good way to test out this new iOS app.  I can also change font types and font size.  Looks like I can also change the color of the text.  I can even highlight the text.   I can also do the usual bold, italic, underline, and strike through.  So I will be back to update this post and to start blogging about our upcoming cruise.  Stay tuned!

Update:  Here's a picture of my new gadget the NewTrent keyboard case for my iPad Air

 

When I first brought this picture into the post, it was huge!  As in off-the-page huge.  I figured out how to resize the picture.  Tap the picture and "handles" will appear around the picture.  Grab one of the corners and resize picture.  Cool!   I can also tap the center dot (when the handles appear) and edit the picture properties (center, change picture pixel size, align picture with text).  This way too much fun!  I think this new BlogTouch Pro is working out fine for me.