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Leave dead batteries (and tangled cords) behind with these streamlined, portable power sources. 1 More Outlets, Less Mess No more forgetting your phone by that awkward plug under the hotel bed. The new AViiQ Portable Charging Station corrals all your devices inside a tidy nylon organizer and can charge three USB-equipped gadgets from a single wall socket. When it’s time to pack up, it zips into a slim 1.25" x 5" x 10.25" folder. aviiq.com, $80. 2 Power Now and Later Electronics tend to conk out at the most inconvenient times (during a hot-air balloon ride, say, or mid camel trek). That’s no problem for the pocket-size iGo Charge Anywhere. Just juice up before you leave the hotel room, then use it to boost your phone, camera, or MP3 player’s battery on the go—its replaceable tips fit dozens of devices. igo.com, $40 with one tip, extra tips from $8. 3 Let the Sun In It takes 13 hours for Samsonite’s Window Solar Charger to absorb enough rays for a full recharge, but you can start the process on the plane and finish up on the beach (or in a cafe or rental car). The 4" x 4" x .5" panel, from the luggage brand’s new travel technology line, fits most any mobile phone and has a built-in backup plan for cloudy days: a USB port for speedy, electricity-assisted charging. samsonite.com, $50, available in mid-October. 4 Extend Your Talk Time On the road, you’re more likely to use GPS-based features that strain a phone’s battery. Instead of trolling around for an outlet at every turn, outfit your handset with the PhoneSuit Elite Battery Case for iPhone 4. The compact case, with its built-in battery, can provide up to two more days of power or fully revive a dead battery in two hours—without adding bulk. phonesuit.com, $80. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Top 10 Hottest New Travel Gadgets Travelers Reveal What's in Their Bags Greyhound's New Low-Cost Buses, with Wi-Fi

Anyone can quickly book a cheap flight between U.S. cities. But when your travel plans are complicated, sometimes it helps to hand over research duties to an expert—for a fee. Here's a cheat sheet to a few travel services with great track records at helping travelers. Fortnighter, tailored itinerary-planning Let's say you want to know the basics about a destination you're visiting, but the information in guidebooks about the latest restaurants and shops may be out of date, and you don't have time to do much online research. Enter Fortnighter, which charges about $100 to $200, depending on the length and complexity of your trip, to provide a detailed cheat sheet planning your itinerary. The site posts a sample itinerary. These typically three or four page documents are written by a noted travel writer who has fresh, on-the-ground intelligence. Jetsetter's personalized itinerary-planning service Honeymoons are one example of a type of trip where you want everything to go perfectly, because, if a trip goes bad, people can start pointing fingers at each other. Why not shove off the planning responsibility into the hands of an expert. That's goal of the flash-sale site Jetsetter, which launched an itinerary-planning service this summer that's similar to what Fortnighter offers. Its contributors have written for major travel magazines and guidebooks and they usually live in the locations they're writing about, so they have up-to-date information. If Jetsetter were a coffee chain, it would be Starbucks, compared to Fortnighter, which would be like the independent Chicago coffee chain Intelligentsia. As with coffee, relying on a big corporate service has advantages and disadvantages. Cranky Concierge air travel planning assistance This digitally savvy update of the old-fashioned travel agency offers a team of concierges, who help you pick optimal flights and take action to re-route you in the event of an emergency cancels your flight (hurricane, etc.) They'll book your tickets, too, but it's not necessary—unlike traditional travel agents, they're not incentivized via commissions to steer you to a particular airline against your best interests. Cranky Concierge coverage varies in price by how many people are traveling and the complexity of the itinerary. For example, a family of four can pay $60 for round-trip for coverage that includes: finding child and infant fares if available; picking the best available seats (given your family's size and the ages of your kids); fielding your questions about airline rules for strollers, car seats, and breast milk; re-book your family in the event of a flight cancellation; and follow up with airlines in any dispute resolution, should something go amiss during your flights. Mygola for specific trip-planning questions Ask an expert to do online research for you to answer your specific travel question, and pay a tip. To ask more than one question for a trip, pay $30. Or buy a year's worth of access to asking questions for $90. Pluses: No forms to fill out, no sales pitches to wade through. The experts appear to be especially strong on recommending flights, hotels, and sightseeing jaunts in India and Asia. Note of caution: The theory is that you get what you pay for, with better answers when you pay, but how will you know if the answer is accurate unless you have something to compare it to? If time allows, ask your question in an online forum for free, first, on a site like Reddit, Lonely Planet's ThornTree, or MetaFilter. SEE MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Beware of fake "direct" flights One-tank escapes for seven cities Poll: Are quick trips abroad worth the travel time?

Google launched its Google Travel product, Flight Search, this afternoon. You can now search for flight schedules and fares by typing in a request in the main Google box or by going to google.com/flights. (The news was first reported by Search Engine Watch.) At first glance, Kayak, Bing, and other metasearch sites are still far more helpful than Google, in my opinion. For now, Google only displays flight results for major U.S. cities and only for round-trip economy-class flights. In the main Google search box, you could enter "flights to CHI" (without the quotation marks). Google would figure out your hometown, based on where you're searching from, and list flights from your nearest major airport to Chicago. You could also search on "flights from san francisco to minneapolis." If you did that, a new "Flights" filter would appear in the left-hand column, next to things like "Video" and "News." (See image at the top of this post for an example.) If you clicked on "Flights" you would get to see a map of the US and a few simple drop-down choices to narrow down your search. Do you want nonstop flights? A specific time for your outbound flight? Once you find a fare you like, Google will shoot you over to the airline's site, for booking. Google has only begun to display fares, of course. If the past is any guide, the search giant will probably become more competitive and innovative in displaying fares as the months go on. Google is using ITA Software—a company it bought (as we reported in April)—to power its flight search. Budget Travel's editor in chief Nina Willdorf has previously praised ITA Software as "the best flight search tool you've never heard of," so all Budget Travel editors are optimistic about what Google might do next with this powerful software. Google hopes that flight search boosts its popularity with people who use the Internet to look up information. While nearly two out of three searches are still done on the famous site, the percentage of searches done on Google has been declining for a couple of years as rivals, like Facebook, gain popularity, new data shows. VERY MUCH RELATED INFORMATION FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: The best flight search tool you've never heard of 10 most useful travel websites of 2011 Sign-up bonuses juice up dining miles cards

To whet your appetite for earning miles (without flying!), several major airlines are offering sign-up bonuses this fall for their mileage dining programs. Your favorite restaurant might offer from 1 to 10 miles for every dollar you spend. But are those miles enough to justify the logistical hassle of signing up and dining at designated restaurants? The value of these programs depends on 1) taking advantage of some of the current sign-up bonuses; 2) having at least one participating restaurant near where you live and that you might dine at every other month; and 3) using the mile activity as a way to keep your frequent flier accounts active. One of the biggest things to change in the past year for these programs has been the development of smartphone apps. Now, instead of having to bring along a clunky, quickly outdated paper directory of participating restaurants, you can get a real-time list of what spots will earn you miles. Another change in recent years has been consolidation in the industry, with only one company Rewards Network, running all of the major programs. This change has allowed programs to become simplified and standardized. If a restaurant participates in the program for United, it probably also does for Delta, too, and you can use the same downloadable app for your smart phone to figure it out. If you have more than one dining card, you can double up on your rewards. Here's the lowdown on how these programs work: It's free to sign up for a dining card that gives airline credit every time you use it. Rewards Network, for instance, will (typically) give you three United miles for every mile you spend at a restaurant. At a value of about a penny a mile, that credit amounts to a 5 percent rebate on a family of four's typical restaurant check. Compared with some charge-cards, that's a decent mileage payoff. No wonder more than 3 million travelers are enrolled in these programs. All the dining programs work in a similar way. You sign up online for free at the sites (see the list, below), punching in your frequent flier number and registering a debit or credit card (American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa.) Use the card to pay your bill (including food, beverage, tax and tip) at a participating restaurant, and then miles will be automatically credited to your frequent flier account. No need to tell the waiter. As I mentioned, sign-up bonuses can juice up your earnings. To use United as an example again because it's so large, its dining program currently offers 1,000 mile bonus for signing up and spending at least $50 at a participating restaurant by the end of the year. These are the sweetest bonuses being offered now: Alaska Airlines Bonus: Earn an additional 500 miles if you spend $25 at a participating restaurant within a month of signing up. Delta Bonus: Earn 1,000 miles if you spend $25 at a participating restaurants within a month of signing up. Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining Bonus: Spend $25 at participating restaurants within two months of signing up and you'll receive 300 points United Bonus: Earn 1,000 miles extra for signing up and spending at least $50 at a participating restaurant by the end of the year. US Airways Bonus: Earn 1,000 points if you spend $25 or more on two different occasions between now and the end of the year at participating restaurants. Another perk of dining cards: It's a no-sweat way to keep your frequent flier mileage accounts active and prevent the qualifying miles you earn by actually flying from expiring after the typical 18-month span. (Miles will usually be deleted if an account is stagnant for 18 months.) The first step in deciding if the programs are worth it to you is to see if local restaurants that you love participate. It's understandable to be suspicious that restaurants must be bad to have to throw 5 miles per dollar at you to eat at them. But because of the recession many eateries are becoming more competitive. You can always ask a waiter, of course, to see if the restaurant participates. Or you can download a free app to find participating restaurants. The largest dining club program, Rewards Network is a good example to use, as the major airlines United/Continental, American, Delta, Southwest, and US Airways all belong. Find a participating restaurant by downloading one of these free apps, Blackberry, iPhone/iPad, Android There are some annoying downsides to the programs, though: One is that you can often only earn credit once per month (or a similar limit) at any one restaurant. The other is that, if you're not careful in the e-mail preferences you fill out, you could be blitzed with messages from participating restaurants. If you block the e-mails, however, you could get only one mile per $1 spent—or worse, maybe even nothing, as my colleague Brad Tuttle reported a while ago. The things a budget-conscious traveler has to put up with these days! Have these dining cards worked for you? Share your thoughts in the comments! MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL: Southwest Waters Down Its Rapid Rewards Program Ads on Boarding Passes: Are Airlines Sharing Your Info? How Do You Use a Cell Phone Boarding Pass at the Metal Detector?