Quick audio lessons for fast travels

Last minute flight to France? Jaunt to Rome? No worries if you haven't mastered the language, let alone the lingo -- or simply need some freshening up. New website mytravelbabble.com lets you download 30 minute lessons onto your iPod or laptop so that by the time your plane touches tarmack, you'll be supplied with all the helpful, handy phrases needed to survive away from home.

Choose from Spanish (as spoken in Mexico, Spain or Caribbean,) German, French, Italian or Russian lessons, each with enough local lingo to get you through about two weeks with basic communications. Each half hour lesson contains about 160 key words and phrases for easy learning and costs $15 to download in mp3 format. You can download to your computer and burn it on to your own CD for a car ride or load it onto that iPod for your next walk or jog around town. Either way, you'll be able to access the lessons whenever is most convenient for you - and you can play them over (and over and over) until you've mastered the basics!

(Note: Download files are stored in ZIP compressed format. You can use Windows XP or WinZip to uncompress your lesson, which will be stored in MP3 format.)

CD versions are also available online for $15, but charge an additional $5 for shipping and handling.

"I've always felt traveling is made easier and more enjoyable if, as a tourist, you at least have a working knowledge of the local language," says mytravelbabble.com developer Bob Brill. Browse his site and you'll also find feature travel tips from Bob's wife (and company co-founder) Claudia. Bob's Travel Blog, travel related stories and a few travel games for purchase can also be found on the website.

Check it out and glean Claudia's tips - like ripping pages of places you'll actually visit out of your travel guide to save space - for clever travel ideas.

(Souce: mytravelbabble.com)