Best Travel Apps: Gear Your Mobile up for a Trip
Most of us cannot imagine life and especially traveling without our mobile devices at hand. So let’s have a look what applications are really worth your battery time on the road!
TripCase timeline view
Don’t forget anything!
Planning a trip can be very memory-consuming. You have to remember your flights, buses, hotels… Sometimes you wish you had a personal assistant to keep track of all this for you. Well, aggregator apps, such as TripIt or TripCase come as close as possible! Apart from manually adding your reservations, you can just forward your confirmation emails to their service email address, and they will extract all the necessary information for you! As for the boarding passes, train tickets and other stuff with scan codes, it’s very convenient to keep them all in PassWallet.
You can relieve yourself from the packing stress by using PackPoint app, which will generate customised packing lists depending on your destination, trip purpose, and even the weather!
If you like to keep track of the money you spend on the road, install Expensify, and you’ll never again be surprised by your bank account statement after a trip. And there’s nothing better than Splitwise if you travel with friends and pay in turns. It’s never been easier to figure out who the next coffee will be on!
CityMapper suggested travel options
Find your way around!
OK, so you probably already have Google maps app installed and know that it can be really helpful, especially in an unknown city! However, Google doesn’t always know the best route (shock!) so it’s always better to look for apps that specialize in mapping a certain location. I personally adore CityMapper. It works in about 30 most touristic cities in the world and the smartness of the app is stunning! It has Uber integration, tells you which metro exit you should take and can even plan you route in a rain safe manner!
For activities in the nature, you’ll need maps that show you all the touristic paths with available facilities, heights, and landmarks. Even better if the maps can be available offline. Good news – AlpineQuest does all that and more! Other great offline maps are maps.me and OsmAnd.
MarineTraffic and Flightradar24 are not only helpful if you need to find any ship or aircraft in the world, but it’s also very meditative to watch. Ever wondered what is that beautiful thing sailing/flying past you? Now you know!
For car fans, there’s nothing better than Waze – a community-based traffic map that gives you an overview of the latest situation on the roads. Also helpful for finding the closest parking or gas station.
WiFi Finder shows the closest free connection spots!
Local information
Tipping is tricky and confusing. In some countries, you’re expected to give at least 15%, in others anything more than the number in the bill would be considered an offense. Don’t forget to check what the rules are in the country you’re visiting and use Tipulator to easily calculate how much the ideal tip would be!
Although nobody wants to think of the possible emergencies on the road, it’s best to be prepared! TravelSafe provides you with local emergency phone numbers, embassy addresses and more!
I don’t think I even need to describe what WiFi Finder does :) Essential if you want to cut down those crazy roaming Internet fees!
MSW tells you if you should take your surfing board with you!
Nothing is as unpredictable as the weather! And while you can successfully ignore it or at least survive any of its surprises in the cities, outdoor activities are much more sensitive to it. Install OnTheSnow Ski & Snow Report for a winter skiing trip and MSW Surf Forecast if you don’t want to miss the perfect wave!
You’ve probably already tried it, but we can’t fail to mention the awesome Google Translate app and especially its instant camera translation tool! Just point your camera at a weird hieroglyphic thing you want to understand, and words in your language of choice will appear magically on the screen!
XE Currency has all the most recent exchange rates for all the currencies in the world and is great in helping you understand whether 1 million rupiah is a lot or not.
Entrain makes sure you’re fresh as a cucumber even after a long flight!
Random awesome apps
Entrain will help you survive those long 20-something hours long flights and adjust to the new timezone. Just follow the suggested timetable and don’t forget your sleeping mask for those required dark hours!
RAYMIO guards you against sunburns
If you burn easily or travel to places where sun activity is very high, check out RAYMIO, which shows UV levels in your location and suggests what SPF level to use and when to hide in the shadow!
Making more sense of the beautiful mountainous view around is easy with PeakFinder. Just point your camera at the mountain chain and the app will tell you the names of the peaks you see! The same is possible for stars: with Sky Map you can impress everybody with your knowledge of the night sky!
And finally – don’t forget about the nearest and dearest that you’ve left at home! Touchnote lets you make postcards from your camera photos and send them to a chosen address for a small fee. No more looking for a post office in a strange city!
Have a fun and safe trip!
(c) Kate
