As glamorous travel is, if we are honest with ourselves travel is stressful. From planning, to just getting around in a new place a vacation can quickly turn into a hustle. I believe travel should be made as simple as possible. From road trips to going abroad these are the apps I trust to take some of the guesswork out of my adventure.
Getting There
TripIt TripIt is a very popular app that organizes your trip by allowing you to forward your emailed plane itineraries, car reservations and hotel booking and it automatically chronologically organizes it.
App in the Air App in the air is very similar to trip it and actually can sync information from it, but I prefer its interface. It provides great user added tips for airports and alerts you of time estimations for check-in, security, passport lines. Also it send reminders about boarding, take off and landing and best of all it works offline while taking you in flight. I find this particularly helpful when crossing many timezones or meeting people on other flights.
Passbook I underrated passbook for far too long. Passbook can organize your flight tickets, accommodations and passes to other attractions in one place, only thing is that it is only available on Apple iOS products I believe.
Airbnb The airbnb app has a great interface and is the number one way to keep your airbnb bookings organized plus communicate with your hosts and leave your reviews after your stay.
Getting Around
Google Maps Google maps is probably my number 1 app to have. In some locations you can get your location whether you have data on or not. I also like to create a map for each destination and save locations of all the places I am interested in seeing so if I happen to be in the area I can just pop over and be more spontaneous with my sightseeing.
Google Translate Google translate has come a long way since my college level french class. While it may have failed me back then, it is now equipped to read a menu or sign using your camera and translate on screen for you!
Speak & Translate This is a new discovery I made recently and although there is a free option with a limited number of daily translations, I purchased the full version. This app is great if you are in a serious translation pinch, it supports almost all languages you’ll run into and listens then speaks the translation for you.
Official Metro Maps When looking for a good metro map, find one that works offline or I like to screenshot the map lines I plan on using for the day.
Rail Planner Rail planner and other transportation itinerary apps have saved my skin, especially when traveling around places where english (my native language) isn’t spoken readily and trains are inconsistent (I’m talking to you Italy).
Uber In case of emergency I like to have uber installed. You can find uber in many countries and is great if you are in a pinch and can’t find or don’t trust local taxis
Seeing Stuff
Trip Advisor I love trip advisor and their mobile app, although at times difficult to navigate, is still great to scout out user approved places at your destination.
Triposo This series of apps has location specific guides for places worldwide and although I haven’t used them on my trips first glance they look super useful and I plan to revisit on my next adventure.
Official City Guides Lots of big cities produce their own tourism apps and make them openly available. I relied on these in Barcelona, Rome, Athens and Cinque Terre and not only do they include information on attractions and history on the city, but often times offline maps, transportation information and booking tips.
Museum Guides Many national and popular museums have their own free apps to help you create your own self-guided tours.