Whether you are an independent traveler or a nomad or thrill seeker, planning and enjoying your dream trip requires maintaining to-do lists with 100 little things. Some might think of a travel agent for necessary arrangement. But it’s 2018 and you have a Smartphone; so, certainly, you don’t need assistance for every little thing, nor do you have to rely on physical maps, guidebooks or compasses. Your trusty cell phone has become more useful than ever for travel. Luckily, thanks to the magic of technology, mobile travel apps provide an endless supply of helpful information even in unfamiliar surroundings to make your vacation a breeze.
Make the Most of Travel Apps
To make the travel experience better, let’s take a look at some of my favorite travel apps. Again, there are plenty of applications to choose from, but sorting the good ones can be tough. But installing the best apps will improve your travel experience for sure.
The selected apps are versatile, easy to use, have trusted bill paying systems and of course all of them are totally free. Moreover, I’ve tried to cover every aspect of a trip starting from deciding routes, activities you can enjoy and how to break local communication barriers.
Before you pack your clothes, camera, binoculars, and everything else you need, make sure you have installed one of these apps on your Android or Apple device.
HotelTonight
There are lots of apps which can do pretty common tasks — including booking hotels. But HotelTonight is something different. Two distinctive features make this app more resourceful than other similar apps. Number one: the list of hotels included is only with better reviews. Number two: this app is packed with information and can increase your bargaining power when booking a room.
If you want booking for tonight, tomorrow, and beyond, HotelTonight lets you do that very promptly. Shift through the criteria or options and decide the best possible deals within a minute. Even if you don’t reserve the room, HotelTonight can be help resolve accommodation problems.
This app lets you choose between options with confidence. And help you research to get quality deals even after a hectic day. Even when you pick a date, the app will narrow the lists based on availability with the right prices.
When you are ready to click on the “book” button a streamlined interface puts photos in the forefront which will ensure trustworthiness.
After finalizing the booking confirmation, it can handle the payment part as well.
This app gets updated regularly to keeps things smooth. This app is available both in Play store and Apple store and of course it’s free to download and use.
TripIt
My second pick is one of the most popular apps of its kind. When you have it on your device, instantly it can organize your itineraries in one place! Email your travel confirmations of flight, hotel and car rental information to plans@tripit.com and TripIt will automatically reorganize and will create a master copy for each plan.
After getting confirmation from TripIt, itineraries will be accessible no matter where you are, even without an internet connection. If you allow TripIt to access your Gmail, Google Apps, Outlook.com or Yahoo! mail, you don’t need to send an online confirmation email. The app will automatically fetch all data and create the smart plan for you.
TripIt Pro (the premium version) is super-smart and can remind you real-time flight alerts. Life is full of surprises; so one emergency can put you in a situation where you might need to switch flights suddenly. No worries; it can manage alternative flights.
This pro app can track the miles you fly, your rewards points or even can notify you whenever a better seat becomes available. The paid version will cost you $49/year, but again the free option is more than enough for most of the travelers. TripIt is available both for Android and iOS.
Triposo
Triposo has become a good alternative of Wikitravel, Wikipedia Open Street Maps, TouristEye and other sites like Flickr. This useful offline guide has lots of information for almost every large and small destination.
From more than 50,000 destinations worldwide, you can personalize your travel experience by picking perfect accommodation, sights, transportations, nightlife activities and foods. From now on you don’t have to bother about internet or free Wi-fi zones. Once you download and store information, it runs seamlessly without an internet connection.
This smart travel guide is been updated regularly to ensure travelers get the latest recommendations. Advance features like “city walks” and “similar places” will make your journey remarkable. Downloading this app is completely free for both iOS and Android.
Google Trips
The list would be incomplete without including Google Trips. Thanks to this app, exploring has become easier. It can keep reservations, saved places, and can perform almost all your travel activities. It shows you reviews of the nearest restaurant and bars wherever you’re staying.
Google Trips records your activities like what you type on the search bar or online trip confirmations you receive in your Gmail account. Based on the information, Google Trips shows a suggestion of your possible future destination.
While traveling, there might be some places where the mobile signal doesn’t work. But still, you can access your Google Trips offline. The app is available for Android and iOS, and free of charge.
Airbnb
Last but not least, the best travel Smartphone’s app on my list is Airbnb. Thanks to this app, the experience of traveling has changed a lot for a lot of people. It’s become immensely popular for booking accommodation among all travel enthusiasts. You can have a personal touch while staying because Airbnb app lets you stay on any local’s house registered on their platform.
This app lets you choose accommodation for last minute or even for a long tenure. Many great reviews represent Airbnb’s trustworthiness. Every reservation and payment made through Airbnb is secured. If any traveler attempts to log-in from a different device, then he/she must go through the multi-factor authentication process and this app will automatically send alerts if any changes are made.
AirBnB’s app is available for both Android and iOS devices and is free of cost.
Wrapping It Up
These five travel apps are some of the best of many. Listed tools are sufficient to minimize your hassle and enough to enrich travel experience.
If you are still want to explore more on your own, do a little research and look for the below features:
- Availability of different types of accommodations;
- Usefulness and safety information update about the locality;
- 24/7 Accessibility;
- Option For networking and sharing;
- Payment protection from spammers;
- True review ratings and end-users’
8 comments
Extremely helpful! I’ll be downloading several i wasn’t familiar with. Thanks!
I’m so glad you found this helpful, Barb. I found a couple of new ones here as well! Thank you!
I’m flattered that you think it’s worthy.
Thank you Maria. Very helpful for an upcoming trip. –MaryGo
I’m glad you like, Mary. And have a wonderful trip!
I’m flattered that you think it’s worthy.
Your content was very complete and great. I am a mobile repairer. I work in the mobile repair class. But I used a lot of this.
Good to hear confirmation about the usefulness of these apps from someone working int the field, Saramoradi. Thank you!