Best 5 Apps for Travel
Smartphones put a whole world of information at our fingertips, which has never been more helpful than when exploring a foreign country. Here’s 5 apps that will make your journey a little bit easier.
#5: MAPS.ME
One of the best luxuries afforded by traveling with your phone is being able to pinpoint your location on a map, anywhere in the wphoorld. Unfortunately, that tends to fail when you leave the comforts of cellular data.
That challenge has made MAPS.ME one of the most popular apps for backpackers. This app allows you to download entire regions or countries for offline use (using the OpenStreetMap dataset). While the app isn’t as polished or feature-complete as Google Maps, it does provide turn-by-turn directions. I’ve even found the maps can be more accurate and detailed in some less-developed regions like Georgia.
#4: TripIt
As you prepare for any trip, you’ll likely end up with a cluttered inbox full of flight, train and hotel/hostel reservations. After connecting TripIt to your email account, all travel-related emails will be parsed and organized.
The app will display a single timeline for each trip, listing every reservation from flights to hotels to tours.
While the app will help you stay organized while planning, it’s also incredibly helpful while on the road. Pull out the app when checking in at the airport to quickly access your confirmation code. Once you reach your destination, open TripIt again to quickly show a map to your hotel.
#3: Rome2Rio
You’re in Paris and trying to head to Amsterdam. Do you fly? Take a train? Bus? Rome2Rio is the ultimate resource for comparing your options for inter-city transportation.
Plug in two cities and Rome2Rio will show you the different modes of transportation available to you. Not only is the app great for comparing the different pros and cons of each option, you may find unexpected modes of transportation as well. BlaBlaCar, a popular European ridesharing app, was first introduced to me as one option in Rome2Rio.
#2: WiFi Map
Food. Shelter. Internet connection.
These are 3 priorities of any backpacker, not necessarily in that order.
The WiFi Map app lets you access an invaluable database of WiFi networks and passwords. The app displays a map of your current location with all nearby reported hotspots. For any hotspots that are in range will give you the option to connect automatically with the password in the database.
Of course, the app does need an internet connection to load the networks in your current location. Make sure you open the app when you do have WiFi so the app can download the nearby hotspots, which will be cached for offline use.
#1: Google Photos
It’s the last day of you’re trip, and your phone is loaded up with hundreds of photos. As you rush across a street, your phone slips out of your hand and is run over by a truck. Or maybe it’s stolen out of your pocket. Or maybe you drop it in the ocean. Either way, your precious photos are gone.
Google Photos provides unlimited backups of all your photos and videos to the cloud. The mobile app will effortlessly back up your media in the background. Additionally, use their desktop application to upload photos and videos taken with conventional cameras. The service will compress your photos and videos, but most people won’t notice any difference.
This lesson became especially important to me after I knocked my external hard drive off my bed, onto a hard wooden floor. If it wasn’t for ensuring all my photos were safely in Google’s cloud, I may still be weeping over my broken hard drive.
Did I miss your favorite app? Leave a response and let me know!
