I love to travel. I also love to be prepared. I like to know what I’m doing, where I’m staying, what the weather is going to be like, etc. Here’s a list of some of my favourite travel apps that will help you be as prepared as possible as you venture off to explore the world.
TripIt
TripIt is like a personal travel assistant, compiling information into an itinerary you can print or view online. TripIt is extremely useful when trying to plan a vacation with multiple stops. You can manually add details to your itinerary as needed. For the social media lovers, this app also connects to your social networking sites to let you share your travels.
Packing Pro
Are you packing for your whole family? Or do you often say, “Shoot I forgot the camera!” as you are halfway to your destination? Well this app is for you! Packing Pro gets you to enter the details of your trip (destination, date, activities, food preparation needs, number of people traveling, etc). The app then compiles a checklist that is fully customizable of everything your might need.
XE Currency App
Sometimes you think you are getting a great deal on something, but you really aren’t, or vice-versa. Who really knows off the top of the actual cost is after the currency exchange? I certainly wouldn’t. Have no fear, you will never have this problem again with the XE Currency App. This app lets you track up to 20 currencies and will let you key in the price of an item and the local currency used and it will convert it to the currency of your choice.
Weather Channel App
I use this app constantly, here at home. It is also quite handy when traveling of course. I mean at least if you are in Dominican Republic and it rains all week, it’s nice that your phone at least warned you about it. Right? On the flip-side, if you are having a beautiful sunny vacation, it’s nice to be able to check out what the weather is like back at home and have little (evil) chuckle.
WebMD
We’ve all been there – you are on vacation and step on a sea urchin and you immediately panic because you think you are going to need your foot amputated….or something like that. WebMD gives you a little peace of mind, or will totally freak you out and convince you that your dying. Either way, it speaks your language and it comes with a handy Symptom checker which lets you look up symptoms your are having and the possible reasons behind them. It also comes with First Aid Essentials which has a guide to help you through everything from sea urchins to bee stings. If you are traveling in the States, WebMD will let you know where the nearest hospital or clinic is and provide you with directions.
1000 Places to See Before you Die
You’ve probably heard of the book, 1000 Places to See Before you Die, but I bet you didn’t know there was an amazing app too. This app takes you on a tour of world wonders that you can search by area and interest. It is an app that provides you with endless hours of inspiration. To add a little interactivity you can also tag places that you’ve been or would like to go. You can also upload your images of the places you have been and provide other people with travel tips. This app not only serves as great inspiration and motivation for future ventures, it also as a great travel journal for current adventures.
Simply Declare
Simply Declare tracks what you buy abroad and will need to declare using real time currency exchange. You can even take pictures of receipts, which keeps a digital copy for you so you don’t need to keep those pesky paper copies.
Kayak
There are lots of booking apps to choose from like Travelocity and Orbitz but this is usually my go-to. I have a ton on my phone, but I really need only one. Kayak’s app lets you compare prices of hotels, car rentals and flights. You can even keep track of your flight status and manage your itinerary.
Air B&B
Don’t feel like staying at a hotel on your vacation. Rather stay at someones house or apartment or cottage? I learned about this app when my friend went to New York City a couple years ago for New Years. I thought she was insane because I figured hotel prices would be so high during the holidays. I wasn’t wrong about that, but she didn’t stay in a hotel, she stayed at someones apartment and it was way cheaper and also gave her a more New Yorky experience. So basically if you don’t know what Air B&B is, it’s an app/site that lets you rent unique places from local hosts in more than 190 countries. You can list your own property on it if you’d like to earn some extra cash too.