Smartphones have completely revolutionised the way we all communicate and access our information, and for travellers, bloggers and digital-nomads it has been an extremely welcome convenience to our lives. Personally,my iPhone and I are practically joined at the hip, so much so that my BF has referred to it in the past as ‘my other boyfriend’, and I’m ashamed to say, that’s probably true! And it really is exciting when you find a great new app that can somehow save you time, save you money or help your lifestyle in some way – call me a nerd, but I love it!
Its reported that over 10 million apps have been downloaded in the last three years, and that number is steadily rising. For travellers, this means more ways to book hotels, navigate your way across a foreign city or help you find a cheap flight. While there are thousands of travel themed apps, here are a few which I love, and I think every traveller should have.
Kayak – Easily search, book and compare flights, hotels and car hire all over the world – the perfect travel companion. Free.
Time Out – Browse bars, restaurants and attractions with a Time Out city guide app. With 6 apps already available and more on the way, I find my London app extremely useful when planning a weekend of fun activities. Some free, other guides from £1.79.
Google Earth – Great for checking out where you’ll be staying or a potential new neighbourhood, and you can easily zoom in to ground level anywhere in the world to scope it out. Free.
Xe – Not great with numbers and currency? No worries – quickly and simply compare currencies for up to multiple countries, and see how many pennies you have to spend with the touch of your finger. Free.
World Clock– If you find it hard remembering the time back home then this app is great – it’s stopped me from waking up the olds at 3am many a time! Free.
Spot Cycle – One of my favourite apps, and its free! If you live in, or are visiting either London, Melbourne, Minneapolis, Montreal or Washington DC you can download this app to track the location of public bicycles in your city, and navigate your way via GPS through the city to drop it off at another location. It even times you, so if you’re on a budget it will ensure you don’t go over it. Free.
Google Translate – Need to know how to order a beer in Beijing, or find the toilets in Tunisia – this app can help. Free.
And for all the bloggers out there – WordPress– Whether your blog is hosted on wordpress or another platform you can quickly access your site from anywhere in the world and post articles, photos and lots more. Its a life saver for any travel blogger! Free.
What travel apps cant you live without?
Photo credits: Thanks to Tyler Howarth and Johan Larsson (Attribution Licence).
Previous Post – Photo Of The Week – Stalking Vampires At Highgate Cemetery
Next Post – 5 Super Relaxing Summer Holiday Destinations
Thanks for an idea, you sparked at thought from a angle I hadn’t given thoguht to yet. Now lets see if I can do something with it.
Hi Mike, thanks and good luck! : )
Hi Mike, thanks and good luck! : )
Great site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends!
Fantastic, glad you like it! Thanks! : )
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
Thank you! : )
Very nice read! A lot of those apps are some of my favorites as well. I’ll definitely have to check out Time Out for my upcoming vacation, it sounds like it would really help a lot! My favorite travel app is mainly for entertainment on my downtime traveling and is called DISH Remote Access by my TV provider/employer DISH Network. I’m a big TV and movie buff so that app lets me browse my TV guide and schedule recordings while I’m away from home. 🙂
Thank you very much for this list. Will test it.