Go To Travel Apps
Every travel magazine has a list of best apps for travel. I always eagerly look them up to find new tips. More and more I am finding I may be the expert, we have tried most and sometimes don’t even agree with the list of “best”. So, time to publish my own list of go-to travel apps to keep you humming along like a traveling nomad expert. This list is geared to the International traveler, but the concept of what you need and where to find it is universal.
At a minimum, you need apps for :
1. Wifi calling
2. Translation
3. Trip planning
4. Maps
5. Transportation, and
6. Weather (we are not in southern california anymore)
You may be interested in apps for packing lists, noise reducing white noise, or meditation; all great for the traveler. Another great app to look for is self guided walking tour. For us, a must is hiking trails apps.
Preparation
Let me preface this article with the no brainer: these days you do not need to carry guide books, but you do need a good data plan for travel (another article). Almost everything can be done on your phone without using it as a talking device. Only two things matter while traveling: 1. International Data Roaming speed, and 2. International Data Roaming cost. A local pay as you go SIM for local data is probably a good idea, data will likely be much faster. A dual SIM phone makes this a lot easier to do. If you do not have enough bandwidth every app and search will time out on you. Been there, done that.
*Tip: download all these apps, and any others you want, Before. You. Leave. You really do not want to use valuable International date downloading apps you knew about before you left your cushy data plan at home. And while we are on the subject, adjust your phone setting so apps do not automatically update except over wifi while you are traveling. You will still find apps you will want to use while traveling. Download them when you have decent wifi. So, best tip yet from me:
*Tip: never, ever get a hotel that doesn’t have good reviews regarding wifi.
People ask a lot on travel forums about International calling plans. You do not need a voice plan; you won’t be calling anyone, especially if you are not going to English speaking countries. You think there is a language barrier face-to-face, try it over a phone. We underestimate how much speaking is visual. This leads me to my first Must Have app and another reason why you do Not need an International Calling Plan
Wifi calling
Outside the USA, everyone, even businesses, use WhatsApp for calls and texts. Calling home is free if you are connected to wifi, and you won’t have any roaming fees calling locally where you are, or calling anywhere. Mobile phone plans overseas are different than we are used to: both parties pay. So if you are calling from a USA number to a local person, they may not answer because they do not want the fee. Use WhatsApp. Other similar apps are cropping up, I know I will get comments, but they are still not as mainstream as WhatsApp. Set it up before you leave on your trip and get your friends and family to do so as well: this is how you will call them.
Translation
You still need to be prepared for some face to face communication.
Google Translate is my go to Translation app.
You can talk into the phone and have it translate in writing, or using siri’s voice. You can use your camera and get a real time translation of a label in the grocery store. Always a good idea, we once bought buttermilk thinking it was cow’s milk in Poland. Real surprise. There have been some other funny mistakes in the grocery store too. Let’s just say my hair has gotten treatments not meant for hair. It is useful to get cooking instructions from packaging too.
Even though we spend a lot of time in Portugal and Spain. (FYI, Google Translate’s Portuguese is actually Brazilian, and Spanish is Mexican Spanish), it still gets us by. I will get lots of pushback on this; yes there are other translation apps that are European, but they are not as widely used. When you are trying to communicate with someone in the moment, you both will probably open up Google Translate.
Deepl is another translator that is said to be actual european portuguese. It works the same as Google’s app: you can type, speak or use your camera.
*Tip: Download Google Translate for the languages you will need before you leave, so it is available offline.
Travel Plans
Tripit. For organizing your trip, TripIt is the gold standard. This app finds all your reservations and confirmations from your emails and calendar for transport, rental cars, hotels, attractions, and even restaurants. And organizes it into an itinerary. Your tickets are at your fingertips. You can share plans with travel partners or others. Tripit will direct you to your airport gate, and has always notified us of a gate change before it is even posted at the airport.
There is a free and a Pro version. Those who know us know how loathe Mark is to pay for anything he does not have to. He pays for the Pro version of TripIt. A better endorsement could not be had.
Passport and customs
Remember TSA is only in America, outside the USA, there are still all the same security concerns, slightly different rules maybe, still long security processing. Your TSA Precheck or Clear are worthless outside the USA. Global entry will only help you at the one airport when you touch back down in USA. Mobile Passport is still coming in handy however for USA and Canadian airports at a fraction of the cost. There is still no app or pre-clearance available for the global traveler.
Instead, check and see if the country you are traveling to has a website or app to allow you to pre register and fill out immigration and customs forms. You can often upload your passport and save yourself some time.
*Tip. For this and a number of other reasons, have a good electronic color picture of your passport handy while traveling. And in the cloud (i.e. Google photos).
Maps
Google Maps is the best of the best. I won’t say it has never let us down, but it is pretty great. Real time information on expected time to travel that is usually spot on. We get re-direction when there is a traffic delay. And of course it almost always gets us where we are going. If not, it is usually a user error. Just make sure you really have your intended destination input; not another hotel with the same name in another city. Yes, we have made this error and not figured it out for hours. Embarrassing
Google Maps lacks one thing: dirt roads. Google maps can filter out toll roads, ferries, but not dirt roads. Waze has a filter for dirt roads. In Portugal, and for bike riding, this is handy.
Transportation:
For transportation we recommend you use more than one source. We find that often a bus company or a city’s transportation system is not picked up by one or more of the apps. Similar to airlines that are not participating in a flight finder app. Always try 2 or 3. Our top three:
Rome to Rio
Rome to Rio app has really held up as our go-to transportation app over the years and countries. It is great for figuring out public transportation from one city to another, say like from Rome to Rio. It considers train, bus and even ferry transport.
Mooveit
Moove it is a good global app for finding local public transportation. Rome2Rio city to city; Mooveit within the city
Good ole Google Maps
And do not forget, Google Maps. More and more often, we just let Google do it. Google Maps will literally walk you into or out of the the right entrance of a subway. This is major! Some of those entrances can be a block away, dump you on different streets and get you all turned around. All while dragging luggage. For this alone, I am a fan. Huge shout out to that!
Think Local
It is really important with transportation apps to check in every city you go for the local picks. For example every country now seems to have a Uber-type app, but it is not always Uber.
Almost every city will have a public transportation app where you can find transportation schedules and buy tickets. Purchasing tickets over the app will often be A Lot cheaper. As I mentioned already, oftentimes a bus company will not be picked up by one or more of the above apps. And obviously each company does not include the routes and schedules of the competition. Bus travel in and around England for example, is crazy with competing buses that don’t recognize each other’s tickets and likewise for trains.
Hotels:
If you do most of your accommodation planning at home on a computer, you may not think you will need the apps. At least download the app for the platform or hotel chains you are using for your reservations. You can likely check in through the app. Some hotels are completely people-less with only app check-in offered. A second concern is if something goes wrong and you need accommodation in a hurry, which happens: Flight cancellations, or if your hotel choice is not so nice in person. So I have all the apps at my fingertips: booking.com, hotels.com, VRBO and airB&B. We use AirBnB accommodations a lot; their app is fantastic for checking in, getting directions, and best for communicating with the host even before you book. Hotels Tonight is a good app for last minute deals.
Hiking Trails
This may not apply to everyone, but for us it is a big part of travel. Have a couple free hours, let’s find a hike.
AllTrails is the gold standard for finding hikes and walks all over the world. This is our first stop to find a hike. Anywhere.
Strava. I describe Strava as Facebook for athletes. It’s how you can follow your friends and see how they are training (so glad it did not exist when I was a triathlete). Mark uses it, you know why – so he can track every metric, every second, every mile. Really off the travel topic however. We use strava to find riding mates and routes in the different areas we find ourselves.
Wikiloc is used a lot by friends and essential on my recent horse trek. Like, Strava, you can follow your friends and repeat their hikes. It has the added bonus of letting you know immediately if you go off trail. Very handy that. (Now we are back on the travel topic, yes, thanks Wikiloc)
Relive. You have seen my slick little hiking videos. They are a cinch with the free version of Relive and would be even slicker if I upped to the pro version. Only downside, the format does not allow me to imbed one of these videos in my blog. Visit my instagram (@Hummingalong001) for examples.
Every country, starting with the USA will have its collection of local, in-country apps. Do not assume that what works great in the USA will be applicable anywhere else. It is always good to look in each country you are traveling to for the locals’ favorites. Every country or City will have its version on YELP, or a Restaurant reservation platform. In New Zealand we made use of First Table. It is a 50% off reservation for early birds. Uber and Bolt have different competitors in different places. Most importantly, each City will probably have a transportation app for booking and buying public transportation. You will find them.
Weather
Weather, as you may guess is location specific. So I am not going to make any recommendations other than: find out what the locals use in the places you are going. Old standbys may suffice, but we always take the recommendations of locals. Especially if you are a hiker or do weather influenced activities like sailing. For us in Iberia, the go to is elTiempo.
So there you have it. My list of must-have, best in class, travel apps.
Now get back out there people. Let’s travel!
cover photo by Creative Christians-Upsplash