Ready to take on the road for a while? Don’t know what you’ll need to have in your phone for your adventures? The same way we felt before departing in our one year adventure around the world. Although, sometimes it’s fun to see where the road takes you without any technology, a lot of times it’s good to have the information in the palm of your hands.
Here are the apps we used the most during our travels, some of them we learned about them while on the road, others took some research and trying them in order to find the right one. Of course, the regular apps were used like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and others to keep in touch with family and friends back home but while on the road, here are the most used apps.
- Booking.com
HostelWorld Both apps (Free)
These two apps you probably can’t live without. Although, in many places is better to walk around town and see the rooms and negotiate prices before deciding for one place to stay. What these apps offer, it is a lot of information on what’s available around town, plus reviews and what to expect before you arrive and of course, you can book the room ahead of time. Definitely nice to have both loaded on your phone.
- TripAdvisor (Free)
Well, as the name suggest, it’s an advisor for your trip. This website/app has a lot of reviews, not only on hotels and restaurants, but also on Things to do around cities for all over the world. You always want to talk to locals or fellow travelers on what they’ve done around town and what they recommend, but it’s good to have an idea of what to do, where to eat, and sights you can’t miss. The app is free and has tons of useful information. Be aware, some people are anal so don’t believe all of the bad rating people give sometimes. Read our advice on many places on TripAdvisor.
- Quip (Free)
This app is great to writing a journal, or keeping notes on anything you want. It can be used offline, and once online, it syncs all of your notes to the cloud, in case your phone dies or it’s lost, you can go on any browser and get all of the information you need. If you decide to have a blog with your partner or fellow traveler, this little app also great as you can share folders and collaborate on articles or whatever you want. It’s worth it in my book.
- Pocket (Free)
While on the road, sometimes for 21 hour bus rides, it’s good to have something to read or distract yourself from the pain to be sitting down for that long. Besides books, I like to read a lot of articles on anything and the best way to keep them all is in Pocket. Free and very easy to use, downloads the articles you want for offline content so when the time comes to spend super long bus rides, you’ll have something to keep you entertained.
- Trail wallet ($4.99)
So down to the most three used apps, and one I liked to use as well. Many of our fellow travelers keep track of their expenses by knowing how much money they can withdraw a month, and once they reached that limit, they know they were spending too much. For our case, we liked to be more proactive when it came to expenses, so I researched for this app before leaving and it was a lifesaver in our case. It’s definitely worth every penny, you can add as many trips as you want, add as many currencies as you want and create budget for every day of your trip. Now, you don’t need to add things every time you spend money, but every night just do an inventory, add it to app and know where you stand in your expenses. If you see you’re over budget a week in, then some small measures need to be taken for the second week to be in line with your budget. Very useful and it was created by travelers, so who knows better than travelers themselves? Highly recommended. Look at our expenses for Vietnam and how we used this app.
- MAPS.ME (Free)
Google maps is great and all, you can also download some offline content but really nothing beats maps.me when it comes to offline maps. This app is really a must for anyone when traveling. Many times I knew tuk-tuk or taxi drivers were taking me the long way in order to make money, or they didn’t know where the hostel was but I knew thanks to this app. Warning: you must download the maps for the country you’re visiting before you go, so don’t forget. There are, not only information on hostels, and other stays, but also there are restaurants, sights to visit, and others plus routes to them as well. Maps.me is one app that saved our lives and money, not one time but many times. Of course, get lost from time to time, but when you need to know exactly where you are and where you’re going, this app will save you.
- Camera+ ($2.99)
Even though we bought a nice DSLR camera for our trip, this one app helps you take amazing shots for when you don’t want to carry your nice expensive camera around town. This app has received many awards, has tons of features and also great for retouching photos. By far, the best camera app on the planet and the photos below really speak for themselves.
And there you have them, the most used apps while on a world trip, or really any trip you take in the future. Don’t get caught without them. So what’s your favorite app while you travel? Let us know in the comments.
“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous
