Best Travel Apps to Use
Sometimes it’s nice to put technology down and disconnect while you’re traveling but I wouldn’t put it down too far away. There are many apps that can be very helpful on your journey! These are some of my favorites to use.
GasBuddy
This app can be really helpful on road trips when gas prices can fluctuate between towns so much. We have gotten on the app when we’re getting somewhat low (don’t wait until you’re desperate!) and have discovered prices that are as much as a dollar less in the next town sometimes. If you’re filling up a big tank, that can make a big difference — especially on a long journey.
Airline Apps
If you’re flying, you definitely want to have the app for the airline you’re traveling with. They will update your flight info and send notifications for changes and such.
Uber/Lyft
If you’re going to need a ride somewhere because you don’t have a car, these are a great way to find a ride and even see how much it will cost you ahead of time. My husband will look up the cost on each and sometimes we even compare it to a taxi price to find the best deal.
Choice Hotels
We stay in hotels a lot and early on we researched hotel brands and figured out which one might do the best for us with their rewards program. We landed on Choice and we’ve stuck with them for the most part. They’re budget friendly (at least compared to the other big brands — nothing seems to be too budget friendly anymore 🙄) and they have a good point system going so we’ve accumulated many points and we’ve redeemed them for many free nights. This really pays off when you’re in a high tourist area and hotel prices are WAY above the norm. Even when that’s the case, the point value is the same. We’ve gotten rooms for free by doing this that would go for $300-$500 a night if we’d had to pay for them.
HotelEngine
This app isn’t always an amazing deal but it can be sometimes. And the great thing is you can still get your loyalty points with hotel brands most of the time. We typically check our Choice app first and then check HotelEngine to see if there are any big savings by comparing the price they’re offering to the one on Choice. Sometimes it’s significant! Always make sure that it shows your points privileges before booking though because not every purchase does.
(Side note — I never recommend using 3rd party booking for hotels because if something goes wrong or you have a problem the hotel will not work with you — you’ll have to contact the 3rd party to deal with the situation and that usually doesn’t end well. This is also the same with flights. That being said — HotelEngine is sort of considered a 3rd party but it’s still booked directly with the hotel so it’s safer to do it this way than traditional 3rd party apps. When the cost is similar we always book through Choice first.)
Google Translate
If you’re traveling to a country that speaks a different language than you do, this is a must. It’s very helpful! You can speak into it and have it translate, you can take a picture of something to translate, you can hold the camera over a menu or sign and it will translate…there are many great uses with this app. We once got on a bus in another country and the bus driver began making an announcement in their native language. I immediately turned on the app and pushed the microphone so it would translate what he was saying and we wouldn’t be ignorant of the instructions being given. It was so helpful!
Currency
This is a great app when you’re shopping in another country. You can plug in the cost and have it translated to your currency so you know how much you’re spending.
Yelp
We use this to find a place to eat when we’re in an area that’s new to us. We want to find places that are highly rated and avoid places that aren’t good and this is an easy way to do just that.
AllTrails
One of my favorite apps! We love to hike and you can open this app up wherever you are and it will show you the popular trails in that area. If you have the pro version you can even download the maps so you can use them offline since many hiking areas don’t have service. It rates the trails from easy to hard, tells you the length of the trail, tells you the altitude change, and lets you know what kind of trail it is and what it’s best for (hiking, biking, whether you can take pets or not, etc.).
Seek
This app is great to identify all kinds of things in nature. If you’re a hiker and a nature lover like me, you can stop and check out flowers, plants, insects, birds, animals, trees, etc. and you can use this app to try to identify them. It’s not perfect 100% of the time but it successfully tells me what I’m looking at probably 98% of the time! 😊
There are SO many other apps you can benefit from as you travel. These are just some of the many that I use. You can use reward apps for restaurants, coffee chains, gas stations, etc. There are apps for campgrounds, hotels, parking areas, and weather. And of course lots of apps to help you plan trips, follow a journey, find parks, etc.
Do you have a favorite app outside of the ones I’ve shared here? I’d love to hear about it!
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