How do I store all the travel documents in one virtual folder on my mobile device? Where do you get a detailed local guide in a moment? How do you share your trip expenses with your friends? Read about the apps that will upgrade your next trip experience.
By Marina Kigel
In our daily lives, we always carry our mobile with us, so why not make the most of it when we travel abroad? There are quite a few useful and cool apps that can help us travel without worries and enjoy the trip even more, as the saying goes “it’s just a small step to technology, but a huge step for a successful trip.” Here are height of them, and they’re even free:
Organize your trip with TripIt
1. TripIt: Travel Organizer
Have you booked a flight, hotel or admission ticket to attractions by email? The TripIt app organizes everything you planned for the trip in one place. All you need to do is transfer all the passes you received to the specified email in the app, and it will create for you a basic schedule on your mobile phone/tablet/watch or laptop of choice.
Also, it can automatically export your travel plans from Gmail, other Google apps, Outlook, and more, instead of you having to send the emails. You can synchronize your schedule with your calendar, and even give anonymous feedback about your flights.
Disadvantage: Excessive battery consumption, the app sometimes suffers from sync problems between the different devices.
Offline guided tours with Visit A City
2. Visit a City
Your private travel guide, available in more than 3000 cities around the world. Choose a city and get a list of the most popular attractions, the distance between them, recommended travel times, maps, and even a voice guide. Everything is also available offline. Download anything you need in advance and enjoy every moment. And if all this is not enough, the app has more than a thousand guided tours designed by tourist experts and guides.
Disadvantage: There are quite a few bugs and error messages. Sometimes the guide sends the traveler out of town.
>> Visit a city on Google Play
Login using face ID and free Matmid Club – EL AL
3. EL AL
Well, we’re probably not objective, but this app is definitely productive. The El Al application offers, in addition to a quick and friendly flight ticket purchase experience, other surprises that are not available elsewhere. After downloading the app, you will immediately join the Matmid Frequent Flyer Club for free, you will be identified by fingerprint if you do not want to remember passwords, you will be the first to be updated on hot deals. Also, you can download awesome stickers.
Disadvantage: We were really looking, but couldn’t find any.
Recommendations come from local residents – Culture Trip
4. Culture Trip
Every experienced traveler knows that the best recommendations come from local residents. Culture Trip is based on just such recommendations. Unique exhibitions, secret galleries, unmapped restaurants, magical towns – just choose a city and dive into a variety of ideas accompanied by explanations and recommendations from locals and other tourists who have already tried.
Disadvantage: The recommendations are personal and will not always suit your taste.
>> Culture Trip on Google Play or App Store
Relax and clean your head before your flight – Headspace
5. Headspace
Afraid of flying? Feeling stressed in a new and unfamiliar place? Worried about how they would manage at home without you? Meditation will always help you relax and clean your head. Headspace is considered one of the most popular and liked meditation applications, in a cool and pleasant design. In its free version, which is also suitable for children, you can find 10 different sets of meditation, some of which are devoted to a specific subject – happiness, health, work, sports, studies.
Disadvantage: If you suffer from flight anxiety, you may want to take care of it in other ways.
>> Headspace Trip on Google Play or App Store
Split your costs with friends – Splittr
6. Splittr
Did you go out on a trip with some of your friends? How do you share your expenses without getting upset and feeling that things are not balanced? Splittr allows you to enter all your expenses into it, including who paid and how much, and the app will do the rest. It is suitable for long trips, including transit between countries and adjustment and conversion to different currency rates.
Disadvantage: If you go on a trip in the mood of nitpicking, no application will help :)
>> Splittr on Google Play or App Store
A digital diary during the trip – Livetrekker
7. LiveTrekker
Do you like to dwell on your memories from your trips abroad? LiveTrekker creates a digital diary during the trip and uploads it on an interactive map. The app tracks you in real time and shows the exact route or trip on the map. It also checks the speed and the direction of your progress, which is excellent for Extreme trips in the mountains or forests. You can add photos, videos, and recordings to the track, and create a real and varied travel diary. If you wish, you can join the group to connect with other travelers in the area.
Disadvantage: There are no search options for existing routes. On the other hand, it’s always fun to feel like an explorer.
>> LiveTrekker on Google Play or App Store
Speak and orientate in a foreign country – Google Translate
8. Google Translate
This recommendation is perhaps self-evident, but we felt we must mention the application that will help you to speak and orientate in a foreign country with ease and speed. You can type or dictate what you want to say, and instantly translate into the language of the person in front of you. You can ask the local to say or write something and get the translation straight to your screen.
Disadvantage: Google Translate, you know – translation is sometimes cumbersome and not always accurate.
