Travel Apps We Use On Our Adventures
Smartphones are increasingly becoming part of our lives, and technology is here to stay. So why not make use of it to enhance our travel experience?
These mobile travel apps have helped lighten our load by replacing physical maps, books and even a compass. As much as we try to avoid technology whenever we travel, we simply cannot do without these applications while travelling.
Here are some apps that have drastically improved our travel experience!
Not available on Android
Ever wanted to track your entire journey to see how far you’ve travelled? Not sure if the cab driver is leading you to your destination or somewhere else?
Using this app, we’ll be able to track our journey. You can see our past travel tracks on the ‘Map’ section of our website! Tracked GPS can be downloaded into your computer and even shared on social media platforms. Every time we look back at the tracked GPS, there is this sense of accomplishment of a journey well travelled. You can also pre-download maps for offline use. One of our favourite functions of this app is its ability to keep track on where the cab driver or public bus is heading to, just in case you’re on the wrong one.
Not available on Android
Is your budget going to burst? Can’t remember how much have you spent so far?
This app has a nice, neat and user-friendly interface which allows us to keep track of our budget easily. The start up screen is customisable and you can key in your expenses directly. Also, you’ll be able to determine your own set of categories to section out your expenses. Lastly, you will be able to generate a beautiful pdf report of your expenses. This is extremely useful as we tend to forget how much we have spent after some time.
Available on Android
Need directions to a place of interest? Not sure if you should take the train or bus?
Apart from its beautiful interface, we find the Directions option to be especially useful when travelling around developed countries. The smart estimation of travel duration is useful in planning, eg. the distance from your hotel to the airport. Or if you’re driving, this app would come in handy as a GPS to bring you to your desired destination. The best part, Google Maps for iOS has a secret function that allows you to save a certain portion of the map so that you are able to view it offline later! Try it for yourself. Type “Ok Maps” on the search bar!
Available on Android
No internet access and you need directions to a place?
Google Maps is awesome, but they require internet connection from time to time. CityMaps2Go is just the solution for this. It offers free offline maps for download. However, you might want to purchase the full version ($ 3.98) as the free version only offers up to 5 downloads and there are so many maps available from their list of cities! Offline maps are especially useful in areas where there is no internet connection, eg. when you’re high up in the mountains trekking without a soul around to ask for directions.
Available on Android
Need to browse online to find information for your travel? But no internet connection to do so?
With Pocket, you can save any type of web article online and view it later without any internet connection! This is super useful for travelling as internet access in many countries is not easy to come by. Rather than going online prior to your trip and noting everything down, you could just save it all in this handy app on your phone! Pocket not only allows you to save links from your browser, but it also allows you to save pages directly from over 300 different apps like Twitter and Flipboard.
Available on Android
See that pretty star in the beautiful night sky and wanna find out its name? Or planning to wake up to catch the sunrise but not sure what time?
For the star lovers, this is an App you really don’t want to miss. I use Star Walk mostly for astral night photography. It displays the night sky according to your current location. Orientating your phone against the night sky updates the star map on your phone! It even has an Augmented Reality function that uses your phone camera to match the stars you see against the Star Walk’s star map. In regards to photography, I use it to check the time for rising and setting time of the moon and sun. Also very useful if you are trying to find the Milky Way amidst the blanket of stars. Apart from using it for photography, it has many other functions such as the name of the stars, constellations and even man-made satellites flying around Earth, pretty useful if you want to impress your partner (if he/she is interested in the first place, haha).
Available on Android
Need help translating that sign?
This is pretty cool cutting edge technology I must say. With the help of Augmented Reality, users are able to point their phone at a certain word, just like you are taking a picture. And the magic happens. The word you see on your screen becomes translated to the language of your choice! You really have to try this free app to believe it! Currently it supports English, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and Russian, more than sufficient already!
If you have an app that you use often during your travels, we want to hear from you! Share it with us in the comments below! 🙂
