Travel Apps to Make or Break your Trip

So you like to travel? Perhaps you’ve traversed the Great Wall of China, flown a helicopter over the Grand Canyon, or gone scuba diving in the Federated States of Micronesia. Maybe your dream vacation is to backpack through Europe, moving from hostel to hostel as you progress from city to city, country to country. Maybe you prefer the plush, five-star hotel, or even the seven-star Burj Al Arab, the Dubai hotel shaped like the sail of a ship, constructed on an artificial island. Perhaps you scour the web for sites like Vacation Fish to get hold of the perfect vacation property for the best price.

However you travel, wherever you stay, the one thing for sure is that it only takes the smallest thing to ruin a fantastic holiday. These days we rely on technology more and more, and that includes how we organise our travels. Travel apps for your mobile/tablet are all the rage – but the wrong app could lead to poor planning and needlessly disrupt what was supposed to be a flawless vacation. Here are a few apps to keep your eye on, and a couple to keep your eye off, when planning your next trip.

Five-Star Apps

• CouchSurfing – One of the coolest ways to travel is to couchsurf. CouchSurfing, the company, is one of the easiest ways to do this, and their new mobile app is instantly accessible. Let’s say you want to check out Caracas, but worry that staying in a resort would only offer an artificial experience. Using this app you can currently find, within seconds, 2973 ‘hosts’ in the Caracas area. That’s 2973 people inviting you to stay with them, for free. With over 3.6 million hosts, in over 80,000 towns across the Earth, the world is literally your oyster. Using the app you can also create a unique profile to ensure you’re matched up with the type of person you most want to meet. This is a great and easy way to both see the world and meet new people.
• Fuel Monitor – This is one of the handiest apps if you’re travelling on a budget and plan to do a lot of driving. Just input the model, manufacturer and year of your car, press START when you take off on a trip, and press STOP when you stop. The app does the rest, and tells you exactly how much every car journey is costing you, enabling you to plan when it’s ok to take the car out, or when you should put in some legwork and get walking.
• Hotel Tonight – Maybe you’re more of a last minute traveller, eager to get the best deal in the hottest places at a moment’s notice. If so, this is the app for you – use it on your mobile or iPad to book same-day hotel rooms for up to 70% off in cities all over North America and Europe. What’s more, the app vets hotels, so only the best quality will be included.

Zero-Star Apps

• iWasHere – One of the best things about travelling is sharing your experiences with friends. Social networking has made that easier than ever. iWasHere is a social networking app with this in mind. Only problem is, it’s not particularly social. It’s difficult to use and clumsily designed, leaning on the creepy side of social networking – the side that makes you feel like a stalker.
• Euro Railways – Trains are one of the easiest ways to travel around Europe, but with so many train stations in so many cities in so many countries, it can be hard to keep track of how to get where, how much it’s going to cost, and the best route to take. This app does nothing to help. Rather than offering information contained within the app it links you to PDF files contained in iBooks. If you use this app, good luck finding what you’re looking for.

There you have it. If you want to explore new ways of travelling, or just want to make your holiday that bit more enjoyable, there are plenty of apps with great design just crying out to be used. But beware – some apps just aren’t worth the time it takes to download them.

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About the author:

This guest post is by Samantha Priest – A part time blogger and a full time tech junkie. When Samantha is not checking out the latest tech gadgets, she can be found travelling in her spare time!

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