Got a mobile smartphone? Then congratulations, you’re not Amish or a Luddite! Well done. But are you a smart traveler? Am I qualified to make that determination just from knowing the apps on your phone? Or am I being needlessly judgmental? Read on and find out.
Virtually every modern smartphone gives you the ability to load up with useless app-crap like bird games and Taylor Swift “songs.” But smartphones can also make your life better. Here are nine very useful travel apps that can help make travel less of a pain in the ass.
My top nine smartphone apps:
- Packing Pro — I just got this one, but I hope to use it to create a bunch of packing checklists based on criteria like: International, Warm Weather, City, Beach, etc.
- United Airlines — If you fly United often, and I certainly do, this app is indispensable; when you’re not using it as your boarding pass, you can use it to log into the plane’s wifi and watch movies.
- TripIt by Concur — Invaluable for forgetful people like me; simply forward all your booking confirmation emails to [email protected] and when you get to the airport all the info you need is in one place.
- TripAdvisor — When Yelp doesn’t know what country you’re in, TripAdvisor lets you know what Mid-Western Americans think of a particular restaurants’ food.
- Gogobot — This new crowd-sourcing travel app is fast becoming the new Yelp for International travelers.
- World Lens — Possibly the most brilliant app ever; just point its camera at a sign in another language and it will translate the text right on the sign!
- FlightTrackPro — I don’t use this app a ton, but it’s helpful for knowing if your flight is on time before you run a school bus of children off the road.
- Hipmunk — The easiest UI for booking flights and hotels, although their advertising kinda sucks.
- GateGuru — I use this to avoid eating at McDonald’s when there is a good restaurant around the next corner.
Okay, that’s all nine of my go-to smartphone apps for traveling (there are others, but these are the main ones). If you have other suggestions that I might want to consider, leave a comment.
