Travel Apps Worth Having on Your Phone

A smartphone can be surprisingly useful when you are travelling, provided you have the right apps on it. The trick is resisting the temptation to download a dozen different travel tools before leaving home, only to forget what each one does once you arrive at the airport. A small selection of well-chosen apps can make everything from finding your hotel to keeping track of bookings considerably easier.

The best travel apps tend to have one thing in common: they solve a problem. Some help keep all your travel arrangements together, while others can make navigating an unfamiliar city less stressful or help you work out how much something costs in New Zealand dollars. Here are a few worth considering before your next trip.

TripIt – keep your bookings together

If your travel plans are spread across a collection of emails, booking websites and confirmation documents, TripIt can bring everything together in one place. Forward your booking confirmations to the app and it can create a chronological itinerary covering flights, accommodation, car hire, trains and other reservations.

Instead of searching through your inbox for the hotel address or trying to remember which day your return flight leaves, you have a single travel itinerary on your phone. The free version provides the core organising functions, while TripIt Pro adds extras such as real-time flight alerts, gate information and notifications about potential changes.

TripIt is particularly appealing if you want to keep things simple. You do not need to spend hours constructing an elaborate itinerary before your holiday; you can use it primarily as a convenient digital folder for the arrangements you have already made.

Wanderlog – for the detailed planner

Wanderlog overlaps with TripIt, so there is no need to have both unless you want different levels of planning. Like TripIt, Wanderlog can bring flights, hotels and attractions together, while allowing you to attach documents to your trip. The difference becomes more obvious once you start planning what you will actually do when you arrive.

Wanderlog puts more emphasis on the itinerary itself. You can add attractions, restaurants and other places you would like to visit, see them on a map and arrange them into a day-by-day plan. It can help you consider distances between stops, making it easier to avoid the classic holiday mistake of booking three activities on opposite sides of a city for the same afternoon.

It is also useful for travelling with other people, since itineraries can be shared and planned collaboratively. Wanderlog has more features to explore than TripIt, so it may take a little longer to get comfortable with. For someone who enjoys researching a destination and working out each day’s activities, though, the extra flexibility can be worthwhile.

Google Maps – more than directions

Google Maps is an obvious choice, yet its usefulness while travelling extends well beyond getting from A to B. Before leaving home, you can save hotels, restaurants, attractions and other places you want to visit, making it easier to find them once you are in an unfamiliar area.

It can be especially handy when walking around a city. Rather than trying to decipher a paper map or work out which street you are standing on, your phone can show your position and provide directions. Depending on the destination, Google Maps can provide public transport information too, while downloading an area for offline use can be useful when mobile data is limited or unavailable.

There is a practical reason for including a familiar app such as Google Maps in a travel toolkit: you may already know how to use it at home. Learning a completely new app is rarely appealing when you are tired, jet-lagged and standing outside the wrong railway station.

XE Currency – make sense of overseas prices

Currency conversion becomes surprisingly tiring after a few days overseas. A price can look perfectly reasonable until you remember it is in pounds, euros or US dollars rather than New Zealand dollars.

XE Currency provides a quick way to check exchange rates and convert prices. It can be useful for everything from deciding whether a restaurant is within your budget to comparing the cost of an excursion or souvenir. Having a currency converter readily available can save you from attempting mental arithmetic while standing at a shop counter.

Exchange rates move constantly, so a currency app should be treated as a useful guide rather than a promise of exactly what your bank will charge. Even so, having a quick reference can make overseas spending easier to understand.

Google Translate – when the words aren’t familiar

A translation app can be reassuring when you are travelling somewhere where you do not speak the local language. Google Translate can translate typed text and spoken phrases, while its camera function can be particularly useful for signs, menus and other written information.

The camera feature is one of those tools which can feel almost magical when you first use it. Point your phone at unfamiliar text and a translation can appear on screen, giving you a much better idea of what you are looking at without having to type every word.

It is still sensible to treat automated translations with some caution, particularly for complicated conversations or important information. For everyday travel situations, however, it can remove a considerable amount of guesswork.

One app is rarely enough

There is no single app capable of making every aspect of travel effortless, nor should you feel obliged to turn your phone into a miniature travel agency. The most useful approach is to choose apps according to the way you travel. Before leaving home, spend a little time opening each app and making sure you understand the basics. Save important information for offline access where possible, keep your phone charged, and have a backup of essential booking details. Your phone can be an extremely useful travelling companion, but having a printed copy of your key reservations tucked into your luggage remains a remarkably good insurance policy.