You carry your smartphone everywhere you go, why not put it to use by downloading a few good apps that will not only save you time, but will save you money!
Priceline.com
Priceline.com has a free app that allows you to book hotels, cars and flights and offers its one of a kind in-app feature, Road Deals. This is the perfect feature for travelers on the road. Road Deals is a convenient and easy way to search for deals on the go. Once you’re in your car, simply enter your destination and the app will instantly show you money saving deals and discounts offered exclusively through Priceline, all in real-time on your route! The hotels will automatically refresh on your route so you will have control of what location you choose to book a room. Booking a room is also easy through the app. With a scroll and a tap, you’re ready for check-in!
The Road Deals feature is currently available on their free iPhone app. The feature also allows users to set search preferences based on price, star ratings and recommendations. This will come in handy so you’ll have one less thing to worry about when hotel selections appear on your road trip!
Rick Steves’ Audio Europe
Rick Steves’ Audio Europe is the ultimate app you’ll need for taking a trip to Europe! Rick Steves is the leading travel expert in America (and the reason why we were able to navigate our way around Italy without an escorted guide.) He’s a long time author, radio personality and host of the television series, Rick Steves’ Europe. This app is packed with information, self-guided tours, and radio interviews about Europe.
You can also download free self-guided walking tour maps of Europe’s most popular attractions. These guides were created by Rick Steves and they accompany the app so you can use it while touring an attraction.
Evernote
Evernote is not only good for business use, but makes a great app for trip planning. Use Evernote to create an itinerary, take notes about where to go and where to eat, or plan a budget for your trip. It can be downloaded on all of your devices so you can use this app on your tablet, smartphone or computer anywhere in the world.
Trip Advisor
TripAdvisor has an app that will give you access to reviews, maps, and everything else that is normally offered on their website except it is available offline. Your destination may have limited internet access so an offline guide for restaurants, hotels and attractions just might save the day! There are also forums of information from other travelers. We always use Trip Advisor to read reviews before booking a hotel. It’s like a virtual word of mouth!
Google Translate
If you’re visiting a country whose language you aren’t familiar with, Google Translate is a great app to use! You can either type, speak or scan printed text with your phone (like signs and menus for example) and it will show you and speak the translation! How cool is that? However, I do recommend learning basic phrases prior to your trip, you may not be fluent but the locals will appreciate the effort!
Google Maps
Believe it or not, we’ve not only used Google Maps for road trips and local places near home, but also for mapping out routes to take from our hotel to all of the sightseeing spots! Just be sure you have internet service where you’re going. TIP: Since we book hotels offering free WiFi, we map walking directions and take screen shots of it on the phone. Sometimes we’ll print them out if done prior to the trip.
All of these apps are free and available on most platforms and devices. What are you waiting for? Download them today!
This was a great list, I’ve used some of these and I’ll def check out the others 🙂 Europe’s under consideration for my 2017 travels so Rick Steves’ Audio Europe will def come in handy!
Hi Aisha,
Yes Rick Steves is the best!!!! We planned our entire Italy trip using his guides.