Travel has definitely become easier with current technologies. It’s hard to believe how traveling was done before the iPhone!!! From searching for the cheapest price to doing research of things to do on blogs…
We use a lot of different mobile apps to do all sorts of things from best airline prices, blogs of other travelers telling what to see, where to eat or how much things cost, to places where we are going to stay, cool places to visit, and what route we will take to go for a run. These apps are very helpful, and below you will find a list of some of the ones we find most useful.
Top Apps:
Atlas Obscura is a website for finding the best off-the-beaten-path places. Atlas Obscura has sites all over the world and is a great way to learn more about the history of a place, or just to find some unique sites. Places on Atlas Obscura we have been to include the abandoned Consonno amusement park (find that post HERE), the tanneries of Fes (find the post HERE), and many others. It is a great way to do things that the typical tourist might not do. Usually, these sites are more authentic, and not overly touristy.
Amazon Music is the place for music. Artists from all over the world have music here and it is our main way of listening to music. What’s great is that you can download music for the road, so we can listen to it during our many long drives. You can also make (and publish) your own playlists and listen to pre-made playlists, some of them even made from Amazon Music themselves. We also use Amazon prime and when possible, Spotify (not always available in other countries)
Strava is an athlete’s guide to running all over the globe. Strava is a good way to track where you run, bike, and swim, along with all the other stats to go with it. Thanks to gps, you can see the exact route you did, as well as other runners that have run similar routes. (Very helpful if you are in a new place a land want to find a good running route) On top of that, there are ‘segments’, basically stretches where people ‘compete’ to get the fastest time. The entire community is based on athleticism, and you can connect with runners all over the world. We also can record our walks when exploring a town, you add pics and create a fun way to record our visits!
To find out where we have to go, along with bus/train times, stops, best routes, and everything related to maps, we use Google maps. The maps help us find the fastest route to get to our destination, and also show us alternative routes. You can also view the maps from a satellite mode, download maps for offline use, and also see the different routes between different modes of transportation. Another amazing feature of Google maps are the publicly sourced reviews of restaurants, stores, attractions, etc. especially for restaurants it is very useful to find best places to eat! Although very helpful, some places in the world lack good maps, and the data can be wrong or misleading, so we also use an app called Maps.me, which has similar features as Google maps.
Need to find information about a place, like things to do or see, events, and more? We find a lot of this through Facebook groups. Facebook has groups all around the world, and we can usually find an ex-pat group dedicated to each city. Joining these groups lets us take a look at all sorts of things going on in the city, usually by people who live in the city, yet aren’t necessarily from there. Or even search questions that have already been asked like: best way to get to the airport in Valencia, best craft beer store in Tirana, etc
The primary way of finding where we will stay is through the app Airbnb. Because we are a family of five, we normally need two hotel rooms, which can get costly. On Airbnb, you can choose the size of your group, as well as the price range, amenities you want, and more. We have found some amazing places. Some are very unique and fun, it’s also a great way to meet locals (the hosts). When we first started traveling, my mom wrote a blog post about how she chooses the Airbnbs we stay in. (HERE). When not using Airbnb we use booking.com, Expedia.com or Travelocity.com
As the name suggests, One Second a Day is an app where you can add a picture or one-second video every day. The result is a video that you string together all the days in a period of time, say a month or a year. For us, we use it to remember where we were on a specific day because we have done it long enough that we have one-second-a-day pictures from three years ago or more! It’s almost like a little digital diary, as you can also add what you did on that day and where you were.
I love reading books, absolutely adore it. The problem is that we don’t have much space to travel with a book. To solve this, we use the app Libby. Libby is a platform for online libraries. All you need is a library card at any library (in some online libraries you just need to enter your email and you are set to go). It makes it really easy to borrow books and is set up in a great way. On top of that, you can download books for long drives. It is all entirely free, although just like a normal library, there is a waitlist for certain books, and it can take weeks, if not months, for very popular books.
Another way for entertainment, especially during a long drive, flight, bus ride, or whatever mode of transportation, and to break up the day a little, is to listen to podcasts from Stitcher. Stitcher is home of podcasts, where you can find many, many podcasts, in really every category. Again, downloadable for offline usage. Some of our favorite podcasts include Science Versus, to discover the true facts behind something; Music Exploder, listen to how a music artist became inspired to write a song; Meditative stories, where you can listen to a person’s story, typically their life-changing one, and how you can apply it to your life.
Some of the apps in the list above, we use nearly every day. In this modern world full of technology, it can sometimes be difficult to find the best apps for certain functions. I hope you can use these apps the next time you travel.
