12 iPhone, Android Apps To Ease Holiday Travel
Wherever you're flying or driving this holiday season, a travel app or two can make the experience less stressful. Here are our top picks.
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From the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through early January, the holidays are a blur of planes, trains, and automobiles.
We're not far away from the busiest travel days of the season, and it is time to get ready. Traveling is fun but stressful, and the hectic holiday season adds some extra challenges to the process.
You likely have a weather app to check on the forecast and a few productivity apps to get some work done on the road. But do you have an app to minimize the burden of holiday travel? Whether you're visiting family a few hours away or vacationing abroad, there are several services to make your travel easier.
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The travel app market is booming with services to help you with booking cheap flights, compiling detailed packing lists, finding gas stations mid-road trip, and accessing WiFi in an unfamiliar city. Need a pet sitter for your week away? There's an app for that.
Choosing the right travel apps can be overwhelming; our smartphones only have so much storage. That's why we built this list of travel apps to help with different stages of your journey.
Whether you're traveling for business or pleasure this holiday season, one or more of these apps will make your trip less stressful. Do you have a favorite travel app you'd add to this list? We'd love to hear more recommendations.
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If you're vacationing in a new place, check out TripAdvisor to shape your itinerary. Millions of jet setters use the service to rank hotels, restaurants, and attractions in cities around the world on a five-star system. The app provides pricing on accommodations and flights. For those who are leaving the country or who won't have a data connection, TripAdvisor's Offline City Guides app provides information on more than 80 destinations that you can download and access without draining mobile data.
If you're looking for a boost from your usual Maps app, Waze may be your next road trip buddy. This community-based navigation tool provides real-time information on traffic and road conditions from other drivers in the area. By using the app, you contribute useful information to other people on the road.
Some especially handy features, on top of the usual voice-guided navigation, include the ability to send your ETA and updates to people you're meeting, and the ability to view the ETA of friends driving to the same destination. You can also view information on cheap gas prices and local businesses.
Waze gives the option to receive alerts on accidents, police traps, hazards, and road closures. You can actively report such information through the app if you choose.
In a unique twist on the sharing economy, Spinlister connects bike owners with visitors looking for rental bikes. You use the app to reserve a bike, which you can select based on style, such as road or mountain, then pick it up and pay the bike's owner. Spinlister also helps active travelers rent equipment including skis, snowboards, stand-up paddleboards, and surfboards.
Planning travel can be a hassle, especially if you're dealing with several confirmations for flights, hotel bookings, and car rentals. TripIt acts as your personal travel secretary by scanning your emails and putting relevant information into an itinerary. It works by searching for reservation times, which it adds to your calendar. The app also adds maps to help you get where you need to be.
There are several apps for converting international currency. While these are handy for monetary transactions, chances are you'll have to convert more than dollars on your next trip abroad. Converter Plus converts money, but it also converts temperature, weight, length, and volume so you can turn Fahrenheit to Celsius and kilograms to pounds. It also has a tip calculator. It can be customized so more frequently used calculations appear first.
Available for free on iOS. A similar offering called Unit Converter Plus is available on Android for $2.99.
This is for anyone who has ever struggled to zip a suitcase, only to arrive at your destination to realize you forgot a toothbrush (guilty). PackPoint evaluates several factors, including destination, weather, length of travel, activities, and whether you're traveling for business or on vacation in order to help you figure out what you need for your trip. The app then creates a checklist for suggested items and luggage that you can customize according to factors like access to laundry services.
While Kayak has always been my go-to for base rates, Skyscanner has become my new favorite app for finding inexpensive flights. You can use the mobile app to browse trips to specific destinations, or choose to search flights to "Everywhere" from your home base and see the cheapest destinations for specific time frames. When searching for a specific flight, the app provides an interactive graph displaying prices for different travel days. Skyscanner also offers separate apps for hotel bookings and car rentals.
You had every intention of heading home after that New Year's Eve party, but all of a sudden it's 2:00 AM and you'd rather travel in the morning. If you're in a pinch to find a hotel room, whether for a spontaneous trip extension or a night out in your local city, Hotel Tonight can help. The app posts vacancies from hotels looking to fill empty rooms and willing to charge last-minute rates to do so. This is a relatively new service, so it's limited to major cities, but extremely useful if you happen to be in its coverage area.
It's a common problem among pet owners: Where to leave your precious pup when you go on vacation? DogVacay aims to ease the process of finding and booking local dog sitters. Through the app you can ask for a pre-trip meet-and-greet, browse sitter reviews, reserve a stay, and receive daily photo updates on your dog through the duration of your trip.
This isn't very relevant for travel, but it could make for a fun activity while you're away. (It was also too cool to keep off the list.) ISS Spotter helps you spot the International Space Station (ISS) as it travels through the sky. The app provides a forecast for when it will be visible, lets you set an alarm for an ISS spotting, and comes with a built-in compass and other tools to aid in your search.
Available free for iOS.
This isn't very relevant for travel, but it could make for a fun activity while you're away. (It was also too cool to keep off the list.) ISS Spotter helps you spot the International Space Station (ISS) as it travels through the sky. The app provides a forecast for when it will be visible, lets you set an alarm for an ISS spotting, and comes with a built-in compass and other tools to aid in your search.
Available free for iOS.
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