I want to talk today about some apps I use that I find to be very handy. I have mentioned these previously but wanted to mention them again.

In our pockets/purses/backpacks are some pretty powerful travel items – our smartphones. We can get information we need most anytime and anyplace in the world. We can take care of most anything we need – hotel reservations, flights, ride-shares – all without a phone call, computer, or travel agent.

I tend to do most of my travel stuff on websites; I can browse privately through a VPN and not be tracked. Many apps steal too much of my information that they don’t need so I usually never even download them unless I check privacy. Even then, do I really need the clutter?

One thing I want to mention. I am no more fond of subscription-based apps than you are. I’d rather pay upfront for an app and be done with it but subscriptions are how it is now so you either use a free limited basic version or you upgrade.

But I know many people think that just because it is on the internet they DESERVE to be given anything for free. Sorry, but you’re just being a cheapskate a-hole. Do you work for free? App developers, just like musicians, actors and such, all deserve to be paid for their work – just like you expect a paycheck every two weeks for what you do. Support these people by upgrading or using an ad-based free version.

Here’s what I do. I take the free version on a test-drive. Many developers will offer a free trial on the upgrades so see if that does what you need or want. If I like what it does I then see if I really need or want to upgrade to get more value on the features I want to use.

You can also pay to upgrade for a month for one trip, or for a few months, say for summer vacation and weekend trips, then go back to the basic version until next trip. There are usually a few options if you just look at your needs and figure out what’s going to work best for you.

Airline Apps

Airline apps are always a good idea for air travel. Electronic boarding passes are awesome, however I have found them useless on my Apple Watch in the past since there’s no room to stick it under a scanner when it’s on your arm. Simple enough to get around – just use your phone.

They can be handy in other ways – you can look at your flights but you can also look for and book flights, get updates on delays & gate changes, get customer support and get around the airport with maps. These are amongst the many things you can do and i am sure there are more. Each app has their own features so check them out.

Other Travel Apps

There are many useful travel apps for different needs. Hotels, car rentals, government tourism apps…the selection will cover most anything you need.

But, for me I found I don’t really use them too often so I deleted them. As I previously mentioned, I do not use third-party booking sites and book my accommodations directly with the hotels. Same with airlines. I don’t like what AirBnB has become – like the property owners fees and shenanigans – and they are what drove me to delete the app. I’m not cleaning, I’m not mowing, and I am not doing laundry. I will stay with smaller, nicer hotels if I am booking a room. It’s usually the same price and I am not being forced into slave labor when I’m not only paying for the room but a cleaning fee as well.

You can certainly find accomodations very easily with Apple Maps, Google Maps, and Google travel’s website. In the past I have looked at hotels on Expedia, but I have quit using them and any similar apps since the other websites I mentioned are really loaded with info.

For road trips, Roadtrippers is very good and has different subscription levels. They have combined the functionality of some other apps they had into this one and are working on incorporating the Campendium app information into Roadtrippers so it will be one app for everything.

Roadtrippers has very good trip-planning and routing. The more you zoom in on a map, more detail about points of interest, roures, camping, etc. show on the map. Options vary with a subscription level so you can pay for what you want/need.

I have used Campendium many times and it was a fantastic resource to find city park camping spots, state and federal lands, and private campgrounds. This functionality has just been added into the Roadtrippers app; I was told by the company Campendium will be decommissioned in the next week or two so if you are interested just download Roadtrippers.

One app I will always sing the praises of I have used for many years is Tripit. Tripit is a great app for getting your itinerary in one place. You can also share trips and trip-planning with other people in your travel party so everyone has the itinerary and details. It takes info from your reservation emails and puts them in chronological order. It has check-in/check-out times, addresses, reservation and confirmation info, destination & weather info, car rental suggestions and many other details all in one handy app. A premium subscription gets you more but I just use the free version as it has the basic info I need to access.

A few days ago I mentioned being prepared in your travels. Did you know that you can download apps for customs and entry into many countries? Some may require filling out electronic forms in an app before entering so you might check ahead of time. Some of these, like the USCBP MPC app, will actually help expedite your entry/re-entry.

Of course, there are the personal preference apps people use. Kindle, Netflix, Prime and such are just a few of the apps people use while getting from A to B, downloading media of all sorts to help pass the time. These are handy and valuable in that wifi on a plane is absolutely useless. Everyone thinks the wifi on a plane is for THEM to stream video. No…it’s VERY limited capacity and should only be used for checking email and that’s about it. And, it’s why they hand out tablets or have entertainment screens in the seat backs. It’s only a few hours out of 24 and you will still be alive even if you are not checking IG, FB, TT for that time. If not, how do you get through the night sleeping?

You might want to download more regional/local apps for specific things like trains, buses, and schedules. Rick Steves has free Europe audio tours on his app and website.

That’s a wrap on this post. I hope you were able to get some usable info from it. There are a lot of options to make your trips smoother and better so why not use them?

Shawn