Top 10 Apps to Simplify Your Travel Experience

Trips can be fun, but planning them can take some thought. How do you keep everything organized? How do you contact people when you are at your destination? Where should you eat and what should you see? The best travel apps help you answer these questions and make your trips less stressful and more enjoyable. Check out the 10 top travel apps and see how they can help you.

1. Waze

This app works on both smartphones and tablets. It features GPS navigation, so you end up where you want to go, user-submitted information related to travel time and location-specific information. App users can even submit gases prices, so you are able to find the cheapest prices when they need to fill up. You can even get alerts when you approach accidents, road hazards, police or traffic jams. Take the best routes at home and when traveling with Waze. Get the app and find the best “Waze” to go.
Price: Free

2. Skype

Video chat and voice calls are made easier with Skype. Send photos, emoticons and stickers to make your conversations more fun. Skype makes it easy to connect and share with people wherever, whenever. Staying connected to loved ones while travelling will keep you from getting homesick and allow you to fully enjoy your destination.
Price: Free for video, but you have to pay for calling or texting.

3. Airbnb

This online marketplace allows people to lease or rent out their homes, apartments, cottages and other places to stay. With the app, you can scope out where you want to stay, pay securely and get in touch with the host. View profiles, message securely and read reviews. Whether you want to stay at a cottage in England or an apartment in Los Angeles, you can find your dream place with Airbnb.
Price: Free

4. Whatsapp

Whatsapp offers free calling and messaging to over 180 countries, making it the perfect way to communicate with your family back home and the friends you meet on your travels. Send photos, videos, voice messages and documents over Whatsapp’s secure platform. Make sure you know the country code of whoever you are trying to reach. It makes communicating much easier because you need to know it to add them on Whatsapp.
Price: Free

5. Google Trips

Plan your trips with Google Trips. The app maps out itineraries for you. Search using keywords related to what you want to do, then it automatically plans out a half or full day of sightseeing for you. Just click the “magic wand” if you want different results. Google Trips is also accessible offline, so you can always see your plans, including reservations and things to do.
Price: Free

6. Hopper

Booking flights is always one of the most stressful parts of planning any trip. Hopper, however, helps take a little of the anxiety away. It analyzes flights so you know when to fly and buy your tickets for the best deals. Select your desired dates, and then get the app’s recommendation. If you do not want to buy tickets right away, Hopper can send you notifications when deals come up. With no ads, there are few downsides to this app.
Price: Free

7. Packpoint

Packing the right clothes for your trip can be anything but easy. Packpoint checks the weather at your destination, asks you what you will be doing there and provides you with a list of recommendations based on the dates and length of your stay. Never forget items again, and be prepared for the weather. Help those traveling with you by sending the list to them.
Price: $2.99 for Packpoint Premium

8. Rome2Rio

Rome2Rio searches any city, town, attraction, landmark or address across the world and provides you with routes of how to get there. The app offers up transportation and booking info, as well as attraction and accommodation choices. For transportation, it marks which options are the cheapest and most recommended, along with some alternatives.
Price: Free

9. Grab

When you are in an airport, you typically either do not have a lot of time, or are restricted to one terminal filled with lots of people. So what happens when you get hungry? Grab displays airport restaurant menus that you can order right off of, saving you from long wait times. View prices and descriptions of menu items beforu buy, so know exactly what you are getting.
Price: Free

10. Detour

Have you ever wanted to hear Ken Burns talk about the Brooklyn Bridge or Jenny Zigrino narrate your trip around Faneuil Hall? Get Detour, an app that features walking tours narrated by locals, many of whom are famous, from wherever the tour takes place. It is an app you never knew you wanted. With titles such as “Grenelle: The Bread Wars,” “Downtown: Pirates and Pot” and “Hongdae Through an Artist’s Eye,” each talk with leave you more knowledgeable about where you have been, and hungry for more.
Price: Free, but there are in-app purchases