Whether you’re going on a quick getaway to a nearby destination or you want to visit places like London or Las Vegas, having a smartphone and a working internet connection can be a huge help. There are simply too many apps and services to help travellers travel better, cheaper and easier. To help you get started, we’re going to take a closer look at the three categories of apps you need to look into before your next trip.
The Sharing Economy
There are a lot of ways to reduce the costs of travelling but among the best ones are those that focus on the new and trending sharing economy. You can practically rent anything from other people regardless of where you are.
Airbnb, for example, allows you to stay in a local’s apartment instead of a hotel. You can find an apartment or a house suitable for your trip – and accommodate as many people as needed – while saving money at the same time.
Ridester is another great resource to benefit from. If you use apps such as Uber and Lyft to find rides and get to places at the destination, then the promotional offers and other resources provided by Ridester are definitely worth checking out.
The Aggregators
Comparing prices and deals is among the most boring things you can do when planning for, or going on, a trip. That said, it is also one of the most important. You can save a lot of money by finding better deals on flights, accommodation and other travel necessities. Fortunately, there are plenty of apps and resources to help you.
The recently released Google Flight service is now leading the pack when it comes to searching for deals on flights. While there is no app for the service yet, the website is really easy to use. You can compare flights, mark certain ones for price changes and even book the flights through the platform.
Wego is another great service to use. It is an app that allows you to compare hotel deals and flights on your smartphone. Wego is a particularly handy app to have when travelling, since there are also a lot of last-minute deals – derived from various sources – helping you save even more.
The Planners
Steve and I love to leave parts of our trips to chance. It allows us to be a bit spontaneous at times, meaning we can spend the unplanned days of our trip exploring places and activities we discovered on the spot. That said, it is still important to plan most parts of the trip, especially if you’re visiting a new place.
There is no shortage of travel planning apps on the app stores, but Google is once again leading the pack. Another new app from the company, dubbed Google Trips, is now one of the best apps to use for planning a trip. The app can automatically recognize your travel itinerary based on the confirmation emails you get from various services. It will even provide you with a list of activities and interesting places to visit.
So, which of these apps have you used before? Do you have your own favourite apps? Let us know in the comments section below.