Why you really should think about travel apps before your next trip

When Ade and I first started travelling, the internet was still a fairly new concept and travel apps weren’t even on the horizon. 

Back then we relied on friends, our travel agent, our trusty travel guidebooks and the people we met along the way to ensure we got the most out of our trip.

And over the years some of our favourite experiences have been the sites or activities locals and other travellers have told us about – like the time in Munich when we stood chatting to a local for about 20 minutes.

Don’t go to Hofbräuhaus, he told us, not for a meal, go to Augustiner Brewery instead. It’s far less touristy. So we did, of course, and had the time of our lives. You know you’re in for a unique experience when all information is in German and half the people at the table only speak the local language. Fortunately one lady could speak English and helped us navigate the menu – she even offered us a lift home at the end of the night.

But I digress.

Since that night about 20 years ago our travel planning has changed significantly and the ability to source information about new destinations has exploded with the internet and mobile technology.

These days when we travel we find ourselves scouring travel blogs, looking at different experiences, studying photos and videos on YouTube to see what a place actually looks like and what we might like to do, see and photograph in a new city. 

It’s no secret that planning a trip is a big part of the fun of taking the trip.  Apps can be incredibly useful for planning a trip and for helping you to navigate a country once there. 

There’s an app for just about everything in today’s digital world and the travel industry is no different. And it’s no wonder.

With travel apps you can easily search and store flights, destinations, tourist attractions, restaurants, activities; the list is endless. And getting that “insider or in the know” information is far easier in our digital world.

People often ask us what apps we use, or what sites we recommend for people heading overseas.

Some of our favourite apps are travel specific, some are apps we use frequently at home, but they also happen to be very useful overseas. 

GPSmycity

One of our favourite travel apps is GPSmycity, because it essentially brings all these benefits together (disclaimer: we also contribute to this app). The app allows you to follow the itineraries of your favourite travel bloggers and plots restaurants, icons, hotels – anything mentioned in a travel blog – so that you can see exactly where it is and use that information to build your own walking tour of a city.

And once you download a blog post, you can access it offline meaning you don’t need WIFI or data when on the road to access the information. It’s kind of like having a lonely planet guide, detailed map, travel agent and someone “in the know” in your pocket…

With GPSmycity you can download basic articles for free or for a small fee you can download the full version, which includes GPS coordinates to make navigating new cities even easier. (Note: we get a small percentage of download costs if you choose the full version of one of our stories.)

There are more than 1000 cities worldwide listed on the GPSmycity app, and it’s constantly being updated by contributors, from around the world.

XE Currency Converter

We use this app all the time when we’re travelling. As the name suggests it will help us convert local currencies quickly and easily.

Just add the currency of the country you’re currently in or heading to under the ‘convert’ section in the app and away you go. You can also send money via the app, apparently, but we’ve never used that feature, we simply use it to get a better idea of how much something costs, or to know whether we’re getting a good deal when converting Aussie or US dollars into local currency.

I’ve literally looked up the app while I’ve been standing in front of a money changer, just to be sure I’m not getting ripped off.

iBooks

This one is a little out of the ordinary but hear me out. I use iBooks to store itineraries and tickets that are emailed to me. I find it’s useful to have them all in one place and to have them available offline. I don’t want to be searching through my emails or logging on to my desktop to find important documents. I like to be able to check itineraries on the road, especially when I’m hosting a tour, and this might mean I’m looking things up on a bus or train or while waiting in line to get into a local attraction.

iBooks is perfect for that. Google docs or downloads on an android phone would probably work in much the same way.

And yes, I also use iBooks for books, but I tend to use my Kindle app for that more so than iBooks so the two don’t get mixed up. 

Google Maps

This is another one I use all the time. At home I generally use it to get the best route for my destination when I’m driving, but while travelling I use it to walk through cities, to find nearby restaurants, ATMs, cafes. You name it. It is one of the most useful tools a traveller can have. Part map, part guidebook, you can even check out reviews to see what others thought of that restaurant you’re planning on checking out.

Google Translate

While we’re on Google, the Google Translate app is another useful tool for travellers. Just put in the language of the country you’re in (make sure you’ve toggled correctly, ie do you want English to Italian or vice versa?) and then type in the word or phrase you need translated. There is a microphone if you’d prefer not to type. There’s also a handy camera function so you can hold your device over foreign text and it will translate it into your preferred language, ideal for when you want to read a menu.

Uber

This is another one of those apps we use all the time at home in Melbourne and when we’re overseas. We speak to a lot of people who have told us they’ve never thought to use this one overseas and wondered whether they needed a different app for each country.

You don’t.

We have used Uber in Egypt, in Italy, Morocco, Croatia, Malaysia, India… the list goes on. It’s very handy as you can pinpoint exactly where you are and where you want to go and avoid language barriers and confusion.

We will also often use it to look up the price of a trip from our location to our destination and then compare that to the price taxis will drive us to the same destination.

Airalo

People always ask us about local sims. Ade prefers to buy a sim in each country – it generally is cheaper and it means you can usually make phone calls (often only within the country you’ve bought the sim in).

I prefer to use an E-sim. I don’t have to change physical sims and it’s easy to set up. They do work out to be more expensive so if price is a consideration you might want to stick with a local sim, but they are so much easier to use. Essentially the E-Sim provides data for your phone so you can access all your trusty apps while on the go.

This is another one of those apps I’ve used in countries all around the world and they’ve never let me down. I’ve also found them to be very responsive when I did have an issue trying to download the sim in a new country.

Social media

We use social media in a few different ways when we’re travelling. I like to use WhatsApp and Messenger to stay in touch with people.

You’ll find a lot of organisations and tour companies round the world use WhatsApp as their method of contact so if you don’t have it, it’s worth downloading and learning how to use it before you leave home.

We are constantly making video calls to friends and family at home or those we’ve met on the road through messenger, and now that it’s encrypted it’s even better.

And of course we use Facebook, Instagram, X (only occasionally now) and YouTube to get our travel inspiration, to learn about new places and to pick up tips along the way.

I know a lot of people use TikTok these days but I just don’t seem to be able to get into it.

Join @AllabroadAU on  Instagram,  FaceBook, X and  YouTube  for more travel chatter.