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Travel planning

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 Lonely Planet guide 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 Hofbrauhaus, 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 almost 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 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 actually taking the trip. 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.

Did you know 48% of travellers use travel apps for GPS directions, 49% use travel apps for map features and 61% use travel apps to find restaurants?

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.

To help get you started with GPSmycity, because really, it’s always best to try these things for yourself, we’re offering the full version of one of our articles for free.

Check out our stories on Mexico City and Peru

Mexico City as it appears on our GPSmyCity travel app

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