Best Travel Management Apps
1. TripIt
This app is a travel planner that will help you create your itinerary efficiently. All you must do is email your reservations to ‘plans@tripit.com’ and it will create your itinerary instantly. With this app, you no longer need to list all your reservations to plan your travels. The app also sets reminders for all your travel plans, reminding you when your flight departs and from which terminal/gate. Pro tip: Forward all your reservation emails and share your itinerary with those traveling with you to help coordinate travel time.
Best for: Auto-creating an itinerary of all your reservations. The premium service costs $49/year lets track real-time flight status, seats tracking, and alternate flight finder. The free service covers almost all necessary features and might be enough for most. Download TripIt (Android | iOS)
2. Roadtrippers
Roadtrippers helps you discover local diners and lesser-known attractions along your way. This app helps you focus more on the journey than the destination, helping you discover some of best places without having to plan them. It allows you to add places of interest as well, syncing it to the app’s servers. Thus, you can contribute to helping others find places that you find interesting.
Best for: This app is the best way to discover offbeat attractions while on a road trip. It is must for any avid driver. The app is currently supported only in USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is completely free. Pro tip: Use this app to find secluded campsites and unorthodox spots and avoid tourist crowded mainstream places. Download Roadtrippers (Android | iOS)
3. Mobile Passport
This app is officially authorized by US Customs and Border Protection. It allows US and Canadian passport holders (B1 or B2 visa) to submit their passport control and customs declaration via their mobiles. The app basically lets you to answers to standard immigration questions so you don’t have to manually full a form. It is recognized in 26 airports.
Best for: Those entering the US with B1 or B2 visa can breeze through customs with this app. It is completely free. Pro tip: Add your passport and personal in advance before landing. You can reuse this information later times, with just flight details needing some changes. Download Mobile Passport (Android | iOS)
4. Google Maps
Google Maps is one of the best navigation apps available. It is immensely useful for all types of road trips. The sheer number of cities and towns supported makes it a must-have. It helps you to find the shortest and fastest route anywhere, with live traffic information. It also helps you find restaurants and other attractions along the way.
Best for: Google Maps is a must-have for any mobile device. It is highly accurate and efficient. It will help you navigate your trip in a smart way. The app is completely free. Pro tip: Use the inbuilt search to find restaurants along the way. You can also download the map of the trip if there could be network issues. Download Google Maps (Android | iOS)
5. Wanderu
Wanderu lets you book trains and buses at the best possible deals. It is a travel search aggregator and comparison app, that provides the least prices for tickets. There are many apps that help you book flights but Wanderu is easily the first choice when it comes to booking trains and buses. It also provides you with the ticket within the app, which can be shown to board. It also keeps tracks of all your reservations. You can also book car rentals and flights in the app. Read: Best Group Bill Splitting App For Android and iOS
Best for: The app is a great way to travel for cheap. It covers major buses and trains which most popular apps skip. It is completely free. Pro tip: You can $1 tickets on some Greyhound, Megabus and Boltbus bus tickets. Download Wanderu (Android | iOS)
6. Google Photos
Google Photos is a cloud storage app for storing photos and videos. It backs up all your camera photos to the cloud, so you can delete them from your phone and free up space. You can even share the photos. The photos are accessible from the web app as well, so you can view them on your laptop as well. It also allows you to create collages of the photos. Read: Google Drive vs. Dropbox vs. OneDrive vs. iCloud: Which is Right for You
Best for: Arguably the best cloud media storage app. It will help you store all your photos and videos without taking up space on your phone. Google Photos is completely free and offers unlimited storage. It’ll automatically compress your photos in the free version but the difference is hardly noticeable. Pro tip: Use the custom filters and effects to create the photos that help you get all the likes on your social media account. You can even save screenshots of your tickets for quick access. Download Google Photos (Android | iOS)
7. Hopper
Hopper is a flight search and booking app. The unique feature of the app is that it analyzes the flight prices and then predicts days with the highest probability of lowest prices. All you have to do is search the flight for an upcoming trip and mark it as watched, hopper will then notify when would be the best day to book the flight.
Best for: Booking flights at cheap prices. The app will help you decide which day to a book particular flight. The more popular the route, the more accurate is its prediction algorithm. Pro tip: Mark your flight a few weeks in advance of the trip to allow the app to run its algorithm for a longer duration and get you the best possible time to book your flight at the cheapest price. Download Hopper (Android | iOS)
8. Uber
Uber is a popular app across the world. It is a cab booking service that lets you book a cab at a standard rate. The app uses is its algorithm to calculate the right fare. This is a great way to book cabs at a new city without worrying about getting looted.
Best for: Booking cabs in a foreign country without the stress of paying extra. Pro tip: If the fare after the trip is significantly more than the estimated fare, you can raise in an issue regarding the same in the trip help section and get the refund for the excess amount. Download Uber ( Android | iOS)
9. Guides by Lonely Planet
This is an online/offline tour guide app that covers all the major cities across the world. It contains a well-curated list of places worth visiting, with notes from the city guides. It also provides recommendations for hotels, restaurants, and social events. All the data can be downloaded and used offline as well.
Best for: The best way to roam a foreign city without worrying about missing popular spots. The app ensures you visit every location at the best possible time of day so that you can have the best experience. Pro tip: There is an inbuilt currency converter and a wide range of audio phrases of common sentences in multiple languages Use these to find your way in a foreign country whose language you don’t understand. Download Guides (Android | iOS)
10. Airbnb
The best way to experience a city is to live in it. Airbnb helps you do exactly that! You can stay with locally listed homes available for rent, interact with the locals and experience their daily lives. Anyone can list their home/room on Airbnb as available for rent. The visitors then choose from the available places. The rented apartment/room is vetted by Airbnb so there are no security issues as well.
Best for: To experience local lifestyle and avoid expensive hotel room, Airbnb is the perfect app. You can even cook your own meals, as most houses have a fully/semi-functional kitchen. Pro tip: Living in hostels helps you stay for cheap and meet new people. You can even make friends and plan trips as if you were living in a college dorm! Or you can choose a private apartment to have the quality alone time with your loved ones. Download Airbnb (Android|iOS)
