Ten must-have travel apps for overseas trip

One of the ways to enjoy travel experience, especially those travels outside the country is having a practical information handy way before travelers land in a new country. And even though they might have visited these places before, they certainly didn’t get the chance to see all the places that are to be seen. Travel apps are always a traveler’s best friend in this case.

For a traveler who wants to go to a certain restaurant because one of his friends tweeted the picture of the most perfect, yummiest dish he craved for or check out that gallery that’s running a timely exhibit of his favorite artist, or maybe there’s a particular running route he wants to cover within the next few days after he reaches his destination, all of them are on these high-tech apps whenever he needs them.

This is the age of the pocket traveler. In the not-quite-decade since smartphones dominated the market, ingenious developers have come up with range of apps designed to make travels smoother, cheaper and more fun. Each of these best travel apps has earned its place on the list by virtue of pushing the boundaries in some way, being innovative, quirky or (in some cases) downright space-age.

Here are some of the Must-Have travel apps for travelers going abroad.

The first on the list is the Trip Advisor. Do not dream of planning a holiday without consulting Trip Advisor’s appraisals of hotels, restaurants, flights and attractions. But this robust app does much more, letting you book entire trip from flights to museum tickets in one place. For those who embrace spontaneity, trip adviser is great for quickly finding spots nearby to stay, eat or play. With over 225 million reviews on the app, Trip Advisor makes it easy to find the lowest airfare, best hotels, great restaurants and flights are just a tap away. The app uses the traveler’s location to send  personalised hotel, restaurant attraction and holiday rental recommendations as well as remember the places they previously visited via the travel timeline feature.

Another is the Currency Converter Plus; a premium class currency converter that includes 191 currencies from all over the world with online updated conversion rates. This converter even has some historic currencies like the German Mark, Spanish, Peseta, French Franc, Italian Lira and many more. What makes this app special is that it comes with unique ‘Plus’ function that other converters are missing, which is the change money calculator. Just imagine that you are in Mexico and local restaurants accept payment in Mexican Peso’s and US dollar. Your bill is 400 pesos, but you have 200 pesos in your wallet. Instantly, you will ask yourself, ‘Do I have enough money to pay?’ ‘How much should I get back as change?’ It is almost impossible to figure this out fast enough. This is where currency converter plus becomes a unique helper that does this calculation for you and you will no longer worry about if you have paid the correct amount or got the correct amount or got the correct change back.

For travelers that need holiday inspiration, Lonely Planet Traveler is packed with ideas, whether they are after an European city break, a weekend on the coast in Britain, a road trip through America or a once in a life time safari in Africa. They will be taken on a journey through the beautiful photography, with highly atmospheric features transporting them to spectacular landscapes, allowing local people to reveal their culture, history, food, drinks and natural wonders that surround them.

Airbnb is another app that has totally changed the way traveler find places to stay. Packed with amazing spots all around the world, from cottages in France to New York city condos. Travelers can book private rooms, share room with host or list their own spaces.

An exciting travel app where traveler can get instant access to detailed maps of all countries from anywhere in the world with no internet connection required is the MAPS.Me. A more exciting aspect is that travelers don’t need to worry about getting lost in a foreign land.

In addition to these top travel apps is the Travel list app, which helps travelers easily organize the items they’ll put in their suitcases. They can add a reminder for the things they have to pack at the last minute, so they’ll be set before they leave. This app can also help in planning every stop of trip and won’t let a traveler miss out on anything.

With more than 3,000 airports and 1,400 airlines, FlightTrack Pro has got travelers covered. Travelers can manage their international flights with real-time updates using zoomable maps. Updates on flight delays and cancellations are now at their fingertips. It also includes push flight alerts, Tripit, terminal maps and weather delays.

Trip It shows all trip details at a glance: flights, hotels, car, map, directions—all in one place. Travelers can sync their travel plans with online or mobile calendar, share itineraries and post travel plans on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

For a traveler interested in having a fast comparison of hundreds of travel sites on their tablet or smartphone, Kayak is just an appropriate app for this. Some of the features include comparing flight, hotel and car rental deals; booking accommodation; tracking flight status; managing itineraries and accessing airline numbers and airport info.

Finally, taking Google Maps for a trip is one of the best options to explore new places. Traffic updates, public transit, city tours with 360-degree street views, plus a voice-guided, turn-by-turn GPS navigation. are merely some of the features this mobile app offer travelers so they can navigate.

So, before a traveler packs his bags and see the world, he can check out this list of travel apps that should anticipate all his on-the-road needs.

Ifeoma Okeke