Apps For All!

Travelling has become easier and more accessible thanks to the advancement of technology. Most of us would be lost without our phones and I have never felt that more than when backpacking. Never before has it been easier to plan, book and navigate your trip through your phone so here's all the handy apps I use to bring my travel plans to life.

Expedia and Skyscanner

Expedia and Skyscanner are my go to options when looking for flights. I use this as a guide to find the cheapest airlines and names of local airports close to where I am going. The prices usually match on the airline's website and I prefer to book directly with them as in the event something goes wrong, they usually help you sort it out which is more than I can say for Expedia (anyone who has waited over an hour for a rep to hop on the live chat with them will understand).

Hopper

Another useful app for flights is Hopper which analyses trends in flight prices and tells you the cheapest time to book flights between specific destinations, as well as when they predict the prices will increase and decrease.

Hosteworld

My favourite and most used app for booking accommodation. Hostelworld is the best way to find hostels wherever you go. You type in the specific area you are visiting with your travel dates and it will provide you with a list of hostels in that area, each with an overall rating out of 10, the number of total reviews and its distance from the centre. You can explore the different options by looking at their pictures, reading the reviews and seeing the breakdown of their overall rating in different categories. You can read about what services they provide, what amenities they have and their house rules, which also helps you figure out the type of hostel it is with some being huge party hostels and others being quieter, relaxing spaces. You can check what types of rooms (dorms and privates) are available and book beds accordingly. Once you have made your booking, you can see the events that are going on at that hostel during the days you are there and you will have access to Hostelworld chats which let you connect with others who will be staying at the hostel at the same time as you, as well as a general chat for the city/town to connect with more people. I found this useful as travellers will ask if anyone wants to join them on a tour, going to restaurants or just exploring the area.

Booking.com and AirBnb

Booking.com and AirBnb are good options for booking accommodation, especially if you're looking for something a little more private than a hostel. In some cases if Hostelworld does not have availability you may find it on Booking.com and sometimes it is cheaper to book it through the latter.

Airalo

If you're looking for an eSim, I have used Airalo multiple times and have had no problems. The app provides eSims for all over the world with different bundles and prices for different lengths of time. In some countries you may be better off just buying a local sim from the airport or a shop as these can be significantly cheaper, however in a few South and Central American countries I found Airalo to be the more cost effective option, but just price compare for yourself. Airalo is quick and easy to use as you choose your plan, pay for it and within a minute, it is activated and ready to use, but check whether your phone is compatible with the app (you can see a list of compatible phones on the app).

Busbud

Busbud is great for booking buses. You just type where you want to go and a travel date and it gives you the bus times, companies and trip duration and you can secure your place by purchasing your ticket through the app. You have to be specific about where you want to go as if you just type in 'Cambodia' is won't give you a list of all the stations in Cambodia, so you need to be sure about where you're going. Another thing the app doesn't do well is provide a route with connecting buses so unless your journey is direct, it will probably come back with 0 search results. Once you have your ticket, you have to show it to the ticket office to get an 'official' ticket as most of the time your phone reservation will not be accepted, however the app will tell you that. Your bus reservation will be emailed to you but you can also find it on your Busbud app.

Uber, Grab, InDrive

Most people are familiar with Uber however a lot of countries don't have it and instead use their own version of the app. In Asia, it's called Grab and you can pay with card or cash. In South America, it's called InDrive and you can ONLY pay with cash. InDrive is slightly different in that you can input the price you are willing to pay for the journey (the app will recommend an amount if you're not sure) then you can see drivers who are willing to make that journey and select them. Drivers may counter your offer with a slightly higher price and you can choose whether to accept or deny it, equally, if no one is offering you a lift, you can change your suggested amount as you wait.

Translate

Don't need to explain this one, but extremely useful especially when you don't speak the local language.

Maps.me

Maps.me allows you to download maps for cities, towns or entire countries around the world so you can use it when you're offline. It's exactly like the usual map apps you would use, in that you can find your way to specific roads, restaurants or places of interest and it will show you the walking, driving and public transport routes and follow you along the way, all whilst not being connected to the internet. Pretty handy in a lot of areas where the connection is weak.

Happy Cow

Calling all vegetarians and vegans! Happy Cow is the easiest way for you to find food for your dietary requirements. The app works around the world and it will show you a list of restaurants in that area and whether the establishment is mixed (serves meat), vegetarian or vegan. You can see reviews from fellow users about the food and filter the restaurant list to find solely veggie or vegan spots. Under the reviews for the mixed restaurants, people will tell you whether they had veggie or vegan options and if they were any good. This app was a life saver and led me to some amazing places where you can find veggie and vegan versions of local dishes.

Tripadvisor, GetYourGuide and Viator

Usually I book tours through my hostel or find a tour operator in the area I'm in, but sometimes I'll book activities through Tripadvisor, GetYourGuide or Viator depending on the price or type of activity. All these providers pretty much do the same thing and I have used them all at least once and had no problems. I like to have a look at the reviews to see which tour companies provide the best experience and get an idea for the overall safety, especially when abroad.

Revolut

There's loads of similar banking apps to Revolut out there, this is just the UK version. The reason I like using this abroad is because you can create accounts for different currencies, the exchange rates are usually a lot better than exchanging money within a country and there are no exchange fees (only ATM fees which apply to everyone).

Polarsteps

Polarsteps isn't an essential but it's a really cool app if you want to document your trip. It will track your location and can detect whether you walked, flew, drove or took a boat between destinations and you can see all of this on a world map. If you allow it access to your photos, you can add photos from those locations and eventually it will create a personal diary of each place you went to from start to finish and you can also add text about that day or location. You can choose to keep your profile private or not, and have other users follow your journey. At the end of the trip you can create a travel book which transforms your journey into a book with all the destinations you visited and pictures you took.

Facebook

Hear me out. Facebook can sometimes be quite useful when travelling as you can join groups for specific destinations or types of travellers so you can connect with more people or find out more about an area. This came in handy for me in Indonesia as a volcano had erupted stopping lots of flights, and had I not seen travellers posting about it in the Indonesia groups, I would've been blindsided when I got to the airport the next day, however having a heads up gave me time to come up with a new plan.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp is also very useful with most countries and people using this as their main way to contact people. Lots of hostels and tour operators are easier to get in touch with through WhatsApp and you can call them for free. There are WhatsApp travel groups, the one most travellers would have heard of being 'Dutchies in...' a WhatsApp group where Dutch people travelling in specific countries are added to a communal group where they can ask questions and get in touch with other Dutch travellers. Aside from this, I have not come across any other WhatsApp groups but maybe you'll find something.

Apps all folks!