Over the last 5 weeks I've taken this small kiwi girl to the big wide world as I travelled around Europe. I have had the most amazing adventures and feel like through all my experiences I've brought a lot to my life as well as into my classroom.
I downloaded a lot... many... heaps... of apps before I went away and there were a good range of them that were quickly deleted! This post is a quick wrap up of the travel apps that I found to be the most beneficial and worthwhile.
Here are my top 5 (+1) iPhone travel app picks:
http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/tripit-travel-organizer-free/id311035142?mt=8
This handy little app was suggested to me by a well travelled friend. Boy was it worth it's weight in gold! Tripit is simple in what it does and it does it well.
Once you create an account with Tripit and link it to your email it scans through and locates any trip information emails and automatically adds it to your itinerary for that trip. So you don't need to enter in details and bits of information for your trip - it does it for you! This was super handy with a trip that had around 11 flights within it! A few minutes after the confirmation email was sent through to my email I would receive an email from tripit letting me know it had been added to my itinerary. I could flick open the app on my iPhone and there in my 'Europe Trip' would be the new flight added. There was one flight that Tripit didn't pick up - this was extremely easy to add in my myself from within the app (it can also be done on the website). The best thing about this is that via the app or website I had access to all my travel scedule, numbers, locations and more! You can also pay for the full version which includes many features such as a flight checker - that checks to see if your flight is on time or delayed. If you're a frequent flyer it would be a handy feature!
TripColor - Free http://www.tripcolor.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tripcolor-social-travel-sharing/id459934160?mt=8
Tripcolor was by far my most used app for the entire trip. It's such an easy to use and effective app that allowed me to be able to share my trip with friends and family via online photo albums.
Once you set up your account you create a new trip - from here you can add photos to your trip, date/timestamp and information/notes about the photo. The best feature of TripColor was the fact that it used the location information to keep a map of where each photo had been taken. For example, on my trip to Berlin, I could see all the locations in Berlin I had taken photos. When viewing it online via the trip photo map I could roll over on the location dot and it would show the photo that was taken in that location! Fantastic! Check out the TripColor Demo albums here - you need to click on the individual trips to view the map and images. I will continue to use this even though I'm home - it's a great way to record small trips as well as large ones!
http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/instagram/id389801252?mt=8
If you're a photo freak you'll know about instagram. It's kinda hard not to after their 1 billion dollar sale to Facebook. Anyway - Instagram is a photo sharing app that is a must have if you love to take photos. Create a network of friends and new friends to share your photos with! You can add hashtags (#) to your posts to link them to certain areas, places and countries along your travels. It's a great way to link in and find some great places to visit while you are there too!
Guidepal Apps - Free - http://guidepal.com/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/guidepal-city-guides/id507161832?mt=8
Guidepal offer apps for a huge range of cities! The app provides you with a guidebook to the area you are visiting. I found their range of apps to be one of the easiest to navigate. Once open it gives you a chance to explore in areas such as history and information about the city, attractions, nightlife, food and more. In each section it's clearly laid out and gives a range of information that is very worthwhile reading. You can also have a look on the map to see what's close to you. Augmented Reality is built in to the app - once you open the 'Nearby' section it will show you the name, distance and direction to local attractions and more. A great range of features!
Timeout - Free - http://www.timeout.com/london/feature/393/time-out-travel-apps-for-iphone
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/london-travel-guide-time-out/id406332146?mt=8
Timeout offers a range of guidebook apps for cities around Europe. This was my other 'go to' guidebook that I located a range of interesting attractions and points of interest in the cities I visited. Timeout is a magazine that is published for purchase around London. It lists the what's what and main events that are great to attend at that time. It's seasonal and up to date which I really liked. The app had a great range of suggestions and led me to a pretty amazing Flamenco dancing show while I was in Barcelona! Worth having a look through when you're new to a city to get a range of ideas and information.
Happycow - $3 http://www.happycow.net/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/happycow-vegan-vegetarian/id435871950?mt=8
Being vegan and travelling to different countries with a range of languages can be a bit daunting! Not with this app! Happycow is a website that lists vegetarian, vegan and health stores in your area. The app does exactly this but with the added bonus of using your gps information to tell you how close or far away cafes and restaurants are from you. This was a great app to locate yummy restaurants through the review feature, where previous customers can leave a review and star rating.
3 comments:
Loving this post - just whatI need as I prepare to head off in for weeks for 4 weeks.
Dorothy
I use iphone and have great traveling experience with “OffMaps 2” and “Currency Converter” apps.
I'm a big fan of TripIt. Great app that lets you organize your vacation plans.
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