Mark Twain. Paul Theroux. Bill Bryson. Each traveled all over the world without a smartphone. No apps. No Google Maps. No Facebook Messenger. No “snap a photo and translate an image” apps. Nothing. They survived and wrote all about it. Technology has made it too easy to travel. Everyone wants to do something different, then uses an app and winds up visiting the same Instagrammy attractions and restaurants. Apps decrease the likelihood you will foul up, that you will make a mistake during your travels or wander off someplace unintended. Those mistakes? They make the best stories. If you are trying to be a travel writer, consider leaving your smartphone or iPad at home. But, if you are inclined to bring one along, here’s a couple of apps that I found useful.
I’ll start with my favorite, DayOne, a journal app. I wasn’t sure when I first started traveling whether I would write down my adventures as I went or try to gather my thoughts on the backend. The DayOne app is so nice that it encouraged me to write at the start of my travels. It may have been more practical to open my laptop and write in Google Docs but DayOne’s user experience made me return and write every day. Whenever I had spare time, waiting for a train or waiting for food, I opened the app and recorded my activities. It took a few entries to see the benefit of writing as I went. I emailed the diary entries and opened them in Google Docs so they can be copied and pasted into my website.
I’m sure you already have Google Maps. I found myself using the public transportation routes more frequently than when I’m in the U.S. It’s rare that you’ll be able to find bus routes online, but with Google Maps…the routes are right there, real time, and with instructions on how to walk to the nearest bus station.
I used several apps for communicating with people: WhatsApp, Tango, Viber, Google Chat, Skype, and Facebook Messenger. I frequently used Google Chat and Facebook Messenger—those were the apps the people I wanted to communicate with were familiar. Skype is the only must have communication app because it allows you to dial a U.S. landline. There are times when the only way you can communicate with someone is via a landline through a Skype phone call, such as talking to your Grandparents or calling a credit card fraud hotline. You do need to pay for the talk time to the U.S. landline.
I always searched for local apps specific to a destination. My favorite example is Open Rice, a Hong Kong specific food app. You can be anywhere in the city, open this app, and it will tell you all the great nearby restaurants. I filtered on coffeeshops to find out of the way places where I could sip an Americano. Open Rice also has annual awards for top and new restaurants. Burrple is Singapore’s equivalent to Open Rice and similarly useful. I’m not sure if I found these apps because I lived in Hong Kong and Singapore long enough to find them or if Hong Kong and Singapore are the two metropolises that are food centric, tech centric, and entrepreneurial enough to develop these sorts of apps. I think it’s likely the latter.
Cities and larger attractions may have walking tours available via an app. There’s a Taj Mahal guided tour app for $1.99 which includes a map. If you are trying to avoid the touts offering guide services, purchase the app, put in your headphones, and it’s smooth sailing.
City Specific Transit Apps, like a New York subway map, are a must.
Money transfer apps seemed like science fiction in 2014. Now there are so many services you need to determine which is the popular app is the many people are using. Cash, Venmo, and Zell are all easy and straightforward to transfer cash. Transfer a small amount first so you know the cash reached the proper destination.
Hostelworld, Booking.com, Kayak, and Airbnb are essential travel booking apps.
I used Wunderlist to keep track of future attractions to see and places to eat. I created lists by location, then added individual attractions and restaurants to each list.
I’ve yet to find a decent translation app. I tried several apps in Russia with no luck.
I downloaded several fitness apps to keep me in shape during my travels. I had sit-up, pushup, legs, and arms specific exercise apps. All these apps seem to have little quirks so you may need to download five sit-up apps before you find the app you like.
These apps can all help during your travels or you could pull a Mark Twain and forgo any technology related assistance, although it does raise an existential question—if Mark Twain had an iPhone would he have brought it on his trips? Probably so. Although he’d still be Mark Twain.
I’m sure you already have Google Maps. I found myself using the public transportation routes more frequently than when I’m in the U.S. It’s rare that you’ll be able to find bus routes online, but with Google Maps…the routes are right there, real time, and with instructions on how to walk to the nearest bus station.
I used several apps for communicating with people: WhatsApp, Tango, Viber, Google Chat, Skype, and Facebook Messenger. I frequently used Google Chat and Facebook Messenger—those were the apps the people I wanted to communicate with were familiar. Skype is the only must have communication app because it allows you to dial a U.S. landline. There are times when the only way you can communicate with someone is via a landline through a Skype phone call, such as talking to your Grandparents or calling a credit card fraud hotline. You do need to pay for the talk time to the U.S. landline.
I always searched for local apps specific to a destination. My favorite example is Open Rice, a Hong Kong specific food app. You can be anywhere in the city, open this app, and it will tell you all the great nearby restaurants. I filtered on coffeeshops to find out of the way places where I could sip an Americano. Open Rice also has annual awards for top and new restaurants. Burrple is Singapore’s equivalent to Open Rice and similarly useful. I’m not sure if I found these apps because I lived in Hong Kong and Singapore long enough to find them or if Hong Kong and Singapore are the two metropolises that are food centric, tech centric, and entrepreneurial enough to develop these sorts of apps. I think it’s likely the latter.
Cities and larger attractions may have walking tours available via an app. There’s a Taj Mahal guided tour app for $1.99 which includes a map. If you are trying to avoid the touts offering guide services, purchase the app, put in your headphones, and it’s smooth sailing.
City Specific Transit Apps, like a New York subway map, are a must.
Money transfer apps seemed like science fiction in 2014. Now there are so many services you need to determine which is the popular app is the many people are using. Cash, Venmo, and Zell are all easy and straightforward to transfer cash. Transfer a small amount first so you know the cash reached the proper destination.
Hostelworld, Booking.com, Kayak, and Airbnb are essential travel booking apps.
I used Wunderlist to keep track of future attractions to see and places to eat. I created lists by location, then added individual attractions and restaurants to each list.
I’ve yet to find a decent translation app. I tried several apps in Russia with no luck.
I downloaded several fitness apps to keep me in shape during my travels. I had sit-up, pushup, legs, and arms specific exercise apps. All these apps seem to have little quirks so you may need to download five sit-up apps before you find the app you like.
These apps can all help during your travels or you could pull a Mark Twain and forgo any technology related assistance, although it does raise an existential question—if Mark Twain had an iPhone would he have brought it on his trips? Probably so. Although he’d still be Mark Twain.