There is a ton of planning and budgeting that goes into booking a trip. Before leaving the house, you need to plan for flights, transportation on arrival, accommodations throughout your journey.
Then, once you arrive at your destination, the planning doesn’t stop. You need to figure out how to communicate with the locals, find the best places to eat, and discover the best routes to get to the next leg of your journey.
Things can quickly become overwhelming. And, this myriad of additional responsibilities weighing on every decision is one of the reasons why recreational travel has only become a popular trend in the past few decades.
But now, there is an app for everything. And thanks to the age of communication, we have millions of travel resources available at our fingertips. In this post, I have collected ten of my favourite travel resources that I use on every one of my trips.
While there is a massive variety of travel apps for every region of the world, this list will only focus on the top ten travel resources for international use. So, without further ado, here are the 10 best travel apps 2022 has to offer.
Skyscanner is one of the many travel apps I use exclusively to find affordable flights. The applications search algorithm collects information from millions of flights from over 1,200 sources to present the best value for its users.
But, for me, the most remarkable feature of Skyscanner is the ability to search for a flight by region. When it comes to choosing your destination of arrival, the travel app allows you to insert whole countries or even continents. Once established, Skyscanner will generate a list of destinations with the most affordable flights.
Skyscanner is an excellent tool to use when you aren’t sure where to travel next. Simply put your destination in as “anywhere” and see the best flights available for your budget.
Hostelworld is an excellent travel application for booking budget-friendly accommodation (luxury stays are available on the app as well). While there are several accommodation booking sites, Hostelworld is apart from the pack thanks to its widespread users. Stays from all over the world use Hostelworlds listing services.
Hostelworlds greatest asset is its interactive booking map. It displays its listed stays on an accurate regional map using the geolocations of accommodations. By booking with this feature, users can visualize where their accommodation is located and how that location affects pricing trends.
Hostelworld is the best travel app for iPhone and Android for understanding the accommodation pricing trends of a region.
In many ways, Airbnb reflects the services of Hostelworld. The only reason it isn’t higher on this list is that it doesn’t feature the same international popularity as Hostelworld and typically features accommodations at higher price points.
Nevertheless, Airbnb includes a geo-accurate regional map of accommodations and is set apart from Hostelworld by focusing on homestay vacation rentals.
Additionally, Airbnb offers full transparency between renters and owners. The added messaging feature makes for super easy communication between the two parties.
Long layovers can suck. You’re worn out from your flights, sweaty, and typically pretty sick of the airline food. Now, what can really help facilitate these elements are airport VIP lounges.
But those are expensive. Aren’t they?
Well, some can be. That’s true. But, what many travellers don’t know is that they already have access permissions to many of these lounges. And that is where LoungeBuddy comes in.
The LoungeBuddy travel app shows you all of the nearby airport Lounges that your credentials offer access to by entering your credit card, flight information, and lounge memberships. Even if you don’t have these premium credentials, the app will display all of the airport’s free lounges for you to use.
Another great travel app for iPhone and Android is the flight scheduling resource, Hopper. Like Skyscanner, Hopper uses a complex algorithm and search inquiry to help produce the best available flights for your upcoming trip.
However, while Skyscanners algorithm is best applied to a flexible destination and a focused travel date, Hopper’s benefits offer the inverse.
By analyzing flight pricing history and trends, Hopper produces a booking schedule and understands what flyers should expect to pay for their flight. As a result, they know when prices should be receiving hikes and when they will likely be receiving reductions.
Hopper is an app that lets you know when the available offers are worth taking. And, if they are not, Hopper allows you to set that destination to your watch-list and notifies you when price reductions occur.
All in all, while Skyscanner is my go-to app for scheduling impromptu flights for immediate results, Hopper is the best travel app for finding affordable flights for my dream destinations within a flexible time frame.
While there are a variety of map travel apps on the market, Maps.me is an absolutely essential app when travelling off the beaten path. Of course, most people are familiar with google maps and apple maps. But, neither of these applications are very effective when you lose cellular connection.
And, when you are travelling through the mountainscapes of Sulawesi or the forests of Latin America, cellular connection isn’t always the easiest to find.
Instead, Maps.me allows those with a bit of foresight to download their destination maps in advance. And along with the app’s geo-accurate GPS tracking, Maps.me offers the best resource for route planning for offline use.
While it doesn’t seem like the most ingenious concept, Maps.me’s offline functionality works wonders when you find yourself lost in a foreign country.
WhatsApp is the best travel app for maintaining communications from just about anywhere in the world.
Whatsapp allows its users to send no charge text messages, pictures, and voice or video calls like other messaging travel apps. Nevertheless, Whatsapp has separated as the go-to resource for travellers thanks to the app’s encrypted messaging abilities.
Apps like Facebook Messager and Skype offer similar services to WhatsApp, but they aren’t encrypted. This means that; 1. These apps are not available worldwide, with some countries banning their use, and 2. Even if they are not blocked, the government can easily access the messages sent out.
For this reason, WhatsApp is the go-to travel app for maintaining reliable and private communications with loved ones back home and the friends you meet abroad.
Google translate is a fantastic travel resource. In fact, it might actually be too good.
They say one of the best ways to connect with a foreign culture is by learning their language. Unfortunately, during my recent trips, I have become far too reliant on Google Translate, which has seriously hindered my language acquisition skills.
Nevertheless, my personal neglect does not take away from the overall superb functionality of the translation app.
With Google Translate at their fingertips, foreigners can easily communicate with the locals. The app makes it easier to read restaurant menus, negotiate nightly rates, and generally even just make friends.
As travellers, we have all been ripped off at some point, thanks to our misunderstanding of the local currency conversions.
Even if you are reading this saying, “ThAt’S nEvEr HaPpEnEd oT mE.”
Yes, it has. You just didn’t realize it.
If you have spent any amount of time in a foreign country, there is a 100% chance it has happened to you at least once.
Luckily, with the help of some of the best travel apps, we can begin taking preemptive action to avoid these scams. One such app offering this action is the XE currency converter.
As one of the most robust currency converters on the market, XE Currency Converter allows its user to stay up to date with the most recent Forex Market trends and is even available to download for offline reference.
No longer will you be left unsure of current conversion rates when you have them available at your fingertips. (And no longer will I ever pay $60 for a hammock in Nicaragua when I thought I was getting it for $5).
I’ve given you 9 great travel apps and resources on this list. I’m sure there is some room here for a little shameless self-promotion. Right?
Admittedly, there are several better travel resource websites and blogs out there (Nomadic Matt is basically the Plato’s Realm of Ideals form of a travel blog).
But, there is still some great insight to be found here on Kurt From Canada. If I do say so myself.
So, sign up for my newsletter, follow me on my socials, and stay updated with all of my best travel tips and resources as I publish every Tuesday/Thursday.