Traveling for a few months in Asia already, we thought it would be useful to write a blog dedicated to mobile applications that we use almost daily. They can also be used in Europe as easy and they are as useful. And that’s about the introduction … now let’s see the apps because that’s what you came here for.
Travel Apps
Google Maps
One of the most important apps you can have on your phone. It will help you at any time to find out: where you are, what objectives or restaurants are around. And it will direct you to the desired location, and so on. This application is a real friend that does not leave you in the hard times.
The application normally uses the Internet to work in optimal parameters. After many occasions in which I used it, I could say that the amount of data consumed was not high, but that also depends on how long you stay and look into it. As a general rule, the application can give you any detail about a location. (opening/closing hours of the museum/restaurant, what rates it has, how long to get there, what pictures are made there, etc.). But it should be remembered that any information is accessed via the Internet. So if you want to find a lot of locations, it will eat more and more.
The advantage of this application is that it also has an offline mode. It allows you to download the desired map (either a piece of a city, a city, or more) to the phone. With this feature you’re more confident that you will not get lost. If you use it in this way you only need GPS signal on the phone, and battery, of course.
Grab / Uber
If the first app helps you know where you are and where you want to go, then the next question is: how do I get there?
Both are very easy to use, being very intuitive. With them you can order “taxis”. (I put them in quotation marks because they can be normal taxis or people’s personal cars). With the help of the application, select where you want the car to come. (you can either enter the address or select the point on the map). Then you are offered the variants along with the related prices (there are several grades of drivers and more types of cars, even scooters).
Once you’ve selected your desired transport, you can see on the map where the driver is. Once you reach your destination, the payment is made via the application. So the embarrassing moments when you wait for the change, you are looking to see how much money you have, etc. are eliminated. Especially when you are traveling and you want to change money as rarely as possible, and not keep much money on yourself.
Uber I could say that it’s almost everywhere, but in Asia it is Grab. So, depending on where you plan to travel, you’ll be using one of the two apps.
Discount code for your first Uber trip: qg5l5l
Booking / Airbnb
Where am I going to sleep tonight? An important question, which often has a simple answer, housing x or y. If you want to organize your trip yourself, then there are a lot of chances you already have one of these apps (most likely both if you travel more). We also wrote an interesting blog here about how to find cheaper accommodation.
With this app you can book hotels or houses, interact with your hotel or host (in case you have any questions about check-in or check-out, or others), and make sure you know where you find the location. In addition to these benefits, we have often received guides from what we can do in that city.
If Booking focuses more on hotels and hostels (here is a 10% discount code), Airbnb focuses more on well-arranged private homes (if you love a 34 euro discount, create your account using this link).
VPN
Because we talked about applications that use internet and cards, it is best to protect yourself as well. If you do not have data roaming and you stay all the time on the wi-fi in restaurants and cafes, well, that’s not good. I say it’s not good, because that signal can be intercepted or connect to a clone of the real wi-fi, and all your data passing through that wi-fi will be compromised.
That’s why you need to use a VPN service to protect yourself. It’s pretty much to explain how it works here, so I will let you discover it. (it’s very easy to understand and it’s very useful). We use such a service on both our phones and laptops.
Bank application
Now that we’ve made sure our data is safe, it’s time to talk about money. We (like most) have money in banks, and when traveling we want to know for sure how much money we have in our account at that time. Although this is the main reason to use the bank application, something unexpected can occur and you have to make a payment and without the app is quite difficult, if not impossible.
Revolut
Revolut is an online application/bank that will help you extraordinarily when you want to travel. I was pleasantly surprised by it and of course the savings made by it. Here is a blog post all about Revolut.
Google Translate
Google Translate is an application as good and useful as it is forgotten. As the name suggests, it can translate things from one language into another. And I say things because you can translate words (you introduce them). You can take pictures and then recognize your text from the picture translating it. It can listen to a man and display the translation. If you go to a location where you are not sure whether you can or can not make yourself understand, then this application is not to miss.
What apps do you think should be added to this list?
