Smartphone owners who take full advantage of all of their device's capabilities know how helpful they can be for everything from ordinary phone calls, to keeping track of appointments, creating to-do lists, and even doing things they regularly do online. These apps can help with everything from travel plans to finding the cheapest gas in town for your summer plans. Whether you are an Android or an iOS user, we have suggested an app for everyone.
GasBuddy
If you drive to your summer getaway destination, GasBuddy is one of those apps you'll consider a “must have.” Plug in the ZIP code, and the app will find the cheapest gas prices in that location. You'll also be able to see how recently the prices were updated. If you do a lot of driving -– for travel or just as part of your daily life -- this is a tremendously helpful app.
TripIt
Available from the iTunes app store or Google Play, this handy app can help you avoid the chaos that comes with having to keep all of your travel paperwork and documents straight. It will consolidate all of your travel plans, create an itinerary, and then allow you to sync your itinerary between your phone and computer. Link your email address to TripIt and you can send your itinerary to family members with nothing more than the click of a button.
The app finds reservation confirmation numbers from your mountain of emails and then it compiles your itinerary with flight boarding times and check-in times at your hotel. The free version is a full-functioning program, but you'll have to deal with the advertisements.
Trip Advisor
TripAdvisor is described as a “crowd-sourced” guide, meaning it gets its reviews from people who use the app. It provides information on hotels, restaurants, places of interest and much more. The offline city app allows you to check out reviews without having to use your data allotment.
iFlyPro
This app is available for both iOS and Android and it can help you navigate different airports and keep up with flight delays. An important consideration is that the app will consume nearly 50 MB of space on your phone, so it might be better to download it onto your tablet and study the different terminals before traveling.
Kayak
This free online travel-booking app for iOS and Android lets you search and compare flights, car rentals and hotels on the go. Similar to its online version, it will compare flights from hotels.com, Orbitz and more and it is hailed as the number one travel app currently.
Seat Guru
With Seat Guru (brought to you by TripAdvisor), once you have made your reservation, you can plug in your flight and date and see what seats are available. Unlike the seat selector on the airline website, Seat Guru tells you which rows have the most leg room, and where you're most likely to get bumped by people moving up and down the aisles.
Kindle
If you don't have an e-reader, you can now download the Kindle app for Android, or for your iPhone or iPad and leave those heavy books at home! We suggest downloading this on a tablet instead of on your phone because the app itself and the e-books (or other downloads) will take up a considerable amount of space.
Anything you can do to make your trip planning enjoyable will ultimately make your entire vacation a lot less stressful. You will also be less likely to forget important things because these tools will help you with reservations, organizing your itinerary, traveling in greater comfort, and most of all, getting the best deals on everything. One last thing, don’t forget to download a free WiFi finder so you can use all these apps for free!
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