Whether you’re in Thailand or Switzerland, apps can be a make or break to a situation.  Here is a list of some of my favorite and most used travel apps.  

Photo Goggles: Take a photo or select one from your library and this app will search for information regarding the picture’s context.

Touchnote: Turn your photos into personalized postcards! For roughly $2 you can turn your own travel photo into a postcard and have it mailed anywhere in the world.

TravelSafe: The ultimate safety app for all travelers. Put in the country you’re in and immediately you have access to every phone number you’ll ever need abroad. Police, medical emergencies, fire safety. One touch and it instantly dials. Feel safe wherever you go!

Tipulator: This is an app I can’t live without. No matter how many countries you’ve been to, there’s always the same question when arriving somewhere new, what is the tipping policy? It doesn’t even need to be a new country, even countries you’ve been to before can be confusing with tipping. I lived in Spain a total of about a year, I still don’t know if I should leave a tip or not. In Barcelona and Catalonia in general, it’s almost frowned upon to leave a large tip, however, I always left a Euro or two out of good spirit, I still question my actions all the time. Never question again with Tipulator.

HopStop: Public Transit App, enough said.

WorldMate: Never have any issues with travel itineraries, looking up emails from months ago for confirmation numbers, just input and upload all your email to WorldMate via email and this app automatically lays out your entire itinerary. Sounds too good to be true, I know.

XECurrency: I use this app nonstop. Not only when I’m traveling either. For bookings internationally this app is a quick solution to a snappy conversation. Many foreign sites only show prices in their currency so having this app open during bookings can save a lot of time.

Skype: SO uselful for all occasions. I mostly use skype when I need to call someone immediately or if I need to confirm a reservation. With wifi and purchased skype credit ($10 usually goes a looooong way) you can never be somewhere and feel completely hopeless. We were in a small city outside of Venice and the four of us got separated from our tour group. It was instant panic mode for about five minutes until we realized I had skype and we could find wifi and call the hotel that we booked the tour through. Ultimately the tour guide had to run two miles back and pick us up, but at least we weren’t separated forever!

Whatsapp: International texting app using solely wifi.

Hostelworld: For the budget traveler, never get stuck without a place to stay. Many hostels fill up in popular destinations like Thailand and South America in the busy months. Book a few days ahead, it’s really not much if any cheaper to book in person.

Google Maps: I put this app on the list because it’s honestly extremely helpful ALL of the time, especially when traveling. When I’m in wifi at my hotel or hostel I’ll input the address of somewhere I’m trying to get. I’ll study the path and surrounding locations to get a little bit of an idea where I’m going and how long it will take. But the best part…when you leave wifi the directions turn off yes, however, your location can still be tracked to your path. You can track where you are and it follows where you go, where you’re heading, so you an always make sure you’re going in the right direction of where you want to go.

TripAdvisor: I know this may sound like an obvious one but it’s on the list because whenever I need advice or more information about a place, an activity, or whatever it may be, I can almost always find it on tripadvisor. I have found that their travel forums are the most helpful and useful way to get real information. For example, I’m traveling to Sri Lanka next week, solely from tripadvisor forums I was able to plan out my route and means of transportation just by reading how other people did it. If you’re using it so what something is like, for example, a hotel, read as many reviews as you can, not just the ones on the front page.

Hannah Marsala