Usually we like to use our travel times as a break from technology, but several travel-related apps have been showing up on our radar lately that make our trips go even smoother. Not just for maps and plane tickets, available travel apps these days cover everything from where to eat, where to find the nearest gas station and even how to find upcoming concerts of your favorite bands wherever you are!
Photo Credit: Creative Commons
FlightAware Flight Tracker
Here is a good app for your iPod, iPad, or iPhone. It will give you the flight status of commercial flights worldwide. You can do your search by keying in the flight number, the route, or the airline and it will tell you the expected time of arrival, if there are delays, gate changes, or cancellations. It will even send you push notifications. This is very helpful if you do not want to wait by the boarding area as you wait for your flight, or if you are fetching a friend from the airport.
TripAdvisor
Still don’t know which hotel to book, or where to have your dinner? TripAdvisor gives you access to a long list of hotels and restaurants all over the world, with matching photos and reviews from real people. What other people have to say about the place will help you make a decision so you can plan your vacation well.
BandMate
On the road and want to see what bands are playing nearby? Check out BandMate: Concert Tipster for your iPod, iPhone or iPad. The app will go through your music library and see if any of the bands are playing in the area.
GasBuddy
If you are going for a road trip with friends, make sure that you have this app on your phone. GasBuddy will help you locate gas stations near your location with information about their gas prices. Enjoy the road with fewer expenses with this cool app.
Voice Translator
Are you going to a foreign country but do not know how to speak their language? Asking for directions and communicating with the locals will be a huge headache if you do the old-fashion way of carrying a dictionary with you. Voice Translator is here to save your day and is a unique language translation service. You can type in the word that you want to be translated or simply dictate it on you device. You can then listen to the translation. Voila! You can now converse with the people around you as if you were a local. Voice Translator has more than 50 languages in its library and the app is free.
Urbanspoon
After a day of roaming around the new place, your stomach must be starving for some good food. This app will help you find the best restaurants nearby. Choose a specific cuisine that you like, shake your phone, and a list of restaurants that matches that category will be shown. If you do not like any of them, just shake your phone some more to get a fresh list. Urbanspoon is available for Apple, Android and Blackberry products, and it currently has a directory of restaurants in the US, Canada, and major cities in Australia and UK.
There are still a plenty of travel apps available at the online market. Take time to browse through them and find one that will give a solution to your common travel woes. Make the most out of your mobile devices and make them your personal assistants on your next trip.
