7 Useful Travel Apps For Your Next Trip

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase.  

I took a break last Friday because I was sick and couldn’t think of any favorite things in the midst of my sniffling stupor, but thankfully I’ve recovered thanks to my Mom’s immunity boosters.   As I write this, I’m recharging with some Vitamin Sea (on the coast of NC) with family and have some favorite travel apps to share with you that have helped me in a variety of situations.  All of these are available for Android phones.  Some may be available on iOS, but honestly, I dislike that operating system so I don’t spend time researching what apps are on it.  I know, haters gonna hate.

Apps to Save Money on Fuel Purchases

GetUpside

Any road trips in your future?  Definitely take advantage of the savings this app provides.  Right now, it appears to be applicable to Shell and BP stations but is rapidly expanding.  All you have to do is open the app, find the nearest gas station, and hit “claim offer”, then just upload a picture of your receipt once you pump the gas and the app will credit you the cashback automatically.  You can save up to 25 cents per gallon on each visit which really adds up.  Use my promo code 2HVTR on your first fill-up to save an EXTRA 20 cents per gallon on top of app discount.

Trunow –  Another blessing for those who want to save on gas.  This app gives you cash back on fuel purchases from a wide variety of stations; just upload your receipt and you’re done!  It also offers discounts on food and drink purchases within gas stations themselves, so that’s a nice bonus if you are on the road a lot.  Use my referral code 1Q7IVB for a sign up bonus.

Sleep Aid Fan 

Back in college, I got lulled to sleep by this beauty each night thanks to my roommate’s affinity for wanting some white noise.  I grew to love our fan and nowadays I don’t like to sleep in complete silence if I can help it, but bringing a fan on my travels is definitely not practical.  I’m thankful to have found the Sleep Aid Fan app because it provides some white noise for sleep without needing to pack anything additional in my luggage.  It’s not as comforting as the real fan, of course, but it gets the job done.

Countries Been

As the name suggests, this app gives you a visual representation of where you have traveled along with showing you a percentage of the world you have seen.  Ok, probably not indispensable, but I like my travel goals to be visible and I like seeing them change colors when I visit a new country, similar to a scratch off map!  Also, you know how Google sends you monthly updates on new cities and countries you’ve visited?  It had only tracked me as visiting 31 countries and I trusted it for a while until I manually entered all of my trips in this app and realized I was being shorted by 7 countries!

Rome2Rio

Rome2Rio lets you know the cheapest way to get from point A to point B, whether it’s by plane, ferry, train, bus, or car.  It also tells you the timeframes so you’ll know if that cheapest route is on an overnight bus that takes 18 hours (no thanks).  This app helped us book a 2-hour ferry from Estonia to Finland for only 10 Euros so we could avoid wasting time and money flying.  You can also just use their website if you don’t want to download the app.

WhatsApp/Viber/WeChat

I have a few favorites in this category, depending on destination.  There’s no reason to pay for international calling fees when you have these free apps available.  In Asia, use WeChat.  It doesn’t seem to be as popular in the US, but in China it’s used for almost everything, including payment, so it’s much more than just a communication app.  For European and US travel, I like using WhatsApp or Viber for communication.  Google Hangouts and Facebook Messenger can work too, but I’ve found that the video quality is not great with either of those.

PackPoint

This is such a time saver.  Enter your destination, dates, and activities and it will create a custom packing list for you so you won’t forget anything.  Also helps to cut down on overpacking.  I like that it also syncs with TripIt!

Google Podcasts

With the recent demise of my previous favorite podcast app (Podcoin), I have switched over to using Google Podcasts which is a good substitute.  I like the clean interface, new episode notifications once you subscribe and the ease of use with this app.  I always have a podcast on in the car and also love listening to them on the plane as well.

Do you use any of the apps on this list?  Let me know your favorites in the comments!

Thanks for reading.  Before you go, be sure to check out my full list of travel resources and curated items for healthy and comfortable travel.

Where’s your next trip?  Mine is an Insanely affordable tour to Ecuador with G Adventures!

25% Off G Adventures

Emily