Top budget travel devices and apps
More and more travellers are planning, booking and enjoying their holidays thanks to a travel app or the latest internet-based technological devices. Want to find out what they’re using so you can travel smart and save money too? Here’s a roundup of the latest and greatest budget travel devices and apps.
Speak like a local
Language translation apps are cheaper than their printed counterparts, and a well chosen app can really enhance your travel experience. Lonely Planet’s phrase book apps offer quality, searchable phrases from the travel experts. iTranslate is a free alternative (if you don’t mind those adverts) with voice to voice translations in many languages – you say it in your language and it repeats it in another.
Cheap calls home and abroad
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Sharing your adventures with the ones you love may be priceless, but there can be a heavy price to pay for those calls. If you’re looking to roam without the roaming charges, using calls over the internet, rather than standard telephone network calls, can save you serious money.
Apps like Skype are rightly popular, but you don’t even need a smartphone or a computer to benefit from these savings. The Vonage website
details how their handy, portable adapter can help you make a free international call
from home or abroad using any phone near a broadband router. What’s more, the adapter allows you to take your home phone number abroad with you so friends need pay no more than a local call to contact you.
On the road
A GPS loaded with maps and transportation routes is as essential as the proverbial toothbrush when remembering what to pack for a trip these days. You don’t even have to shell out for a separate GPS device. Google Maps Navigation is a free smartphone app that features satellite images, street views, and traffic news combined with voice search, step-by-step audio directions, and re-routing options should you make a wrong turn.
Booking flights
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For booking flights, you should take the boat: the Kayak app delivers a free, smart way to compare flights while you’re on the go. Enter your destination and travel dates, and the app will find you flight options and take you to the booking page of the flight you select.
For keeping on top of your itinerary details, TripIt is like a personal assistant who takes care of all the details you need and makes sure they’re right at your fingertips – so you need never miss a flight again.
In the know
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For authoritative guides to cities and countries, the Lonely Planet apps are hard to beat. But if it’s actual opinions of travellers just like yourself that you’re after, Trip Advisor’s free app
really delivers.
Of course, with all these apps and WiFi-reliant devices at your fingertips, what you really need is to find a free WiFi hotspot wherever you are. For this you’ll need WiFi Finder. Search it live or download it for offline use and you need never pay for your WiFi usage again. Happy travelling!