In this post I mentioned that in 2010 a new phase of gadgetry entered my world…. Neil gave me my first iPad and life hasn’t been the same since!
I’ve already written about the fun I had with my Palm device, but the versatility and usefulness of the iPad ( and the other iDevices that have followed it) have revolutionised travelling for us.
Of course the real power of the iPad ( and it’s baby brother the iPhone) is in the Apps. This month ( June 2013) there are estimated to be 900,000 apps available for the iPhone and 375,000 of those have a version that is designed for the larger screen of the iPad. A HUGE number of those 900,000 apps were specifically developed to make the life of a traveler easier, more enjoyable and more interesting. I’ve trialed dozens of travel apps and I thought I’d devote a post to those apps that I have found useful and in some cases indispensable. I’m also not going to ignore the… (((OTHERS!!)))…. I’ll let you know if the app is also available for Android. 🙂
Web Site Partner Apps
A few weeks ago I published a post about many of the travel websites that I use on a regular basis. Fortunately for those of us that don’t always want to lug around a laptop PC, most of those sites have also published Apps for both IOS and Android. The biggies like Tripadvisor and Expedia etc are available and even some for the Forums ( such as Flyertalk) have their own Apps to make searching and posting on the go easier for the tablet generation. I’ve recently updated that post to include links to the relevant apps – feel free to go back and check it out.
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| Packing Pro |
Before you Go
I used to type up a packing list before every trip , I just like the reassurance of a list to ensure i don’t leave anything important behind when I travel. However, these days I use the Packing Pro app. ( $2.99) The app comes with a generic list which you can use as the starting point for creating your own. There is a huge master catalog of items and for the seriously careful, you can enter the weight and value of each item so you know you won’t exceed your weight allowance. and how much to claim on your travel insurance if the bag heads into lost-luggage-limbo.
Flight Tracker
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| Airport Zoom |
There are many apps out there for keeping up to date with Flight arrivals, departures and delays. My choice is the Flightstats Airport Zoom App for iPad (Free for IOS, the equivalent app for Android is called Traveler) Select your airport and all the information is at your fingertips, including an entertaining flight tracker map with a real-time display of flights coming in and leaving the area.
Navigation
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| Apple maps |
Whether you’re on a road trip or just lost in a strange city, it’s impossible to deny how reassuring it is to have a high quality map in your pocket. In the old days we used printed maps but to have the level of detail that you can get with mapping apps would require us to travel with a briefcase stacked with paper maps. I’ve also found that on our frequent road trips it’s great to have a detailed, broader map of the country ahead than our TomTom GPS can give us. You might wonder why?
Well, on previous trips We have been stuck in colossal traffic jams in the UK, France and the USA and the only thing that saved us from hours of boredom was being able to whip out the iPad, view the map of the immediate area and find an alternative route around the blockage.
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| Google maps |
In France the iPad maps even saved us from missing our train to London. I would NEVER travel without my mapping apps anymore!
If you have a data connection while travelling then the Apple Maps App is adequate. The Google maps App was much better but currently the official Google Maps app is only available for iPhone ( PLEASE Apple – bring back Google Maps for iPad!!)
However, if you only have a Wifi iPad or you’re travelling without a sim or, like us, you have travelled in the wilds of southwest Texas where there is lots of tumbleweeds but NO phone signal – then you really need an offline Mapping App.
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| Galileo |
The Galileo app is free and if you know where you will be driving on your trip and plenty of time to prepare, it’s a beauty. Before your trip you need to view your destination and travelling route via the Galileo map, zooming in and out as you go and the app will automatically cache ( store) all the different “tiles” that make up the map. If you’ll be covering an extended area this can take hours, but once done the maps will stay until you need them.
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| Pocket Earth |
I’ve recently purchased Pocket Earth, ( $2.99 ) which I think has the edge on Galileo. It’s maps are more detailed and load faster, it includes a routing system ( directions from A to B) and provides detailed travel guides for thousands of places. You still need to plan ahead and load the maps that you will need but the system for doing this is much quicker and simpler than for Galileo.
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| Live Street View |
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| iMaps+ |
It’s amazing how useful Google Streetview is when traveling. I’ve used it to work out where the entrance to the hotel parking was in New York City, to see which lane we’ll need to be in when popping up out of a tunnel in Boston ( the Tom Tom loses it’s signal in tunnels which can make it a bit useless in some major cities) , to check the route of the footpath from the parking area to the leaning tower of Pisa and a multitude of other things that made our road trips a little easier. The old Google maps app for ipad incorporated streeview and it was one of the things I missed the most when Apple dumped Google maps in favour of their own Maps. I wasn’t the only one, and there have been a few clever developers who have filled the niche. Fora while I used Live Street View , ( $0.99) which was fine but it does little more than the basic street view. More recently I’ve been using iMaps+ ( $1.99) which more closely matches the features of the old Google maps for iPad. In addition to the street view it also provides information about nearby restaurants, parking, ATMs etc, Very handy!
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| iExit |
For anyone driving any of the interstate freeways in the USA, the iExit app ( $0.99 for both IOS and Android) is absolutely brilliant! The exit uses the IOS GPS to locate you and will let you know exactly what services are coming up on the road ahead, It covers hotels, restaurants, fast food and gas stations – we used it in Georgia to find a quick coffee break, in New Mexico to find lunch and in many states to find petrol.
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| City Walks |
Sometimes you need to get out of the car…and walk! Most major cities offer a variety of guided walking tours ( which can be great! ) but if you’re on a budget, or you’d prefer to walk at your own pace or you like to design your own route then the City Maps and Walks App will be perfect for you. They cover over 470 cities worldwide and the free version offers an interesting variety of walks in each city, with an offline map ( which works with your GPS to help guide you) and precise turn-by-turn walking directions from one sight to another. All the major sights of the cities are covered and the app allows you to add your own points-of-interest as well. Some walking tours even come with audio narration!
Translation
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| Translator with Speech |
So you’re heading to a country where you don’t speak the lingo? In the old days you’d pack a little phrasebook, but these days there are a plethora of apps that will fulfill your need to read that menu! In fact these apps will carry you a lot further than the old phrasebook..
Translator with Speech (Free for IOS or Android is an amazing little app that will translate phrases into any of 54 languages and will pronounce the translation for you. For a $0.99 in-app purchase you can add spoken input, so you just have to speak your phrase and the translation just happens! I’ve tested this app on several things that the average tourist is likely to need to say and it was extremely accurate – it’s a little beauty!
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| Word Lens |
However, for sheer brilliance it’s hard to go past Word Lens. IOS or Android You need to park your car in a little Italian town, or to read that German menu. Whip out your phone, point it at the parking sign or the menu and start the Word Lens app. (for IOS and Android). This AMAZING little app will immediately display the sign or menu in English. Word lens is free but you need to make an in-app purchase for your chosen language. Packs are currently available for Portuguese, German, Italian, French and Spanish. It works best on clearly printed text ( not handwriting fonts) which makes it perfect for translating signs etc.
Money
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| XE app |
We all know traveling costs money…lots of money. The exchange rate can have a big impact on your travel and you can keep up to date with day to day changes via the XE app. Free for both IOS and Android.
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| Award Wallet |
If you travel you inevitably end up being a member of airline, hotel and rental car loyalty programs, so you can earn points and freebies on all those flights etc. If you’re like me you struggle to remember all those usernames and passwords, so you may like to download Award Wallet . Award Wallet is a website ( one forgot to mention in this post) and this is the accompanying app. Award Wallet keeps track of your reward programs such as your frequent flyer miles, hotel and credit card points. Currently they cover 562 loyalty programs!
Sightseeing and Food
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| Audio Europe |
Are you a fan of Rick Steves’ travel guides? ( I am!). Rick has a fantastic array of Audio tours in a wide variety of European cities which you can download and listen to via the Rick Steves Audio Europe app.(Free for both IOS and Android) I really like his laid-back , humourous but informative style and I have several downloaded, ready to go for our upcoming trip to Italy. The tours all have an accompanying map and you can skip sections if you wish and even speed the talk up for a brisker pace.
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| Triposo |
Triposo is another app that will quickly let you access ” real-time information about where you are and what is around you. Let Triposo make dynamic, personalized recommendations about activities, museums, shopping and shows as well as parks, beaches and places to eat, drink and dance with the locals.” Once you’ve installed the App you then download the data for the city or country that interests you. Free for both IOS and Android
Keeping in Touch
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| Postcards |
Of course you can access any of the social networking apps via their own apps, and Skype and Viber are great for cheap phone calls but sometimes the people back home love to receive a good old-fashioned post card. Post cards are usually easy to find, but locating stamps and post boxes can sometimes be tricky – that’s when the Australia Post Postcards app comes to your rescue. Take a photo with your iPhone or iPad, add a message and an address and the Postcards app will print your photo on postcard paper and send it to anywhere in Australia for only $1.99 or internationally for $2.99. Isn’t that brilliant!
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| iLoader HD |
I like to upload my holiday photos to a Facebook album as I travel. Of course I can do it (one photo at a time) with Facebook’s own app but I find that iLoader HD makes the job of uploading and captioning multiple photos much quicker and easier. You select as many photos as you wish from your Camera roll, add your captions, re-order them if necessary and with one tap. iLoader will upload all your photos in one go. You can even do all the preparation offline if you prefer AND you can use it to upload video as well.
Just for Fun
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| Speedometer S54 |
I recently saw a Top Gear episode where Richard Hammond and James May were travelling across Europe on a high speed train ( racing Jeremy Clarkson in a Shelby Mustang GT500, naturally!) While on the train, Hammond was checking his speed with the Speedometer S54 App (Free) which includes GPS to track your progress. Of course, I had to have that one! I’m looking forward to using it on the Frecciargento train on our upcoming trip to Italy…
That will do for now, I was going to start on the many apps I have for improving your photography on the iPhone but they really deserve a post of their own!