We all love traveling and rediscover various that we hold dear to our lives. Whether it’s a 2-week vacation overseas or a 3-day business trip, there is one particular gadget you can’t do without and that’s your smartphone. Smartphones do more than just making a call, thanks to apps. There are numerous apps available for both Android and iOS platforms to help us with our daily tasks including traveling. This post will discuss several traveling apps that you should consider whenever you are traveling. These travel apps for iPhone range from flights to the money exchange and even stargazing.
Travel Apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android:
It is frustrating landing in a foreign country and you can’t find direction since you can’t communicate in the local dialect. Learning the local language is not only helpful to you, but it’s also polite to the natives.
Here are several language apps to help you out:
Duolingo
This app is one of the top travel apps available for both Android and iOS platforms. I’ve used this app for a while now and understand its potential. What makes it awesome is its course oriented approach, unlike many other language apps that bombard you with words and expect you to make sense out of them.
The app also uses repetition and reviewing to ensure that you grasp everything before moving to another session. Audio and visual prompts will help you learn their pronunciation so that everything comes out perfectly when you are speaking.
The app has a wide selection of languages and even though you won’t be fluent, it will help you communicate with the locals and get around.
Drops
This is a new entry language app for both android and iOS OS. It’s an excellent app that teaches you in drops. As a stand-alone app, it allows learning a little of the local language as you prepare to travel to that particular destination.
It does this seamlessly without overwhelming you. Users can decide how fast or slow you want to learn a specific language and track your progress.
HiNative
HiNative app is only available as an application for Apple users, however, desktop and Android users can also benefit from it by accessing it online. It uses a different approach from the usual Read, Listens, and Learn.
It offers a more interactive way of communicating with your native language speakers a lot of the time. It is quite helpful when it comes to pronunciation. You can simply record yourself and ask the app to gauge your pronunciation.
With this app, you will avoid embarrassing situations of speaking gibberish in a foreign shop when ordering stuff. You can also interact with natives asking them about their culture or any question that requires a direct answer.
There is a subscription fee to access its freemium offers. One setback of this app is that only those who have paid for it can listen to your voice recordings.
Babbel
Another great language app for both iOS and Android is Babbel. The app offers courses in numerous languages. The app is pretty simple to get started with.
It offers an auto-renew subscription for the language courses which you want to really study and understand very well. However, if you are just learning a language for a quick weekend getaway it won’t be necessary. Since its services cross over to the web platform, modules can be completed on either platform.
Lessons are quite thorough and well structured to give the user a wonderful learning experience. Its monthly cost is rather expensive compared to lessons with a local.
Google Translate
Although this software doesn’t teach you new languages directly, if you are a fast learner, you can grasp a few language concepts.
This works by translating different words in the language you want to learn, the only problem is the pronunciation. As a user, all you need to do is point the camera at the text and get a translation.
Travel apps for bookings:
Skyscanner
This great app used for booking recently re-launched their app to not only include flights but the car and hotel searches too.
The app scans all the big players and helps you find the best value for your money, just like the flight search. The app has a new feature called ‘Top Deals’ that lets you know what is cheap and where.
Its best feature remains the ‘search everywhere’ feature for finding those bargain flights when you are up for exploring anywhere.
Another new feature is the ‘Price Alerts’ for tracking 3rd party reviews, to know whether the company you are dealing with is reliable.
Airbnb
Airbnb has received a lot of mixed reactions since its inception. However, besides its complex processes, I think they are offering great services.
Among the things that confuse is the full house rentals. Not everyone loves the concept of renting someone’s spare room.
This is not a bad idea since they will provide you with great insights about the destination. What makes it cool is you get to interact with the natives and if they are outgoing they’ll help you get around.
GoEuro
If you are planning to take a business trip or a vacation around Europe, Go Euro is one of the best travel guide apps for the iPhone.
This is your preferred companion, allowing you to make bookings for different transport and accommodation facilities. All these are done and managed through the app’s interface.
Booking.com
This is a good alternative to hotels.com fan which has recently lagged with their low-speed loads and offering substandard services, Booking.com offers you great discounts.
After booking for a few nights you’ll get booking genius benefits like discounts, late checkouts, and in-hotel benefits. This to me is the best booking site so far.
Final Remarks
We all know how hectic traveling to a foreign destination can be especially if you don’t have someone to help you.
Fortunately, there are apps for a traveler who wants to enjoy the traveling experience. The above apps are available for both iOS and Android users so no one is left out.
