Mobile apps are having a huge impact on our lives right now. From communication and personal finance to healthcare and schooling, apps are all over the place. That’s why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they have changed how we travel as well.
I can’t imagine leaving my smartphone at home when exploring new places. Apps help me to plan my itinerary, learn more about the local culture, get to know the locals, and easily book flights or accommodation.
But most importunately, mobile apps are just the best when I need to seriously reduce the costs of my trips.
Here are my favourite 5 traveling apps that aren’t that popular yet, but are incredibly efficient in making any journey much cheaper.
1. Trail Wallet
The first step to saving up on traveling is tracking your expenses.
Believe me, I’d know.
I don’t know what it is about traveling, but I just seem to lose my mind and spend plenty of money on things I don’t really need. If you tend to return home with your arms full of useless souvenirs and trinkets, Trail Wallet will save you.
Let’s say you’re going to Sydney for the weekend and want to spend no more than $90 per day. Set a daily budget in the app and every time you buy something, just touch the plus sign button in the middle and add in your expenditure.
You can also pick the category to see what’s eating up your travel budget. You’ll get funny cartoon characters making comments about your purchases too.
The app helped me to stay within budget many times over.
2. App in the Air
You’d imagine that a seasoned traveler like me would never be late to their flight. And yet, on my last trip I missed my flight. And that mistake cost me a lot.
That wouldn’t have happened if I had installed App in the Air on my smartphone. I’ve learned my lesson and now rely on this free flight tracking app to take care of my trip.
The app provides users with flight status updates even if they’re offline. Each flight is broken down into four stages: check in, boarding, takeoff and landing time, together with suggested times of arrival. If you use Tripit, you can easily import all your flight information to the app.
3. Skiplagged
This app is just the best for finding amazing one-way tickets with a stopover where travelers get off the plane instead of continuing on to their destination. In my experience, these flights are often much cheaper – but it’s very difficult to find them.
That’s why Skiplagged is so valuable.
Your trip might be a bit longer than expected, but you’ll get to visit another place on the way to your destination. And that kind of surprising location can add a lot of spark to your adventure – and at excellent value for money!
4. Roomer
You can only imagine how many people cancel their trips last minute and leave their hotel rooms empty. While hotels are able to fill some of these rooms, they need to attract last minute guests to sell the rest.
And that’s where Roomer comes in.
You can save from 30 to 80 percent on a hotel room in your destination thanks to that app. I recently snatched a fantastic 4-star hotel room for next to nothing.
But the app works the other way round as well – if you prepaid for a nonrefundable room, you can easily sell your reservation on the app and avoid losing money.
5. SoloTraveller
If there’s anything I really hate about solo journeys is that they’re much more expensive than they should be.
Everything is cheaper if you share it – from taxis to sightseeing excursion.
That’s why SoloTraveller comes in handy if you’re traveling on your own – you can find fellow travelers with a few clicks and coordinate your activities to make the most from your trip budget.
Traveling with Apps
Mobile apps have irreversibly changed the way we perceive the world and everyday they influence our behaviour in numerous ways. Our eyes are constantly glued to our smartphones so it only makes sense that we use our devices to boost our travel experiences and save on unnecessary expenses. Try one of these 5 apps on your next trip and you’re bound to make your journey much cheaper than you expected.
Do you know any other apps that help to save money while travelling? Share them in comments, I’m always looking for new apps to test during my trips.