We’re sharing the five apps that we always have downloaded to make travel planning and traveling easier than ever.

1. Google Maps – Download the cities or areas you’ll be visiting in ADVANCE so that you can access maps and navigation features without needing a data connection, even internationally. You can also use the list feature to plan your trips.
2. AllTrails + – This app allows your to download trail maps and access them while you are hiking. It also gives you more features than the free version so its a great app for avid hikers and has saved us from getting lost a number of times!
3. Roadtrippers – An app is geared for travelers that love to road trip and helps you discover cool attractions along the way. There are free and paid versions depending on what you need, but all of them allow you to plan a trip route out ahead of time.
4. Google Translate – Allows you to download languages ahead of time to use the app without data. It comes in handy when in another country that they don’t speak fluent English.
5. Trip-It – An app that takes all your email reservation confirmations and coordinates all your trips pertinent information in one spot within the app. This one is perfect for the travel that needs to be organized or if you have a long trip where you are going to many places and doing a lot of different things you have to reserve ahead of time.

Check out more of our great travel tips and hacks

Travel Apps – Episode Transcript

0:35

Hey, squadies!

Travel Squad Podcast is back with Just the Tip, our new Friday mini episode series where we give you quick travel stories, hacks and recommendations to set you off into the weekend rite.

0:54

Today we’re sharing 5 apps you should always have downloaded to make travel planning and traveling easier than.

Ever.

Yeah.

So we have five of them today.

We’re going to start off with Google Maps.

We always type up Google Maps.

What I love about it is that you can download the cities or areas that you’ll be visiting, and in advance.

1:14

And I recommend doing this especially on the offline feature option because you can access the maps and navigation features without needing a data connection.

And if you’re planning a road trip, be sure to download the areas along your route.

We actually just did this for a Havasu pie backpacking trip and it was helpful because we lost service shortly after our last gas fill in Kingman and we didn’t have service at our hotel or on the road to get to the Trailhead, so having it downloaded in advance was really essential.

1:44

Yeah.

And not even just domestically when you’re kind of in those rural areas, right.

If you don’t have data connection, you’re not going to be able to map yourself out.

So that’s why you need it downloaded.

But this comes in really handy, especially for that international travel, right?

Not a lot of us necessarily have data plans when we go out of country, so we’re only confined to the Internet when we do have Wi-Fi.

2:08

So if you’re in a foreign country, foreign city, really need to know how to navigate, you want to have it downloaded for that international city or destination that you’re in.

And again, when you download Google Maps for your specific area or region that you’re in, it’s as if you’re online.

2:25

It’s going to have your restaurants on their directions, landmarks, everything that you would have as if you were online.

It’s here when you have it downloaded offline and like it’s a lifesaver internationally for us.

I particularly like Google Maps internationally.

2:42

I feel like the directions are much more on point.

They have a lot more of the detailed street names and what not because Apple Maps also now has this feature where you can download for offline.

But whenever I’m international, I always use Google Maps because it’s better.

2:58

And if you do have data while you’re in another country, then you can use it for the public transport system.

Especially if you’re like Rome or in Munich and Germany, you can easily like, use the mass transit and it’ll tell you what line or metro or bus or whatever to get on.

3:15

And it makes it super easy so that you don’t have to look at all of these other apps.

You just use that one app to get that.

Another feature of Google Maps is that you can make a list if you’re planning a trip.

You can tag every location that you want to plan to go to within your trip and it makes a list.

3:31

And then you can share that list with other people or other travelers and you can add places in together and then you can see where things are in proximation to plan your trip.

That’s a really cool feature actually.

Had my Co worker share her Google map list with me for her trip to Greece and I use that thing like a Bible.

3:51

Always comes in handy.

I feel like in every general eisode we do have, we give this in the tips recommendation an we would be remiss if we didn’t put it here because you have to have Google Maps downloaded, let alone utilizing the offline feature App #2 that we always hype up about and that this is especially since we are avid outdoor people and hikers, is going to be all Trails, more particularly All Trails Plus which is their paid version.

4:17

But you don’t have to get all Trails Plus there is the free app of just All Trails.

But Brittany, you usually use this the most on our travels, so why don’t you go into the details really about this app and the benefits of it?

Well, I will say that if you are an avid hiker or a directionally challenged person, I highly recommend the paid version.

4:38

We have gotten lost on so many different trails that I finally pulled the trigger and was like we need the All Trails Plus subscription.

It’s only $36 a year, which I’m shocked by because I seriously thought it would be somewhere between like 102 hundred, but 36, it’s like that’s that’s not much.

4:56

No.

And you know it’s can save us from getting lost, like the 16 miles hike in Kings Canyon that we accidentally did.

But beyond that, what I love about the paid version is that you can download offline trails.

5:11

So when you’re in the remote areas and you don’t have service because you’re going to be on an epic hike, you can look at the trail map and see where you are on that trail map to see how far you are from the destination.

Have you gone off track?

Did you make a wrong turn?

Sometimes it’ll either show like other waterfalls so along the way, so if you wanted to do a little detour, you at least know where you are on the map and how to get back to the main trail, and I really love that.

5:36

Also, you can do this on the free version as well, but you can make lists and you can do it by trips or national parks or areas you plan to visit.

So I’ve made one a list for our Banff trip.

I have one on our upcoming trip to Iceland.

I even have one, unlike San Diego hikes that I want to do so you can make the lists and then make downloads as often as you want.

6:00

Well, not only does this help you keep on track when you’re in remote nature areas to make sure you’re staying on the trail and prevent you from getting lost, but again, if you just say a region or National Park, it will pull up all the hikes available in that area.

It will tell you how strenuous it is.

6:16

It will tell you the mileage, elevation, gain, etc.

Then you can also see a lot of the reviews that users of the app say about the hike.

So there’s been several times, too, where we’re like, OK, we’re going to this region we’ve seen online and again, not on the app but just like blog posts or influencers say, like, oh, you got to do this hike when you’re in this region.

6:39

And then we look at it on all trails.

And then you see everybody who’s like, no, that’s not as good as people say it is.

This one’s actually better.

This is why.

So you really get the user reviews also of those trails, which I really think is a great feature because we’ve switched up what we’re gonna do because of that many a times.

6:57

Mm hmm.

And seeing actual people’s photos of what it looks like, specially if they’ve gone recently.

App number.

Three is for those that like Rd.

Trips.

It’s called Rd.

Trippers and this app is perfect if you have a long drive ahead of you.

7:15

Maybe you’re going somewhere by car or doing what we do often and we fly somewhere, pick up a rental car and then take the road trip from there.

Basically what it is is along your route.

It will show you other cool attractions, bars, restaurants, gas stations, sites, things like that that you otherwise would really not know are there those like kitschy things that sometimes you only find out when you drive past it.

7:41

This app can help you include it into your road trip adventure.

Yeah, and they have four different levels of membership ranging from free which is pretty like bare minimum.

But they also have a basic plan, a Pro plan and a premium plan.

But I would only recommend the premium plan for anyone who is doing like more of an RV Traveler situation because it include some of those like RV campgrounds that you can get to and things like that.

8:07

But it’s really unique.

We’ve actually been recommended to use this app by a squatty of ours.

That’s how we originally heard about it.

So shout out to Ryan and I was just looking at our trip to the Dakotas coming up and it just lists everything like under the get outside.

8:24

It has like all of the parks, gardens, lakes lists, the national parks, state parks, monuments, And as an outdoor lover and just like not knowing that all of those things are around, you can be like, oh, if you have some downtime, you can go make an extra stop or see something along your way and not have to make another trip to go back to see that because you missed it the first time.

8:45

Speaking of the trip to the Dakotas that we have coming up, I’m actually really excited that we came across this and it was recommended to us by a squatty because of course, you know, we do not count driving through a state if we don’t stop and do something going to a state.

9:01

So when we the best airport for us to fly into is Denver, but we have to drive through the state of Nebraska, which we’ve never been before, to get to the Dakotas.

We’re not going to count that drive through as having been there because we did nothing yet.

At the same time, when we say we’re going to the Dakotas, it’s going to put something for us along the way in Nebraska so we can count it.

9:21

And they gave us several good options of things along the way.

So now I can feel rest assured like, yes, I’ve really been to Nebraska and did something and it gave you those off the beaten path, but cool, unique things that you’re not really going to find anywhere else.

And I love it.

I’m very curious to know what cool things in Nebraska suggested.

9:42

Carhenge.

Have you heard of that?

Oh, actually I have heard of.

It like Stonehenge.

But with random.

Well, I don’t remember the names of what it is specifically, but of course there are some nice nature stops and like state parks and things like that along the way that we wouldn’t know of otherwise.

9:59

But those specific names don’t know.

But yeah, Carhenge.

Who doesn’t want to see Stonehenge but made out of cars in Nebraska?

You’re definitely going to see it.

Like a 75% chance it’s making the list.

You have to.

You have to report back for the squatties. #4 on our list of travel apps is Google Translate.

10:19

What I love about Google Translate is you can actually download a language in advance, and just like you can with Google Maps, you know.

And then when you don’t have data or when you’re traveling, you can still use the Translate app and communicate with people abroad.

This is absolutely essential when traveling internationally.

10:37

I can’t tell you how many times we’ve used this where it’s come in really handy.

More importantly, when we were in Japan, I felt like we were able to communicate and make our way traveling around in Japan relatively easily.

But a lot of times when you’re in a restaurant setting, this is where you really need Google Translate to kind of tell your wait or something.

10:57

Or if the menu in a really hole in the wall type lace, even in a big city like Kyoto or Osaka, is not in English, it’s going to be in Japanese.

They have really cool features now, not only where you can actually type in an English, what you want to say, and then of course it will translate it to the language of the area in which you’re in.

11:15

But you can now take photos now of a sign, a menu, and in real time it’s going to translate that out to you so that you can see exactly what this is.

So if you’re traveling internationally and you’re not fluent in the language, you need it.

11:33

I just by default living in California and being in the USI have Spanish always downloaded as a language here.

But even though I know enough Spanish to get by when I’m in Mexico, of course I’m not fluent.

And even if you know enough, it still comes in really handy for those languages that you know enough, but not a lot.

11:53

So I can’t stress enough how important Google Translate is to have.

We used it a lot on our Germany trip when we were in the Bavarian Alps in Birch discarden.

Oh, I bet in Germany.

Yeah, well, you know what?

You’re in a big city.

Most people know English.

We went to Burk this garden again, really popular tourist area, but more rural.

12:11

So even though lots of tourists come there, not very many people in the town or city who live there speak English fluently.

So absolutely you need it, even in countries that you think they will know English.

Last, but certainly not least on this list of five is going to be Trippett.

12:28

This is a new app that I’ve recently downloaded.

I’ve heard a lot about it.

I mean, I’ve seen the Points guy talk about this, other blog posts talk about how really unique Trippett is.

But what this app does is it syncs with your e-mail inbox and it will take all your reservations for a trip, whether it be for flight reservation, rental car reservation, hotel reservation, any sort of event ticket that you buy for that trip.

12:57

And it will kind of like coordinate those dates.

And as a good example, let’s just say we’re going to New York.

It will see like, OK, you have flights to New York, This is your hotel.

And within the app, it categorizes your trip.

So it puts everything in one location for you.

You just go New York trip and then it will show you your flight number, your flight time confirmation number, your hotel, check in the confirmation number for your hotel.

13:24

And this saves you from having to either one print all that information out or go back and forth from like, e-mail to e-mail within your inbox.

So it really categorizes everything for you to make it really simple.

And if you have multiple trips planned at the same time, of course it’s not going to put, oh, this is all travel stuff and put it together.

13:44

It really recognizes from the dates and location and categorizes it for you.

So you could just like click, oh, New York and guess what?

A month later you’re going to be internationally, let’s just say Munich.

Oh, here’s your Munich trip right here with all your information.

With any app these days, of course, there’s going to be free versions and paid versions.

14:03

Tripit does have a paid version that gives you a few little added extras.

And some of those added extras will be, you know, letting you know, OK, you have a flight today.

This is what time, based off of your location, you should leave for the airport.

It does a fare tracker also, so it will recognize the flight that you bought, and if it happens to be cheaper, it will give you a notification of that.

14:26

Depending on yeah, and depending on the airline that you’re flying, of course.

And they’re either reimbursement or readjustment policies, you can use that.

Checking reminders even has a feature that point tracks all your reward programs that you’re a part of.

So that’s just with the paid feature, but the free feature puts that itinerary all into one.

14:46

It has useful additions, such as a navigator feature to help you get from point A to point B based off of the itinerary that you have and everything that it’s pulled.

Airport maps to help you navigate the terminals, your transfers, nearby places, even crime data.

15:03

Warning to let you know, hey, maybe you don’t want to go into this neighborhood, or if you’re here, just be on the lookout, you know, So really unique.

And I absolutely love it.

And now everything that we have scheduled out is intrip it.

And it really saves me because I can’t tell you how many times we landed in an airport.

15:18

And I have to ask Brittany, hey, what rental car company are we with?

And then she’ll have to pull up the e-mail, find it buried somewhere.

It’s all right here in Trippett now.

Love it.

That’s really cool.

I wonder if it would be notifying people of the recent trend in New York City, where you’re walking around looking at your phone and women are getting punched in the face on the streets of New York.

15:42

Oh well, I have not heard about that, but that does not surprise me.

But you know, like I said, I do not have the paid version yet, so I don’t know, nor have I been.

Well, actually the crime data one is not on the the paid version, but I haven’t been anywhere yet where it’s giving me a serious warning like that.

15:58

So maybe we should go to New York and see what it tells us, Kim.

I was thinking about going to New York in June, actually.

But then this thing’s been happening and I’m always on my phone walking around New York because you have your Google Maps and you’re doing your walking directions.

And like, I don’t want to get punched in the face, but hey, if there’s any New York squaddies out there, let us know.

16:18

Like, is this rampant or is it, you know, the media is blowing it up?

Yeah, let us know.

But nevertheless, these are five solid must have apps for you to have for your travels as an avid traveler.

All right, squatties, go download and enjoy traveling.

16:35

Thanks for tuning in to this week’s Just the Tip.

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And have fun traveling this weekend.