Essential Travel Apps

I’ve been doing a lot of travel lately & noticed that I turn to the same apps over & over again to make my trips go more smoothly. These are four of my favorites:

TripIt

I love TripIt because it keeps me super organized & it’s ridiculously easy to use. Simply register your email address with the app & then forward all your hotel confirmations, airline itineraries, dinner reservations, tour reservations & must do activities to a special email address. Then the app goes to work & boom! Organizes the entire thing into easy to read itineraries.

Some things that make this app awesome:
– you can use it in airplane mode, which means you can use it internationally without using data
– the app allows you to see all your trips at once, which is a great way it see everything you have coming up
– you can edit & name each trip, which is extremely helpful if you travel for a lot of different clients, like I do

Cost: TripIt is free to download. A pro subscription will run you $49 per year, but gives you features such as mobile alerts, a complimentary 1-year membership to Hertz #1 Club Gold & auto-sharing.

Hotel Tonight
I’ve written previously about Hotel Tonight & my love affair continues. Check the app at noon the day you need a hotel room & you’re given a choice of great properties in the city of your choice. While I’ve only used the app in NYC, they’re constantly adding new cities (I’ve recently checked out Toronto, DC & Boston – just to see what was out there!).

Some things that make this app awesome:
– it’s a great way to try new hotels, while traveling or right in hour own neighborhood!
– the discounted prices range from decent to fantastic
– their customer service on Twitter & online is suburb

Cost: the app is free to download!

Flight Aware
When I travel with others, they always ask me how I know so much about our flight. My secret weapon? The FlightAware app! Enter your flight number & you’re on your way. Confession: I’ve been known to whip out this app at a moments notice to figure out aircraft flying overhead or parked at the gate next to mine. If you’re in the mood to do some plane spotting, check out the feature that shows a flight traffic specific airports!

Some things that make this app awesome:
– I love the crazy amount of information that this app gives you: flight maps, flight data including speed & altitude, aircraft type, historic data, really everything an aviation geek could want.
– for some flights, you can track the incoming aircraft, which is a great tool to determine if your flight might be delayed. If you’re really nerdy, you can track all the way back to the first flight of the day.

Cost: the app is free to download!

Kayak
I have been known to whip out my phone at a moment’s notice to look up, say, a spring flight to Paris or a trip to Iceland next weekend. The Kayak app is perfect for this stroke of wanderlust! This flight aggregator searches airline websites to give you a list of all the flights – & their prices – between your chosen airports.

Some things that make this app awesome:
– this is a great tool at comparing prices without having to go to every airline website.
– they offer “hacker fares” – that is fares that combine two one way tickets, often on different airlines. If you’re really looking for a good deal, & don’t care what airlines you fly, this can be a good option.
– it’s really easy to use: enter your cities, your dates & done.

Cost: Kayak is free to download.