Top 10 Travel Apps for 2016

(Photo from Small Business Trends)

Let’s face it, we’d be pretty lost without a smartphone these days and there’s no denying that many of us have ours in hand a majority of the time. With so much technology at the tips of our fingers we’ve found ten apps to help get the most out of our next adventure. We don’t recommend missing a precious travel moment behind the screens of our devices, these apps are solely here to enhance our experience and make planning less of a hassle.

Once we decide on a destination and timeline for our next trip we use SkyScanner to help us find the best deal on flights both domestic and international. The app also works well for the thrifty traveler who like to bundle their expenses all together allowing us to find a hotel and car all at the same time.

After our flight is booked we log into TripCase and forward our confirmation email to their secure address. TripCase will then organize the details and start planning our itinerary. Other confirmation emails from hotels, car rentals, even dinner reservations can be forwarded and added to the itinerary to help keep all of our important information easy to find and in one place. The app also offers other cool features such as sharing your itinerary with a friend, saving favorite destinations (parks, restaurants, shops, etc.) and also viewing alternate flights back home.

Once our flight and confirmations are taken care of, it’s time to start packing! PackPoint is such a useful app to have on hand because once we plug in our destination and length of stay it generates a list of items to pack. The app can be customized by adding activities that will take place during the trip and it even considers the time of year of travel and past weather conditions to make sure that we stay prepared no matter what. PackPoint is a great idea when traveling to a new destination because it recommends things that we might not have considered.

If our favorite hotel is booked or we are trying to stay on budget, Airbnb is our favorite spot to rent a place to stay. The website and app are very straight forward, simply search your destination and the length of your stay and then Airbnb will then generate a list of all the hosts within that area. Narrow down the search by selecting a price range and the type of accommodation desired, entire house/apt, private room or shared room. Booking is simple and there’s no need to become a host or rent your place when signing up, unless you wanted to make some extra money while you are away on your next trip.

Traveling abroad can sometimes be overwhelming, not speaking the native tongue can hinder experiences but Bravolo is an app packed full of phrases and dictionaries in different languages. Currency is another helpful app that provides accurate exchange rates for over 150 different currencies. Taking advantage of all the apps available makes sweating the small stuff like this seem silly.

Waking up one morning to find the skies gloomy with rain clouds overhead can be a major bummer especially if outdoor activities were planned for that day. DarkSky is our favorite app to track down what Mother Nature has in store. DarkSky has the most accurate forecasting down to the minute with advanced radar technology and also sends alerts about upcoming storms. It’s easy to check the forecast and see if the storm is passing through or lingering above. Unfortunately this app is only compatible with iOS users and for a small initial price.

Navigating a new city can be tricky. Google Maps is the easiest way to get around, by foot, bike, public transportation or car, anywhere in the world. We love that the app can direct us turn by turn and sets it’s routes to avoid traffic. Google Maps also has features like street view, live incident reports, voice guided GPS, and recommended places to visit.

Since our phones are always near by, capturing a beautiful image of our trip is made easier with VSCO. The app is dialed in to help control the focus of the photo and is filled with professional grade tools to make editing simple. There are also many filters and textures that can be applied to help create a work of art. There are many different social networking sites to share our photo on, but our favorite is still Instagram. It’s a fun way to view our collection of photographs and tag all the places we’ve been.

With all of these features waiting to be used, it’s time to start downloading and planning the next get away!