Travel companion

Apps are the guidebooks of the 21st Century. A young travel bug swears by some that have helped her navigate the world

Travel apps make your trip effortless and guide you to the best spots in every city. File Photo.

If you like to travel with a little more than your passport and a smart phone, you’ll be welcoming the 21st Century guide book — the apps. They make your trip effortless and guide you to the best spots in every city.

When on the road, there are a couple of things to care about.

Foodies will be hunting for modest restaurants, while budget-travellers will be looking out for an affordable value-price place to stay. There are a number of excellent apps that can help to make your journey a buoyant/breezy/cheerful time.

Tripadvisor is an all-rounder — it covers restaurants most of all, but also hotels, sight-seeing and flights. It has millions of reviews of other travellers. I even saw some restaurants having imitation Tripadvisor signs on their restaurant-doors to trick/attract tourists. Always check it up before. The only issue with using Tripadvisor is that restaurants and hotels increase their prices the moment they start have good ratings from Tripadvisor.

Handy app “30 Million People can’t be wrong” is how Skyscanner advertises for its flight search app. As I was one of those 30 million who used it for my travels in Southeast Asia, I can confirm that statement.

If I couldn’t find a cheap flight on Skyscanner, I would find it nowhere. It’s a handy app and I really appreciated the chart view where one could see prices across a whole week or month.

Google Maps for iOS will be the app to bring you back home when you’re lost as it happened once to me in Bangkok, or to calculate distances if a taxi driver wants to trick you. This newly designed app is for anyone and is a helpful must-have. It replaces bulky maps.

Currency is my app to-go if I have to figure out a rate in a pinch. It converts over 100 world currencies and metals and is fairly easy to handle. There are a thousand more applications waiting to be downloaded, but with only those four you’ll find everything you need in only a minute.

Make sure to leave your heavy guidebooks at home, lean back and put your mind at ease about your travel.