I've met people in my travels who are spontaneous in their planning - deciding in the moment to pack up and travel to another location. That's not me. I'm a planner. For me the planning is enjoyable and is a way to "extend" the travel - visualizing all the places I want to explore, connecting with the people in the locations where I'll be, eating the food and learning about the culture. Wherever you fall on the travel planning spectrum, planner extraordinaire or wing-it wonder, these apps can simplify your travels.
Airbnb
Almost everyone knows about Airbnb as an accommodation app, but even if I'm not booking an Airbnb stay, I use the app to check out the experiences being offered in a particular destination. There are adventure expeditions, city tours, street food crawls, cooking classes, history and culture excursions and even photoshoots - great for solo travelers. I recently signed up for a blessing by a Buddhist monk in Cambodia. Because most Airbnb experiences are offered by locals instead of corporate tour companies, the prices are reasonable and the local people get the majority of the funds. I like to promote entrepreneurship when I travel to other countries. I’ve always gotten great insight into the local culture and history through these experiences.
Booking.com
Booking.com has a loyalty program where you earn discounts or upgrades on hotel rooms. The discounts get bigger the more rooms you book over time. What I find special about this app is not just the overall reviews, but the ratings on amenities like WIFI, breakfast, staff, etc. However, most hotel booking sites have similar ratings systems. For me, what sets this platform apart from the rest is that not only can you ask the hotel questions, but you can see what questions other travelers have asked, and the responses from the hotels.These exchanges provide a level of detailed information I believe the hotels have to respond within 48 hours. I've chosen accommodations based on the Q&A section.
Google Flights
Google Flights is not an app, but is a must-have tool for any serious traveler. It finds the lowest airline fares by combining fares from different airlines if necessary to get you the best deals. One of my favorite features it offers is a date grid - a view that shows the combination of departure and return dates, adjacent to your desired travel dates, that offer the best prices. Think about it, if you have flexibility, switching your travel by a day could save hundreds on a flight. For those who enjoy spontaneous roaming, you can enter a departure airport and leave the arrival airport blank; if you have specific dates you can enter them or indicate one or several months that you’d like to search for flights. Hit “explore” to see the places and prices for that time frame. Let the roaming begin.
If you are flexible, switching your travel by a day could save hundreds on a flight.
Rome2rio
This app is a handy tool to plot out transportation options to travel between locations and each step of the journey, the amount of time for each stage of the journey, the estimated cost, and even details such as the time it takes to walk from your hotel to a train station and the time schedule for buses and trains.
Secret Flying
Secret Flying used to have an app but now there’s only a website. Secret Flying shares cheap flights and error fares. This platform works best for those with maximum flexibility since there’s no predicting the destinations, the departure airports and the time period for travel.
Skyscanner
The sister app of Secret Flying. Skyscanner works similarly to Google Flights and is especially good for its “exploring everywhere” option. Skyscanner also offers deals on hotels and cars. If you use the Secret Flying site and click on an offer, you will automatically be directed to Skyscanner to book flights or hotels.
Tripadvisor
Tripadvisor reviews can make or break an establishment in the tourism and hospitality industry. I always use the app to research hotels and restaurants and I routinely leave reviews for the establishments I visit. But the feature I find most valuable for planning travel is Tripadvisor Forums. The forums are a social platform within the app where travelers engage with each other and with locals in every country to get advice on itineraries, hotels, tour guides, tourist attractions, visa requirements - you name it. During the pandemic, when traveling was particularly challenging, and Covid restrictions changed daily, there were details on Covid testing requirements, border closures, etc. When I traveled to Kenya and Tanzania in 2021, I used the forums to figure out testing sites. In 2022, for my trip to Argentina and Chile, the forums for those countries provided on-the-ground info on Covid testing at the only border crossing in Southern Patagonia. By monitoring the forums, I had more current information than the tour operator in the country did.
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