Have an App – Will Travel
Here are some of the apps we have come across recently. There are literally thousands of travel apps so this is a very short list. If you know a good app, one others should know about, let us know and we’ll share in the newsletter.
Grab
If you’ve only got a few minutes for a meal before boarding a flight, Grab will let you look at airport restaurant menus ahead of time, map them in the terminal, and in some locations order in advance and pick up your food on the way to the gate. The app currently serves 174 eateries at 17 airports in the U.S. Dallas/Fort Worth Airport now offers Grab’s mobile ordering at all of its 200 dining outlets.
HappyCow
HappyCow lists vegan and vegetarian restaurants in nearly 10,500 cities worldwide, from major cities like London (Book & Kitchen) and New York City (Blossom du Jour), to obscure places like Vatra Neamului, in Chişinău, Moldova. Each restaurant listing comes with a short description of the menu and user-generated reviews. This one is a paid app and costs $3.99.
Cool Cousin
Collections of off the-beaten-path recommendations from savvy residents in 14 destinations, such as a mixologist in London and an artist in Paris. Their suggestions aren’t ones you will find in a typical guidebook; expect hip new spots in emerging neighborhoods.
Wingz
Pre-book affordable airport and other point-to-point transportation in a dozen metro areas across the United States. There are no surprises: travelers know in advance the total cost and who their driver will be—and can even request their favorite driver on future trips. Reliability and safety is a company hallmark: all drivers have had their DMV records checked.
Binaural
Alleviate jet lag and reset your sleep clock with the help of binaural beats—repetitive sounds that cultures around the world have relied on for centuries to create relaxed states of mind. Besides helping you sleep, the beats can improve focus and attention, foster learning, and reduce anxiety, according to the app’s creators.
Google Trips
Google’s new travel app pulls hotel and flight data from a user’s linked Gmail account to automatically create trip portfolios that act as destination-specific city guides. The app will also use your consumer behavior history to determine personal preferences, and then create custom-tailored travel recommendations for restaurants, local events, and activities.
Wego
The metasearch travel site’s upgraded app lets you scour more than 700 sites at once to give you the lowest prices currently available for airfare and lodging, sometimes with better pricing results than Kayak or Momondo.
Packpoint
Packpoint automatically generates a bespoke packing list for your trip: you just enter the destination, date of travel and length of stay along with some details about the activities you are planning. In the event that the app has misjudged your desire to have a different outfit for every evening, it’s easiest to tweak the list once it has been generated.
MyTSA
While following an airport on Twitter remains one of the best ways to know about travel delays, this app calculates wait times for clearing security in domestic airports and shows delays across the country. It also offers fun features like current weather and where TSA PreCheck is available.
Café WiFi
Digital nomads, rejoice! Finally an app that shows where free WiFi is located.
There is nothing worse than ending up in a chain coffee shop in a new city, just because you need WiFi to send off some emails. (That being said, Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts are great in a pinch.)
What we really need is what is the best wifi call/messager app for Europe. Skype has become too hard to use.Dealing with another phone and a sim card is a pain. Is Viber a good app?
Viper is a good app even though like many it has its faults. The call quality isn’t always perfect and the texts are occasionally delayed, but this is one of the better free texting. One extra benefit is no ads.
Facebook Messenger is also very popular for calls and text messages but of course both parties need Facebook Messenger. Some of the cable providers (Comcast) now also provide WIFI calling capabilities