Since we only brought two iPhones and an iPad on our trip (no laptop), we use a lot of apps to get things done. Between booking flights and lodging to paying our bills at home, we rely on a variety of technology. Some apps are very basic, for tasks like keeping notes or writing our blog posts. Some are used for backing up documents or photos, such as Google Drive. Others are specialized for travel purposes.

In this post I want to give an overview of the best travel-specific apps that help us trek across the globe efficiently and effectively.

If you don't use some of them already, I would really recommend starting to with your next trip.

Flights

Skyscanner

There are countless flight search engines out there, and we've used them all. Kayak, Hipmunk, Expedia, Orbitz, Momondo, and on, and on. Skyscanner consistently beats them all. It returns more options from a greater number of airlines, finds the lowest prices, and has helpful features that allows you to easily compare prices among other dates.

Lodging

Booking.com

Nearly every hostel, hotel, resort, and guesthouse in the world is listed on Booking. It's popular for good reason. We've had conversations with hostel owners who said simply listing on Booking has driven up their occupancy. The options to filter by location, amenities, and price are very helpful. We have booked at least 75% of our lodging on this RTW trip using Booking.

Airbnb

Airbnb is a well-known service for booking private accommodation in houses, condos, or apartments. It's really best utilized when you need to stay more than 5 nights in one place. Airbnb charges a booking fee, and nearly every owner charges a cleaning fee, so the value factor really comes in when you spread those costs out over a longer stay. We stayed at an Airbnb apartment in Buenos Aires for 10 days and in Budapest for 8. It's really nice to have a place that feels like home, with more amenities such as a washing machine and full kitchen.

Navigation

Ulmon City Maps 2 Go Pro

City Maps 2 Go is one of the most important apps we have. We use it daily to navigate and denote points of interest. You can download open source maps of any city and mark your favorite spots such as restaurants, museums, and hotels. Before we go to a new destination, we research blogs and websites for the best dining and sightseeing options. We then save them to the map, and when we arrive, we know exactly where to go to dinner or have a drink. The navigational location services are even functional when your phone is on airplane mode, so we always know where we are and how to get home when walking around the city. The app costs $5.99, but all maps are free after that. So worth it. I'd go so far as to say it is indispensable.

Rome 2 Rio

This is a really cool service that gives you all the transportation options between any two cities. I'm still amazed that something like this exists and works as effectively as it does. Whether it is by plane, train, bus, ferry, or car, Rome 2 Rio will tell you how to get to your destination, how frequently the mode departs, and give you a link to schedules and booking sites. The accuracy is pretty stellar.

Organization

Trip It Pro

I had tried Trip It a few years ago, but gave up on the service since its functionality didn't do much for me on regular vacations. However, this app is very well-suited for long term travel. It's also necessary to get the Pro version. Thankfully, when we signed up for our Barclay Arrival Plus credit card, a free subscription to the Pro version was included. I use it with every lodging, flight, train, or excursion booking. You simply forward your booking confirmation email to the Trip It address, and the service intuitively classifies and files your plans in chronological order. All your booking info including dates, costs, addresses, and confirmation numbers is at your fingertips within one app. The Pro version even notifies you if you flight reservation has been rescheduled or delayed. Some might argue that it is equivalent to Apple Passbook, but only certain booking types function with Passbook. Any booking source or type can function with Trip It, and your info is available in the app or by logging in to their website.

Communication

What's App

When making new friends or connecting with Airbnb or hosts, we constantly were asked "do you have What's App?" We always offer to give out our email and cell number because we have international texting and data included in our plan. But we were astounded to learn that international plans are super rare in most other countries... even Europe.

So What's App has filled the void by making it possible to text or call foreign numbers for free over data. I eventually downloaded it and have used it a few times. It's very easy and as clear as a regular phone call. Now, I always mention that I'm on What's App when exchanging contact information.

Tunnel Bear

Prior to leaving on the trip, I read a lot about security vulnerabilities when connected to public wifi. It's unlikely, but very possible, to have your credit card or password information recorded when you transmit it via an open connection. the easiest way to keep your info private is by using a VPN connection. After much research into VPN providers, I bought a year-long subscription to Tunnel Bear.

The app integrates seamlessly into your iPhone or iPad and is easy to turn on. It routes you through a secure connection in another country and provides peace of mind when buying airline tickets or booking hotels online. It doesn't noticeably slow down your connection, which is one of the biggest complaints about VPN providers.

This post isn't intended to sound whiney, although it may come across like that to readers.

BUT...

Traveling longterm isn't all umbrella drinks and amazing sites. It definitely is great, but taking care to figure out a new city every few days or week is a lot of work.

Most people who travel are going for vacation. The price is variable, but usually the fact that this is the "one big trip" of the year outweighs being too financially responsible. Have one more expensive glass of wine, fly to the next location to see as much as possible, say yes to the fancier tour. Oh, and most people spend MONTHS planning for those seven to 10 days of pure bliss.

Longterm travel negates that flexibility in a lot of ways, while you gain flexibility in others. We don't have months to plan for the next city because the next city is two, three or seven days away. The longest we've consecutively stayed in one place was Budapest, for eight days total.

This means we spend quite a bit of time researching as we go and trying to stay just ahead of the plan.

The mentality currently working for us is "big first, small as it comes." For example, we have already booked a safari in Southern Africa, which isn't until July 16th, but we still don't have accommodation in Brasov, Romania in three weeks. The most important things we need to know upon arrival is where the ATM is located and how to get around cheaply.

So, how do we plan for a city? (The true point of this post.) Below is our process for planning for the next short term hop.

Once a larger scale destination is booked, we essentially set it on the back burner until one or two weeks before our actual arrival. Then, we set aside an afternoon or two to divide up the research. Brian usually handles accommodation and transportation research and I handle restaurants and activities.

We aren't carrying around guidebooks, but do download the "free" ones via Kindle Unlimited. This gives us a great starting point, but is rarely how we make final decisions.

For accommodation, we pinpoint which location we want to stay in closest to the historical sites and within walking distance of the social hub. We have made the decision to spend a bit more to be within walking distance to as many things as possible, or close to public transportation. If we stay further outside, taxis and longer rides add up to more cost, negating the cheaper accommodation. (Our most-used website is Booking.com.)

When it comes to choosing what things to see, we have to admit we have no fear of skipping something historical we just aren't interested in seeing. We love our experiences with people far more than we care about seeing the most famous artist's work from you-name-it country. We could spend ALL of our time running around checking things off a list just to say we've been there, done that. But, there's no story in that type of travel. We will see the famous sites, but usually we skip the plethora of museums in every place we go.

Nearly all of my research comes from Google searches that lead to blogs from longterm travelers and locals. This is where I get my start and I write down all the suggestions made for local favorites. With some basic searches like the following, I can get a fairly good idea of the Must Sees of the average tourist and also living like a local:

-Hidden gems of ----- Country

-Best of ----- Country

-Best restaurants of ----- Country

-Best kept secret of ----- Country

-Eat like a local in ----- Country

-Free Activities in ----- Country

My list gets insanely long with suggestions, so I follow up this research with reviews from Trip Advisor to cross reference the recommendations. Some are kept, tossed or kept with a question mark to ask locals when we arrive.

Once I have my list, I plug everything into the app called City Maps. Once I see where everything is located, I can create a calendar of convenience. For example, we are going to be in this neighborhood of the city and here are some of the restaurants we'd like to try.

This process usually takes four to six hours for a major city and yes, I understand I'm a bit of an over planner, but hitting the ground armed with tons of information and locations saves us time and hassle of just wandering around. The plan is always flexible, but it has really taken the pressure off what to do when we are hungry and have been walking all over a city or have just arrived at midnight, but know how late the metro is running.