Travel Smart: 8 Smartphone Essentials to Add to Your Packing List
For better or worse, most travelers these days end up depending heavily on smartphone technology to get around. This past year, I visited many countries.
Each place offered unique gains and unique challenges. Whether traveling by plane, boat, or motorcycle, I relied on my Smart Phone resources for support.
I’ve compiled a list of my most-used smartphone tools and tips on how to make the most of them:
8 Smartphone Essentials to Add to your Packing List
1.Google Maps
This might seem like an obvious choice, but a lot of us don’t maximize the app as much as we could!
The first and most important priority for me when traveling is to make sure I have access to directions even when I don’t have an internet connection.
To start, I search the city and download an offline map. I recommend being a little extra generous with the range downloaded even though it takes up a bit more space.
Next, I enter the address of my accommodation and save it to “travel plans.” I continue by creating a folder with other arrival points and destinations.
It’s possible to make a pretty developed list of exact restaurants, tour pick-up points, or public transit entrances.
What I love about this method is that it gives me a sense of orientation, personal responsibility, and where-with-all that I can lean into when I want to let myself wander around and get lost.
It helps to have at least gained some awareness of a city layout, landscape, or sense of direction. Having a local map accessible when you get turned around is super important.
2. E-Sim
Before heading off to explore oceanic havens or bustling cobble-stone streets, I propose doing a little research on an E-Sim option with really good reviews.
An E-Sim allows you to access the data in another country so you can use the internet without needing to be in a coffee shop or restaurant or hotel lobby.
This tool turned out to be invaluable to me as I used it to access my translator, my currency converter, and my weather app in sketchy conditions.
Choose the company, pick the country needed, select the plan that suits you best, and screenshot every bit of instructions, so they’re immediately available to you at any time.
I highly recommend getting this set up in advance and then trying it out first thing in the airport upon arrival.
3. Local Taxi Apps
For those of us who weren’t hailing cabs on busy intersections in Manhatten starting at the age of 9, finding a ride from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel around the city can be a little intimidating…or at least annoying after a 15-hour flight.
It’s intimidating for a lot of reasons and one of the most universally valid reasons is that it’s really easy to be taken advantage of financially.
Although still not wholly trustworthy commuter apps like Lyft, Uber, Grab, etc add a significant amount of security and ease to the experience. What I like to do when I am going to be visiting a new city is find out what apps are popular.
What do the locals pay for the same distance?
I download the app when I have internet and set up my payment method so it’s good to go when I need it.
There’s usually more than one choice in the city and price varies depending on demand and traffic but searching ahead of time provides a reasonable estimate of how much it should cost to get from point A to point B. Plus, they pick you right up and you can track the driver’s navigation.
4. Public Transit
It’s always good to ask, “ How do the locals get around?”
Like with the taxis, look up the transportation options available and find out what the app options are. Once they are on your phone, you can familiarize yourself with the maps and start to decide what routes you might be taking later on.
Just like with the taxis, look up the transportation options available and find out what the app options are. Once they are on your phone, you can familiarize yourself with the maps and start to decide what routes you might be taking later on.
Most of these inner-city subway or bus options have passes that you can buy for any number of days depending on how many rides you foresee yourself needing or for however long.
Between having some awareness of the train system and a general sense of direction with the map you have on your phone, you’ll be unstoppable!
5. Google Translate
If you’re flying from Minneapolis to Pittsburg, this probably won’t serve you very well. However, if you’re going to be traveling internationally and you haven’t dedicated the past 5 years dedicating your time to learning the native language of the place you’re exploring, Google Translate is an invaluable resource.
Once the app is on your phone, choose what language(s) you’ll want to translate to and from, and make sure that you have the “conversation” accessibility.
I personally got the most use out of the conversation feature because it allows both speakers to speak into the phone speaker and translates for each speaker respectively.
In my personal experience, the “reader” works well to translate if you want to figure out what kind of cooking oil you’re looking at the grocery store in Thailand but not as well if you’re sick in the desert in Morocco, trying to make out what the medicine you’re being given is.
6. Accommodation App
It’s good to have at least the app that you booked your accommodation(s) at so that you can modify or cancel your reservation as needed, review the information when you’ve arrived in the city, and access your reservation info upon check-in.
If you opt to not clutter your mobile screen with this or use up some of your phone memory that you may not have, I would advise at least getting a little screenshot happy about the details on your reservation.
Again, this is handy when you don’t have internet and the person at the desk is having a bad day and can’t find you in the system.
7. Currency Converter
This one is pretty self-explanatory.
Getting a currency converter app on your phone allows you to get a good handle on how much of the money you’ve saved for this trip you’re spending on that amazing hand-sewn leather purse at the flea market.
It gives you a little more command in the “negotiation” situation, too, as it’ll help you gauge how much money you’d be willing to spend state-side.
If you’re planning on traveling to a number of different destinations, you can add all the local currencies and compare them at the same time.
8. What’s App
Communicating with friends, family, and strangers internationally has never been easier. We have email, Facebook Messenger, Skype, and my personal favorite, WhatsApp.
Carol Yepes/Getty Images
To use WhatsApp, you register your phone number and follow the prompts to connect with your contacts that are ALSO using the app. It’s free and easy to send a link to the people you want to keep in touch with.
As long as the app is downloaded to your phone and registered to your number, you can make phone calls and send texts, videos, pictures, links, etc, to whoever has it as well.
It works like a normal phone does with the exception that you can’t connect with anyone who doesn’t have it. Pretty much anyone with a smartphone and an internet connection can get it.
