The internet has revolutionized travel, making it not only much easier but also considerably more accessible. One can step out of their front door, hail a cab to the airport, snag a ticket for the next flight, secure lodging, download maps and a few travel guides, and upon touching down in a new city, dine at a top-rated restaurant. Thanks to tech savvies, a wealth of user-friendly travel apps have been curated to streamline this process even further.
Tickets
Aviasales
Aviasales is the go-to application for me for flight searches. These versions offer a variety of agencies and overall rivals Skyscanner and Google Flights.
Skyscanner
Skyscanner remains one of the best search engines for international routes. The “Everywhere” option (showing all destinations from a selected city) seems more comprehensive and user-friendly than Aviasales’ equivalent feature.
Trip.com
Trip.com is a prime resource for searching for tickets and hotels in Asia. Originally a Chinese service, it acquired Skyscanner a few years ago. Many attractions and tours are offered at a significant discount. For instance, admission to the Seoul Tower in the Trip.com app will be half the price compared to the ticket counter.
Deutsche Bahn
iOS / Android / Web
The Deutsche Bahn app, created by Germany’s railway operator, stands as a singular platform (although the web version is preferred) where you can find the train schedules across Europe, from Spain to Romania, including regional trains. However, when it comes to purchasing, you’ll have to venture to various websites – either railway websites or online ticket offices with surcharges. Do note, even Deutsche Bahn’s website may lack information on the schedules of some private railway lines in countries like Spain, France, and Italy.
For rail travel in the UK, it’s most convenient to use the local portal nationalrail.co.uk. For some routes, tickets can be purchased via seat61.com, the internet’s primary knowledge base on the world’s railways.
Alternative: Eurail (iOS / Android).
Accommodation
Airbnb
iOS / Android
Airbnb is unrivaled when it comes to the rental of apartments and homes, and its application is genuinely user-friendly.
Booking
iOS / Android
Booking.com continues to be the number one service for reserving accommodations worldwide. Yes, in certain regions or countries, there might be something more convenient. However, if you’d prefer not to go through the hassle of downloading different apps, Booking.com is sufficient in most places.
Agoda
iOS / Android
For trips across Asia, prices on Agoda often undercut those on Booking.com, offering just as many options.
Mobile Connection (esim)
Airalo
Airalo’s eSIM advantage is that you can purchase short-term packages specific to countries or regions that are often cheaper than global esim and even local operators’ SIM cards. For instance, unlimited 5G internet in South Korea for ten days costs $32, while unlimited internet in Thailand is $9.9. You can subtract $3 from this amount, which can be earned on your first purchase (enter the promo code TRAVEL7460), and get a 5% cashback in the internal currency Airmoney, which can be spent on the next eSIM.
One downside of the app is the slow customer service – if something goes awry, you may have to wait a long time for a response, so it’s always recommended to have a backup plan.
Yesim
iOS / Android
Yesim operates similarly to Airalo and offers an additional feature – the option to rent virtual numbers from different countries. Typically, an eSIM does not have its own number and can only be used for the internet. But, if you need a foreign number to register on various services, you can rent a British or Israeli phone number to receive SMS.
Travel Organization
Flightradar24
Flightradar24 allows you to track airplanes in real time, as well as verify whether a particular flight has taken off and how often the airline delays flights. It’s also convenient service to check air routes.
Wanderlog
Wanderlog is a travel planner where you can input cities on the route of your journey, hotels, car bookings, plane tickets, as well as all the places you want to visit. It also includes note-taking, sharing features for friends, and useful tips from Wanderlog.
Awardwallet
Awardwallet is primarily designed for those who actively use loyalty programs from hotels and airlines. The service tracks your miles and statuses in various programs. Plus, it has basic functionality for travel planning – constructing routes from your bookings. Also, Awardwallet’s Blog’s Editor-in-chief is absolute beast abd legend JT Genter (follow him on Twitter)
App In The Air
App In The Air provides flight tracking, flight check-in, notifications about flight status changes, airport life hacks, and even a leaderboard for miles flown. It’s a service for true aviation geeks.