7 must-have travel apps

1. Google Trips

Google Trips is the ultimate trip planning app, holding all your travel plans and reservations in one app that can even be used offline. Need to find your hotel and you’ve got no WiFi access? No worries – Google Trips has the name, address and contact details stored for you. The app also lets you plan routes for sightseeing, even suggesting landmarks you might be interested in.

2. Turo

Think of Turo as the Airbnb of rental cars. Turo lets you rent someone else’s car for the duration of your stay in a city – though it’s currently only available in the US and Canada. You can choose from a wide range of vehicles to suit the kind of trip you want to take, even minibuses or campervans. Many owners who rent their cars through the app can be flexible to accommodate your travel plans, even offering airport pickup and dropoff.

3. CityMapper

CityMapper wants to make cities feel more user friendly, so it pulls traffic and travel data from multiple sources and combines them to give you the quickest route to wherever you want to go. You won’t have to worry about traffic, timetable changes, delays, or where the train station entrance is – CityMapper has all the details you need.

4. Kayak

Kayak is a travel site aggregator, meaning it searches the deals from hundreds of other travel providers and finds you the best bargains. Any seasoned traveller has probably used Kayak to book a flight or a hotel, and the good news is Kayak now has an app. Even better, some deals are only available when you’re on mobile. Besides making it easy to score a sweet deal, Kayak also has plenty of cool features to make your journey easier, like flight alerts in case of cancellation or delay.

5. Google Translate

Much like Google Trips, Translate is the ultimate app for giving you instant bilingual abilities. You might not be able to speak the local language, but Google can translate for you. Type, or even speak, what you want to say and Google will translate and pronounce it for you, making interacting with the locals easy. Don’t know what a street sign says? Google can even translate text from an image so you can follow local signs and directions.

6. XE

Not good at doing the mental arithmetic required to convert between currencies? Just made a big impulse purchase and need to see the damage? XE, the world’s biggest currency conversion website, has an app that proves particularly useful for travellers. The app works with more than 180 currencies worldwide, and also saves the latest spot rates in case you’re out of WiFi range and need to use it offline.

7. Packpoint

Packpoint is a smart packing list app that tells you what to pack, based on where you’re going, trip length, weather and purpose of your visit. You can even add activities that you plan on doing while you’re there, such as hitting the gym or going to a formal event, and Packpoint will make sure you remember all those clothes too.

You can download all these apps to get ready for your next adventure, but to be fully prepared, make sure you’re insured against accident and injury. Remember, a good travel insurance policy will still be there if your phone dies! Get a competitive quote today with Medibank travel insurance.