General Travel Tips
Trip
Advisor http://www.tripadvisor.com app free for iOS and Android
By far my favorite unbiased hotel and attraction review site. A hotel I recently visited had raves on agoda and pans on Trip Advisor. Guess which one was right?
TripIt app free for iOS and Android
Now that I travel for a living (if you can call spending and not earning money a living!) I am grateful for this site that aggregates all of my itinerary information into once place and includes helpful maps. You can either elect to have the company periodically mine your email for travel itineraries, or email them yourself.
Trip List app free for iOS and Android (Some people use packpoint, which basically does the same thing.)
A packing app, to-do list, and shopping list in one. Way better than the back of a napkin!
Quintessentially https://www.quintessentially.com
Wishing you could take your favorite hotel concierge with you? Now you can for a cool couple of grand (USD) per year thanks to the self-described “life management” service.
Planes
Matrix by Google http://matrix.itasoftware.com (On the Fly app free for iOS and Android)
When I was a kid, I ran my own “travel agency.” So it’s little wonder that I like Matrix by Google which uses the same data mined by travel agents to find you the lowest fares through creative timing and routing. More advanced functions are not intuitive, but there are plenty of free tutorials on the web. While you cannot book directly from the site, you can either try to duplicate the search result directly on an airline’s site or provide a travel agent with the relevant booking code.
Hopper http://www.hopper.com free for iOS
Hopper is one of my favorite new apps — taking a long term view of air travel, it analyzes trends to provide surprisingly accurate information about the best times to fly to a particular destination to score the lowest fares.
Flight Track (worth getting the Pro version) for iOS and Android.
Flight Track often gives me flight status updates and gate changes even before the airlines do, especially in North America. This is invaluable for any frequent traveler.
Skyscanner http://www.skyscanner.com (with several local websites) app free for iOS, Android, Windows, and BlackBerry
Though I use all of the major airfare aggregator apps for comparison, what I like about Skyscanner is that you can search for the lowest fares in all four cabin classes (even business travelers like to save money!) In addition to allowing you to choose your language and currency, I also find that Skyscanner tends to have better deals and more options for international travel than its competitors.
Seat Guru http://www.seatguru.com/app free for iOS, Android, Windows
The app provides detailed seatmaps and in-seat amenities for most airline fleets. If you’ve ever inadvertently been stuck in a windowless middle economy seat that doesn’t fully recline, or run out of power on your laptop because your seat didn’t have an outlet — ’nuff said.
Airports by Travel Nerd http://www.travelnerd.com/airports
While I have yet to use this site to navigate an unfamiliar airport, a quick test of airports I do know well proved that this app provides a wealth of information all in one place. Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta is listed as “coming soon” — so my tip to travelers visiting my erstwhile hometown is — remember to have IDR 150,000 cash on hand to pay your international airport departure tax!
Trains
(Still trying to find the best train apps!) Watch this space.
Automobiles (and Buses, Subways, etc!)
Uber https://www.uber.com app free on iOS, Android and Windows Phone If you are new to Uber and want to help me get around to all the exciting places I write about, please sign up with my referral code at https://www.uber.com/invite/k4okv. We each get as much as US$ 30 worth of free rides so it’s totally worth it. Thanks!
Available in 57 countries (as of Ju;y 2015) and counting, Uber is a comfortable and generally consistent transportation option that helps to reduce hassle in negotiating taxi prices and routes in unfamiliar cities. I am a huge fan.
VIP Car Rentals https://www.vipcars.com is a car rental broker that compares the prices and provides direct booking of cars in an impressive array of countries around the world. The booking process is pain free — I am about to pick up my first car in a couple of weeks and will report back on the full experience.
Hop Stop https://www.hopstop.com available on iOS
This app provides detailed directions and public transit maps for an ever expanding number of cities in the English-speaking world (as well as several additional European countries and Israel). Sorry fellow Jakartans — the TransJakarta or GoJek apps will have to do for you!
Hotels and Lodging
Agoda http://www.agoda.com/
Callers to the customer service number will either be highly amused or incredibly frustrated that their hold music is Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain” depending on their state of mind.
Booking Now by Booking.com app free for iOS, Android version on the way.
Regretting your spontaneous decision to hop on a plane/train with no lodging? Suddenly realize that the “great deal” you booked is a complete dive? Booking.com’s new Book Now app offers great last minute deals on hotels. (Book Now is a far better app than Hotel Tonight for international locations.)
Airbnb https://www.airbnb.com/ free for iOS and Android If you are new to Airbnb and want to do me a solid (I am neither compensated for this blog or for any travel I write about) please sign up with my referral code at www.airbnb.com/c/jhart43?s=8. We each get $25 to spend on lodging. Thanks!
One of the harder aspects of solo business / weekend travel is that after awhile it can feel quite isolating. Airbnb is a nice way to opt to reconnect with hosts (or, if staying in an empty home, at least not have the 50th version of the same bedspread!)
One Fine Stay http://www.onefinestay.com/
This upscale (read, out of my present budget) version of airbnb is not in too many locations at present but worth watching.
Navigation
Waze https://www.waze.com free for iOS, Android and Windows Phone
While Waze HAS occasionally steered me wrong in some remote places, I still find Waze to be a highly reliable app not only for navigating, but also for viewing traffic flow and road hazards.
Business
Oanda http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter free for iOS, Android and BlackBerry.
Going from rupees to rupiah? Oanda is an invaluable tool for understanding the relative value of different currencies in this increasingly interconnected world.
Leisure
Sunscreen http://www.sunscreenreapplyingreminderapp.com app free for iOS and Android.
In all candor, given that it’s rainy season here in West Java I have not yet tested the accuracy of this app though it’s been fun to play with!