Selma Roth Saudi Gazette For centuries, humans have traveled the world without any help from smartphones, tablets, or other gadgets. Chances are you have as well. But while it is perfectly possible to find your way like this, why not use the technological resources available today to make your trip just that bit more convenient, faster and less expensive? After all, traveling abroad and exploring a new city can be quite overwhelming, whether you are on a short business trip alone or going for a three-week holiday with family. Overwhelming is also the amount of apps available on the Android and Apple markets. If you don't know where to begin, check these useful travel apps before you go on your next journey, which can be found on both market places, and – even better – are free of cost. For finding best airline rates: Skyscanner It can take hours of research to find the best flights for your trip, especially if you are flexible with the date, time and perhaps even destination. Skyscanner makes finding the best rates much easier by comparing millions of flights and numerous airlines. Book directly through them, or be notified of price changes on the routes you have watched. Even if you want to book a last-minute but have no clue about where to go, Skyscanner can help you get inspiration with the “Everywhere” search function. For accommodation: Hotels.com Featuring over 510,000 hotels throughout 200 countries, this is a great app to find the best accommodation deals, whether you are looking for a cosy B&B or a top-notch 5-star property. Apart from making it easier to book accommodation, reservations are just a click away with the widget, even if you have no Wi-Fi connection. To reward loyal customers, Hotels.com offers users a free night for every 10 nights booked. For organizing your travel plans: TripIt For those who cannot afford a personal travel assistant to organize our itinerary but do get overwhelmed by all the travel and booking confirmation emails TripIt is the answer. It magically creates a detailed daily itinerary for every trip after you forward your confirmation emails – for hotel, airline, car rental and restaurant bookings – to them. It also syncs your plans with your Google Calender or Outlook. Itineraries can then be accessed anytime and on any device, even when you are offline. For navigating a new city: Google Maps Maps by Google has been around for some time, and it keeps improving. This app is essential to seemlessly navigate a new city by foot, public transport or car. Among its many features are voice-guided GPS navigation for driving, cycling and walking, as well as real-time traffic updates and public transit times to reach your destination as fast as possible. And there is more: street view and indoor imagery for restaurants and museums help you find the city's main hotspots, making sure you don't miss out on anything. For keeping track of costs: Expense Manager Airline tickets, accommodation, food, visiting sights, souvenirs… traveling can be quite an expensive activity, and keeping track of everything is often a huge task. Keep costs within limits by using this app. It helps tracking expenses and income but also lets you set a budget and includes useful tools such as a calculator, currency converter, tip calculator and credit card payoff calculator. Expense Manager has also been praised for being a secure expense manager, as it cannot be used to transfer funds between accounts. Apart from being a great tool on the road, you can use it for your daily finance, helping you to cut unnecessary costs and keep a clear view of your financial situation.
