Using my phone during my travels comes almost naturally. There are so many cool apps that makes travel and travel planning easy, so I decided to put together the 5 on my radar and which im currently using. From finding fun things to do along the way, the best hotels or car drives, to splitting bills with friends or saving money on tourist attractions, you are going to love having these apps along for the trip.

GrupTrip

“Simplifying travelling with friends”

GrupTrip is a group travel mobile application that makes travelling in groups easier. You no longer need various apps when one can do the trick for you and your friends. It makes three annoying activities easier and more fun when traveling with others:

• Group Travel Planner- As much as we like traveling with our friends and relatives it can be annoying and cumbersome to agree on what everyone wants to do on a trip. GrupTrip becomes a group trip planner, allowing the trip group members to share their To-Do suggestions and agree collectively on a trip itinerary that they can reference during the trip.
• Trip Photos Sharing & Album- Why wait until the trip ends to get back to the computer and share the trip photos with the group. With GrupTrip, share phone photos with the group along the way. What could be better than having a complete trip photo album ready to share with friends and family once you’re back home.
• Trip Payments Tracker- Traveling on a budget? Keep track of every payment made along the way. Furthermore, when the group members start paying for each other, tracking digits and currencies can get annoying. Now app users do the data entry and let GrupTrip handle the math.

Hotels Combined

“The Skyscanner for hotels”

Search, compare and book hotels quickly and easily with HotelsCombined! A FREE app to compare hotel booking sites to find the best price and cheap rates for hotels near you, or in your dream vacation destination! With more than 300 million people using this service every year to find the best accommodation deals from all the top travel sites around the world, you can now compare hotel prices in popular vacation spots and exotic locations.

KEY FEATURES:

• Quickly and easily find hotels all over the world with just one simple search.
• View images, read unbiased descriptions and hotel reviews to make the best choice for you.
• View hotel rates in the currency of your choice – yes, we have them all.
• Filter by the accommodation type by guest houses, apartments, hostels, motels, resorts and more!
• Member’s enjoy benefits such as the hottest daily deals, exclusive rates, access to their searches across multiple devices.

Meetizer

“Spontaneous meetups while traveling”

Meetizer is the app where expats and travelers connect and share meetups transforming their stay abroad into unique and unforgettable experiences. It allows you to meet with other expats, travelers and interesting people from a new city you’re visiting, to arrange meetups with them and forge your new social circle abroad. Share a coffee, a meal, a few beers after work, a dinner, a conversation or take part in any other activity you can imagine. If you are new in town and you don’t have a social circle yet or if you would you like to discover activities and meetups in your own town? Meetizer is your app!

For everyone who wants to feel like a citizen of the world, jet-setters, nonconformists, adventure seekers and storytellers. The kind of people who enjoy engaging in face-to-face conversations, connect with other minds, cultures and perspectives no matter where, no matter when. 

KEY FEATURES:

• Meet other expats and travelers in town.
• Arrange meetups with them in just seconds or join other people’s meetups.
• Discover other expats and travelers and see what meetups they are sharing.
• Use the built-in chat to share the details of your meetup with all the attendees.

Note: Meetizer has now launched in Mumbai

Easy Roads

“For the love of Road-trips!”

Easy Roads is India’s ONLY road trip planning app. As the name suggests, the app simplifies road trips for you. If you want to plan a road trip, Easy Roads is all you need to discover a curated list of exciting places to explore, where to stop along the way and how to make the drive more enjoyable, for the journey is as important as the destination. Personalise and curate your own exciting journey, and utilise our Value Added Services to ensure that your trip is a safe and enjoyable one. Browse through selection of articles on ‘Easy Reads’ which are designed to make every aspect of a road trip fun! The idea of picking up the car keys and driving into the horizon has an almost magnetic appeal to it. Doing it alone gives you freedom and the power to make your own decisions from where to stop, or stay the night, or bunk in the car!

KEY FEATURES:

The app has three sections:

• Discover- With a list of curated routes you can take, with information on pit stops, attractions and accommodation
• Easy Reads- a blog with relevant information, from packing to playlists
• Car-o-Bar- for rent-a-driver, 24/7 roadside assistance and car check-up services.

Note: Easy Roads currently has trips only from Mumbai and Pune.

Barvolol

“Speak like a local”

Enable yourself to speak English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Turkish, Portuguese, Arabic & Vietnamese! You will find it useful when you travel, when you meet foreign friends, when you have to handle emergency situations, and a lot more.Using this app, you can learn multiple foreign languages from our multilingual parrot. The parrot works together with you to practice your speaking and listening skills, wherever and whenever you are. Learning new languages can never be easier. When chatting with international friends, you can ask the parrot to speak on behalf of you by playing the authentic pronunciation of the phrase. Language barrier will no longer stop you from making new friends!

KEY FEATURES:

• Commonly-used phrases & vocabularies
• Authentic pronunciation
• Record & compare your pronunciation
• Store & manage your favorite phrases Search for phrases & vocabulary by keyword
• No Internet connection required
• Full localization (e.g., Spanish → Japanese, English → Chinese, German → Korean, French → Italian)

Note: that all content in both “Travel” and “Basic” categories are locked in this free version, user can either pay an one-off fee to unlock them permanently or see an advertisement for a free trial.