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6 Best (and Free!) iPhone Travel Apps

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6 Best (and FREE) iPhone Travel Apps

One of the downsides of traveling is that it involves a lot of planning, organizing and energy. From a month before you leave to even during your vacation, many of us are booking hotels, double checking for flight delays, packing, planning itineraries and the list goes on and on…Instead of listing 10 or 20 essential travel apps, we cut the list down to just 6 apps that can help you save time and effort while traveling.

1. TripIt

This app syncs with your emails so that email confirmations from hotel reservations, concerts, restaurants and cruises can be automatically organized into a personal itinerary.

2. Photosynth

Have you ever ran out of space to step back in order to take a full picture of your favorite landmark? Photosynth allows you to take 360-degree photos so you don’t have to struggle in order to get that perfect shot.

3. EveryTrail

For the outdoor travelers – search for the nearest trail around you and never get lost (it coordinates with the phone’s GPS)!

4. World Travelpedia or UrbanSpoon

World Travelpedia searches for the nearest restaurants and shopping spots all around the world. If you are in Australia, U.K., U.S. or Canada, UrbanSpoon is also a popular app that picks a restaurant for you when you shake your iPhone.

5. Flashlight and Compass Apps

Some of the best apps are already installed on your phone! The compass is great for finding your directions on a confusing foreign street (and it doesn’t even require data!). Whether it is used for searching the ground for something you just dropped at night or camping overnight, the flashlight also comes in handy while traveling.

6. XE Currency

Up to date currency rates, you can save the last updated rates so they can be accessed offline while at a local store. Ever wondered if a souvenir is worth the money by trying to convert it into American currency? This app is definitely a must if you are planning to do a lot of shopping.

5 Reasons Why the iPhone Should be a Part of Your Packing List

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5 Reasons Why the iPhone Should be a Part of Your Packing List.

Everyone has different essential items for their vacation but there should be one common denominator on everyone’s lists – the iPhone. Here’s why:

1. GPS

While traveling, transportation can be very time consuming and it can even lessen the time you wish to spend at your destination. This is where the Maps App comes in – with the phone’s GPS, you can definitely save time by knowing where you are at all times.

2. Camera

One of the headaches of traveling is packing, specifically over packing. However, the iPhone has so many functionalities, it can help you save a lot of room in your luggage for souvenirs. For example, you can leave your camera at home because the one on the newest iPhone has 8 megapixels. You can even instantly post your photos to Facebook or edit them with Instagram. The built-in GSP in the iPhone means you can also leave your portable GPS at home!

3. Apps, Apps and More Apps!

The countless apps from the App Store can help you relieve a couple of hours of boredom while on the plane. The increasing number of airplanes with Wi-Fi also means you can check Facebook, your e-mail and browse the Internet while in flight.

4. Cheap hotels, flights, restaurants, car rentals.

You can also find the lowest rates for hotels, flights, restaurants and car rentals with apps such as Kayak and Urbanspoon. Urbanspoon also displays customer reviews of restaurants, price ranges so you know what to expect at the newest spot in town.

5. Camping essentials

If you are camping or hiking, useful apps such as the Flashlight and the Compass can also save space in your camping backpack. The flashlight is chunky and takes up a lot of batteries. If you are camping for a few days and are afraid of your phone running out of batteries, remember to put it on airplane mode and turn off data fetching/Wi-Fi to save battery.