Five Travel Apps You Need to Download Before Your Next Trip

Let’s be honest, we are all addicted to our smartphones. They never leave our side and are used for everything, including booking travel. The smartphone has made traveling around the world a breeze. I use apps for every single shoot: FlightAware to track crew/model flights, XE Currency to divvy out tips to hotel staff and airport porters and Hopper when I’m looking up flights to come back to a shoot location on my own personal dime. There is an app for every need. Here are a few of my favorites when it comes to planning a trip.

Hopper: I currently have about 20 different dream vacation scenarios and notifications turned on for when quarantine is over. Once you input your dream destination, Hopper will show you a color-coded calendar for the entire year that allows you to gauge when flights are the cheapest -- green indicates cheapest while red is highest. It allows you to check off basic fares, shows you the price predictions for the future and gives you suggestions as to when you should book by, The best part of the app is the Watch This Trip feature. You can set notifications to alert you when prices drop and book that dream vacation with the click of a button.

Photos courtesy of iTunes

Google Maps: Most people do not know that you can make your own Google Maps with bookmarks to the best sites, restaurants, activities, etc. for any place you are visiting. The best part is, you can make them collaborative and share them with friends so they can add their recommendations as well! You can even make the map available offline through the app. That way if you have no service or do not want to use that expensive international data, you can always find your way around the city.

Photos courtesy of Google Store

Priority Pass: Oh, Priority Pass, how I love you. If you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you are automatically enrolled in this program. If not, you can purchase a membership and I can assure you that you will not be disappointed. There is nothing worse than getting to an airport, going to your gate, only to not be able to find a seat, outlet, bar or restaurant. Well, Priority Pass solves that problem and gives you access to countless lounges in thousands of airports around the world. Just log into the app, search the airport code, click your terminal and your options will appear. Priority Pass lets you sip that free cocktail, snack on some charcuterie, charge your smartphone and get ready for your flight all with the scan of a barcode on your app.

Photos courtesy of iTunes

TripIt: When it comes to trips (even personal ones) I am hyper-organized. I have itineraries planned, reservations made months in advance and countless documents and confirmations floating around my inbox. Then I found TripIt. TripIt organizes all your rental car bookings, flight confirmations, hotel reservations and any sightseeing tickets in one convenient place. Most websites allow you to send your confirmations right to the app and if your company uses Concur, you may be eligible for a pro subscription which shows you real-time alerts, baggage claim info and more.

Photos courtesy of iTunes

GlobeTips: Have you ever found yourself sitting at a restaurant in another country wondering what to tip the waiter once the bill comes? GlobeTips solves that problem for you. It shows you what the custom is in over 200 countries around the world so you’re never stuck wondering if you’ve left too little.

Photos courtesy of iTunes