We carry quite a few gadgets when traveling (travel gear we use). But smartphones are the ones, that we use the most while on the go. So, if you’ve been wondering which ones in our opinion are the best travel apps and services and what exactly do we use on our travels and for travel planning, then you’ve found yourself in the right place.

We don’t use too many travel apps, but the ones we use have helped us countless times.

Let’s start! Here are the travel apps, services  and online resources we use (+ short description). And, yes, if you have questions about any of these apps and services, do not hesitate contact us!

Blogging

It’s not really travel-related, but if you are curious or you are thinking of starting a blog, this is what we use.

WordPress

Only thing that matters here, if you want to take it seriously, don’t build a free blog on WordPress.com (or even premium). Invest a little bit of money in web hosting and build a WordPress.org blog. This way you’ll have way more freedom over how and what you want to do with your blog.

See the next step to learn what you need to do to build a WordPress.org blog.

SiteGround

Our web hosting company.

To put it simply – a web hosting company stores your blog on their servers, so it’s accesible by everyone on the internet. And you pay a monthly fee for it, which can be as low as 3-5 EUR/USD a month.

SiteGround, same like most of the best web hosting companies, allows you to build a WordPress.org blog. Once you’ve signed up for web hosting starting a blog takes less than 5 minutes. Check out the prices!

HostGator

One of the most popular hosting companies right now.

Because of their low prices great choice for beginners. Check out the prices!

Travel Apps and Services We Use

1. Finding Cheap Flights

Momondo.com

A really good flight search engine. Currently our top choice, when searching for the cheapest flights.

We really like the “Multi-City” option. Since we rarely buy return flights. Using this option you can book a flight like “Riga – Bangkok, Singapore – Riga”, which mostly costs less than if these 2 flights were booked separately.

If you want to find the cheapest possible flight it might be worth splitting your trip into several legs.

For example, if we are thinking of going from Riga to Bali, we’ll first look for Riga – Bali – Riga, then Riga – Singapore – Riga and Singapore – Bali – Singapore, and we may compare it to something like Riga – Oslo – Singapore – Bali – Singapore – Oslo – Riga (as a whole or split into parts), simply because we already know and have found out, that there often are very cheap flights from Oslo to Singapore, but getting from Riga to Oslo and from Singapore to Bali always is cheap.

Kiwi.com

Similar service like momondo.com.

It’s always a good idea to compare what you can find on several flight search sites.

Google Flights

And one more option where to find the cheapest flights.

What we like about Google Flights is how fast is this flight search. If you are flexible, you’ll like Google Flights as it lets you compare prices on different dates very fast. Google Flights allows you to search for flights from/to nearby airports as well.

SkyScanner

Are you ready for a spontaneous adventure? Open SkyScanner, set a destination to “Everywhere” and choose something from what fits your budget the best. Set a date of departure as a whole month and see, when the flights are the cheapest ones. And go!

TravelFree.info

Cheap flights and great deals.

HolidayPirates

Flights, travel packages, last minute offers.

2. Hotels, Hostels, Apartments, Holiday Rentals Abroad

Booking.com

Hotels, hostels, apartments abroad.

Agoda

Our number one choice in Asia. We love the feature to pay online or via app.

To save money on hotel bookings try cashback service Bonusway.lv (if you are from Latvia) 

Airbnb

We love Airbnb. So we check it every time, when we are going to some place for at least 2-3 days.

And we check it every time, when we want to rent a room or apartment for few weeks or more.

If you are new to Airbnb, register using our link and you (same like us) will get a discount for your next booking. Click here to check it out.

Hostelworld

Best site where to book a hostel.

Couchsurfing

If you are traveling on a very low budget, Couchursfing may help you to stretch your budget even further. Because using Couchsurfing you can stay at other people’s houses for free. If you manage to find someone, who is willing and can host you, though. We have used Couchsurfing only a couple of times, but we know people, who use Couchsurfing almost every time they travel.

3. Transportation – Car Sharing, Trains, Buses

BlaBlaCar, Trusted Carpooling

Car sharing platform in Europe for passengers who search for a driver and drivers searching for passengers. BlaBlaCar is popular in Europe because of the prices for train and bus rides being so high. For example, train from Milano to Rome can cost around 80 EUR, while BlaBlaCar ride may cost less than 40 EUR.

Uber

Ridesharing app that’s being used in many countries around the world. Register now to get a discount for your first ride!

Grab

Let’s call it Asia’s Uber.

It’s a very similar app, popular in Asia. Our number one choice in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia.

Go-Jek

Another ridesaring (and not only) app. Widely used in Indonesia.

Compared to Uber and Grab Go-Jek isn’t only ridesharing and delivery app, as there are 10+ other services like massage and house cleaning offered in the app.

Citymapper

Public transporation app for many of biggest cities worldwide.

GoEuro: trains, buses, flights

Compare prices and buy bus and train tickets for traveling in Europe.

Seat61

A very useful website about train travel in many countries around the world.

4. Navigation

Google Maps

Well known navigation application. Mostly we use it on laptop, either to find an address or to see how a place looks like (using Google Street View). We use it also for most of the time, when we have mobile internet on our phones. If we don’t have internet, it’s very slow or limited, then we use apps like Maps.me.

Maps.me

Offline navigation app.

5. Travel Insurance

World Nomads

World Nomads is an insurance company trusted by Lonely Planet, Rough Guides and Intrepid Travel.

Buy travel insurance online!

6. Money, Best Travel Debit Cards

Of course, there are quite a few travel debit cards available, but these are the ones we use.

Revolut

Revolut is a money application with a prepaid debit card (if you choose so). You can also choose a virtual debit card, if you plan to use it for online payments only. And you can choose both.

Right now Revolut is the main debit card for both of us. We use it for all money withdrawals abroad, offline and online purchases.

With free account (which means no monthly or yearly fees) you can withdraw up to 200 EUR/month without any extra fees. If you withdraw more you’ll have to pay 2% witdrawal fee, which is still very good rate as there is no minimum fee like with many “regular debit cards”.

But that’s not all. To read about all Revolut’s features go to their site.

N26

A very similar debit card/money application like Revolut.

Better choice than Revolut if you travel a lot and plan to witdraw 500+ EUR monthly in other currency than euro. Because with N26 Black, which costs 5.90 EUR/month you don’t pay any fees for money witdrawals in other currency than euro. To read more about N26, go to their site.

XE Currency

A great currency converter app.

7. Volunteering, Work Exchange, Moneyless Traveling

Workaway.info

One of the reasons why initially we were able to afford to travel more was because of volunteering.

Workaway.info is the site we used to find volunteering gigs in France, Italy, Spain and Malaysia. Learn more about Workaway!

Helpx.net

A site very similar to Workaway.

TrustedHousesitters

What about living in other people’s house for free while they are away traveling?

Some people have been doing like this A LOT.

Hitchwiki.org

An online resourse for everyone hitchhiking their way around the world.

[Article] Seasonal Jobs

[Article] Volunteering & Odd Jobs

8. Travel Guides

Tripadvisor

A nice and useful online guide, where you can find information about the best hotels, nicest restaurants and places to visit. Both luxury and cheap, fancy and simple, vibrant and tranquil. All of this you can find in one app! Reviews about each place will help you to make the best choice wherever you’ll be traveling to.

Guides by Lonely Planet

A great app offering free travel guides for Android and iPhone.

Yelp

When looking for the best restaurant, bar or barber, check out Yelp on your phone, tablet or laptop.

9. Photography

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC

A GREAT photo editing app for Android, iPhone, iPad and not only.

If you want to have only one photo editing app on your phone or laptop, let it be Lightroom. It’s suitable both for beginners and experienced users.

Instagram

To inspire others to travel more share your travel photos on Instagram.

10. Messaging & Email

WhatsApp Messenger

A simple messaging app, widely used around the world. When traveling in Southeast Asia it will be the app you’ll use to chat with your Uber/Grab driver, food delivery guy and hotel receptionist. There they use it so much more than, for example, in Europe.

Messenger

Keep in touch with your friends and family using Facebook Messenger.

Outlook

A very good email app for Android and iPhone.

11. Other Travel Apps, Services and Useful Travel Resources

Bonusway

A cashback service that will allow you to save even more whenever you book a hotel or shop online.

Register now and you’ll get an extra 3 EUR bonus after your first purchase.

If you are from somewhere else (not Latvia), go to bonusway.com.

AirHelp

Your flight got delayed or canceled? In some cases that means you’re eligible to receive a 200+ EUR flight compensation.

You can get in touch with the airline yourself, but be ready that they may try to find a way to avoid paying the compensation. Or you can contact AirHelp and they’ll do it on your behalf. We have used AirHelp once to get 600 EUR compensation. It was super easy. Only downside, though, is that their commisions are pretty high.

At the same time – you pay only if you get a compensation.

AirlinesBaggage.com

Baggage information and fees of many different airlines from around the world.

The Guide to Sleeping in Airports

A useful resourse for everyone who will ever need to spend a night or more in airport. A lot of practical information about most of the world’s airports.

CheckMyTrip.com

A useful page (and app) where to see information about your upcoming flights. Here you can also check if your fligh ticket is genuine and confirmed. In case you bought it from some company you don’t completely trust.

Google Trips

A single app where to organize all your bookings and reservations. In the same app you can save information about places you are planning to visit.

Opera Free VPN

A super useful app for everyone traveling to places where internet is being censored. For example, did you know you can’t use any Google services in China? Using this app you’ll be able to do that. Using Opera Free VPN you’ll be able to use internet the same like at home.

Uber Eats: Local food delivery

A very popular food delivery service.

Google Translate

Google’s free online language translation service. Available online and as an app.

What’s great about it is that the app has also an offline dictionary option. So you can download language packs and afterwards use app as an offline dictionary. That’s something we use very often, to translate words and phrases to and from foreign for us languages.

Duolingo

Learn few basic phrases or become fluent in another language, it’s all possible with this application. We tried it with Italian language. Two week practicing, 30 minutes a day, let us to understand basic things written and spoken around.

PassWallet – Passbook + NFC

An app where you can store your boarding passes to never print a boarding pass again.

12. Apps of Airlines

Most of airlines nowadays have their own app. An often they are worth using them. If only for an easier check-in.