My Favorite Road Trip Apps
I love road trips. Whether it’s heading out in my RV or a car, I love to just drive and explore new places. While getting lost may be part of the fun, here are some of my favorite apps that I use to help keep myself organized, save money and find some new hidden places to visit.
1. Waze– Whether your trip involves a lot of road travel, or you just want to find a faster way to get to places in your own city, consider Waze. Recently purchased by Google, it uses social media input to give real-time updates on traffic situations. So, for example, if there’s a game downtown in the city you’re visiting, as you’re trying to navigate that same area to get to a restaurant, Waze will let you know where the jams are so you can avoid the tangle and the time (and fuel) wasted waiting for game-goers.
2. GasBuddy – When your RV has a 50-gallon tank and gets 8 miles to the gallon, finding the best gas price is really important. GasBuddy is another app that takes advantage of the constant updates and interaction of crowdsourcing. People input gas prices and keep an eye out for low prices, so users can quickly and easily search for gas stations nearby and compare prices to ensure the best deal in their area.
3. TripIt Travel planner – I have used TripIt for years. Reservations, tickets, events, meetings, personal gatherings with friends or family — you can basically have all the important details of your trip at your fingertips, all in one convenient place. You know all those confirmation emails that you get from hotels, airlines, car rental services, and the like — the ones you frantically search for in your Inbox the night before you leave on a vacation? Simply send all these emails along to plans@tripit.com, which will then magically generate a digital itinerary that you can refer to on your mobile device. It also provides weather info and maps of your destinations. You can add multiple trips to TripIt if you’re a frequent traveler, or just use it for a single vacation. TripIt has been awarded Best Travel Mobile App. All the services described above are free, or you can upgrade to a paid version for even more cushy service and alerts. I use the paid version to get travel alerts and flight updates, but the free version is very robust.
4. Around Me— Ever find yourself in an unfamiliar city, and you want a decent cup of coffee or a place to buy an extra toothbrush? This application tells you all the points of interest that are located near you. It detects your current location and lets you select from categories like bars, cafés, hospitals, pharmacies, and hotels to filter the results. It even provides reviews and directions.
5. Road Trippers— This is a fun travel tool made for the iPhone as an app, but it is also available via mobile web so you can use it with Android, Blackberry, and other smartphone platforms. Here’s how it works: you type in your starting and destination points and it tells you the distance, time, and estimated gas costs. This is great for day trips — think of a great tour of Napa while staying in San Francisco (or vice versa!). While the distance-finding feature in itself isn’t necessarily groundbreaking, RoadTrippers goes one better and tells you about all of the attractions worth seeing along the way, from the obvious to the wonderfully ridiculous.
There are tons of apps to explore, of course, and this is just a glimpse — but these should add some fun and help you plan and save a few dollars. Once we’ve worked together to plan your next road trip, give these apps a try and let me know how it goes!
