Packing, hotel reservations, in-laws – holiday travel can be a terribly stressful experience. And now there are the extraordinarily long lines for the full-body scan at the airport.
We can’t promise that the airline won’t you lose your luggage, or that the highways won’t be packed with thousands of other cars, but we can offer you a little bit of holiday travel relief in the form of a few clever iPhone apps. So grab your phone and a gallon of eggnog, and hit the road.
TripIt (iOS, Android)
TripIt is a must have app for anyone planning a holiday, allowing you to keep all of your itineraries and important information in one place. First create your trip and then add information such as flight detail and hotels as you book them. You can also save directions, restaurant bookings, car rentals and tours you’ve booked. TripIt makes it quick and easy to save everything you need for the perfect holiday in one place, meaning you no longer have to take a stack of paper and booking confirmations away with you.
To make it even easier you can link to your email account and allow TripIt to automatically add bookings you have confirmation emails for. And just when you thought TripIt couldn’t make your life even easier it lets your share your itineraries with friends and family, making ideal for groups holidays or even just giving someone the information they need to pick you up from the airport.
Momondo (iOS, Android)
When it comes to booking flights there are a number of useful apps Expedia, Sky Scanner and the newer kid of the block Monondo, they feel a little liking walking into a high street travel agents, they compare all the different airlines and try to find you the best deal. Monondo, however, has one huge advantage over similar apps and that is the customizable search features. With Monondo you can actually choose the length of your layover, where is the fun in spending two hours in an airport waiting for a connecting flight? Why not have a longer layover and head out of the airport and explore the city. Monondo gives the control over your search to do this, with the option to have layovers as long as 48 hours. Also as a more recent feature you can now book hotels using Monondo’s app, perfect for overnight layovers.
https://youtu.be/C7vxJdiSX5A
Hotel Tonight (iOS, Android)
Hotel Tonight is the perfect app when booking a last minute getaway, rewarding you with huge savings for essentially filling the rooms that hotels are worried they won’t be able to fill. The search features within the app are easy to use and the design definitely fits the theme of the app, last-minute travellers who don’t want to spend hours looking through and comparing books but instead want to be able to book somewhere to stay quickly and with confidence. You can book rooms up to one week in advance and the closer you leave it to your stay the greater the savings. Hotel Tonight is a great tool for spontaneous travellers or for those last minute trips, helping you to save money.
Rome2rio (iOS, Android)
Rome2rio is an extremely handy app for anyone booking a holiday, whether using it to plan how you’re getting to you destination or simply using it to navigate your way around while on your trip. Rome2rio shows you all of the different ways you can get from one location to another, with estimated travel times and prices, this can be used to find the cheapest way of getting from London to Rome or finding your way from your hotel to a local attraction. Rome2rio does all the hard work for you and makes it super easy to compare the different modes of transport possible, so that you can make an informed decision. To make it even better Rome2rio can be used anywhere in the world!
Lucky Trip (iOS)
Lucky Trip provides users with a very different way of planning a holiday and is ideal for adventurous travellers or even people who need a little inspiration. The app offers a clean and extremely basic design that suites the overall idea behind the app, of taking the complexity out of booking a holiday. When you open up the app you are faced with sliding bar asking you your travel budget, you simply then click on lucky and the app does all of the hard work of building your very own holiday. You are then faced with three pictures that have a magazine feel to them, clicking on each picture will reveal your location, accommodation and a fun activity while you’re there. You can then choose between booking the trip that has been offered to you or clicking on lucky again to be shown another option that fits within your budget. Lucky Trip makes booking a holiday a stress-free and exciting experience, perfect for anyone seeking an adventure.
