10 Android Apps to Bring With You When You Travel

by Don Reisinger

One of the biggest pains when traveling is a flight delay. But actually finding out why a flight is delayed and seeing where you are on your current plane to see if you’ll make the connecting flight isn’t simple. FlightTrack attempts to solve that by providing precise location information, estimated arrival times and other key information, like a connecting flight’s gate. It’s nice and full-featured for $4.99.

The TripIt Travel Organizer is ideal for the busy traveler who wants to have their entire itinerary in one place. The app, which is available for $3.99, tracks flights, shows directions to hotels, and provides information on car rentals and restaurant reservations. For $3.99, it’s worth it.

Have a serious case of jet lag? If so, downloading PolyClock, which is available for $2.99 in the Google Play marketplace, might be a good idea. The application provides full time zone information and tells you what time it is wherever you are. It’s a handy feature.

As GasBuddy’s name might suggest, the free application has everything to do with gasoline. But the nice thing about it is that it automatically finds a person’s location and directs them to the stations that have the cheapest gas. It’s a great app for road warriors.

Yelp is one of the more popular applications in the online world for good reason: It provides reliable user reviews to all kinds of places, including restaurants. So, if you’re on the road and you need to bring a client to a nice place to eat, checking Yelp first might be a good idea. Best of all, it’s a free download.

Waze is one of the hottest mobile apps right now because it does something special: It uses the collective insight of its more than 40 million users, and asks them to share traffic information around their locations. That data helps users find out where they should and shouldn’t go to get to their destination most quickly. It’s a hugely popular app and it’s free. What’s better than that?

Kayak’s free Android app is a must-have for anyone who wants to search quickly for flights or car rentals from their mobile handset. The app also allows for comparing all of those deals to find the best option. Kayak is a great app.

YP Local Search is similar to Yelp, in that it allows users to find out about the places around their location. However, it doesn’t leverage user reviews in the same fashion. Still, with more than 18 million businesses included in its listing, it’ll allow you to find just about anything. Plus, it’s free.

Hotel Tonight is a popular, free Android app that allows users to find last-minute deals on hotels in 12 countries. Its rating of 4.5 stars out of five indicates that it works really well—and gets folks the best deals.

Although there are certainly better navigation applications available in the Google Play marketplace, the vast majority of those are expensive. Sygic, on the other hand, provides full GPS navigation for free. The navigation services won’t blow your socks off, but those looking for a deal will find it with Sygic.