Not without my digital travel companion
Traveling around the globe together with an app developer has the advantage that you always have a smart digital companion for almost everything in your pocket. Since me and my boyfriend are very digital in our daily lives, we are also on vacation, of course. No curse, but blessing, because I don´t want to miss these eight apps on our trips anymore.
Food & Drink
1. Foursquare
Not only in Berlin, but also on holiday we do not enter a restaurant or café, which we have not previously found at Foursquare or at least checked it there. This sounds a little pedantic, because you might think that we banish spontaneity from our lives in this way, but life is just too short to be satisfied with bad food.
Foursquare is free and available on the App Store, the Google Play Store, and the Windows Store. Unfortunately, the app only works online, so you should have already tracked down Wifi. In Foursquare you can look for almost everything: "vegetarian-friendly lunch", just like "cake vegan" or a particular dish. If you want to make your search easier, choose one of the categories on the home page: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Coffee & Tea, Nightlife or Things to do. In the next step, you can not only choose between a list view or a map view, but also look at the current location, but also in a specific area.
Each displayed search result is given a score of 0.0 to 10.0 points. For us the rule applies: No restaurant or café below 8.0 points. We also look at the price level, where the price range varies from one to four euro symbols. If we choose three euro symbols, we want to treat ourselves to something special, otherwise we always choose the two lowest price categories. If the preselection is made, you get more details with a click on the search result: Is Wi-Fi available, can you get vegetarian or vegan dishes, which ratings were left and how does the ambience and the food look like in the photos? All these aspects have influence on our decision and thanks to Foursquare we have discovered the best restaurants and cafés on our journeys. And let me ensure your: we have never been disappointed.
You may rightly ask yourself how reliable the score is. Well, I can only speak of personal experience: Thanks to Foursquare we have always discovered super beautiful and tasty places on our journeys. The evaluation of the venues on Foursquare is done by an algorithm, unlike comparable evaluation portals it is is not an average value of all scores. The algorithm is secret, but certainly the factors likes, dislikes, check-ins, evaluations etc. affect the result. According to Foursquare, Local Experts' activities have a special significance. Thus, Big Data is the basis for the evaluation, which also means that the result is hard to manipulate. If you want to use the app in the future, always remember that you have influence with your rating. You may not see your influence directly, but it will help the community finding great restaurants and cafés. Conversely, you also help the visited places with good reviews.
2. Swarm
Swarm is linked to Foursquare. With this check-in app, we remember where we have been, by checking in, as soon as we enter a restaurant or café. But of course you can also log in to airports, shops and attractions. In the beginning, I found it a bit ridiculous and initially I even deleted the app. How helpful it is I've noticed actually when we were in Asia and I could not trace back in the end where we have been during our trip, despite I collected a lot of business cards. Since my travel companion has thankfully continued to check me in diligently, I was back at home still able to bring together all restaurants and cafés for the blog article. Since then the check-in has become a habit and I use the app also regularly in Germany.
Paying
3. N26
Of course all the yummy coffees and lunch plates have to be paid. That's why we also have useful apps for paying on the iPhone. Our mobile N26 account is absolutely essential. This allows us to pay abroad at any time, withdraw money, keep an overview of the account balance and to see directly how much Euro we have spent. Furthermore, I love the app for the moneybeam function with which you can send money without complicated bank transfers in a few clicks to friends. This is especially practical when you are out of cash or the bill is shared. Now one will certainly still has security concerns, but the functionality is not more insecure than usual accounts. It is also very practical that you can quickly and flexibly adjust withdrawal and payment limits. So I can always specify a relatively low amount, so that if the card is really abused, the thief has to give up with empty pockets. If I myself spend more money during the day than expected, I adjust the limit with only three clicks again. The app is super modern, self explanatory and up-to-date. Paying without contact works with the MasterCard of N26 of course also without any problems - here you will be punished with annoyed glances, if you dare to just hold the card to the device, but abroad this payment method has fortunately already proven itself. What has also always attracted great interest is the design of the cards. The transparent MasterCard still impresses the people and turns every time directly to the small talk topic N ° 1. The opening of the account is super simple and free. You can download the app for iPhone and for Android.
4. Banca
As mathematically impaired humanities scholar, I prefer to rely on my currency calculator when it comes to finding out as quickly as possible how much the hot piece in the vintage shop or the overpriced sandwich in the café costs. Banca is unfortunately a paid app, but has a nice minimalist interface and all the functions you need. The app is only available for iPhone, but Google Playstore provides many similar alternatives. A free variant is, for example, the app XE Currency Converter.
Orientation
5. Google Maps
Google Maps is, of course, not brand new news, but the app simply belongs to my list, because without it I would have got lost out there already. Google Maps is essential for traveling, that much is sure. Before you get stuck in a foreign country you should not forget to download the offline map of the area where you will be on the road. Furthermore, I always save places, cafés and restaurants, which I would like to visit during the trip in advance. If I discover something nice on Instagram or Pinterest, I look for it in Google Maps and save the place as "Want to go". In this way I can always look spontaneously, what from my list is around. Useful as well is the route planner function. Even in Seoul and depp in the countryside of Italy, Google Maps has selected reliable bus connections for us. Small note, which can be very helpful especially in big cities and how I could notice, especially if you have an Airbnb in Gangnam, Seoul: Google Maps shows the numbers of the subway exits.
6. Use-It Europe
Unfortunately, Use-It Maps only exist for 21 European cities, but if you are going to visit one of these, you should definitely take a look at the free app. Although you get the maps also as a lovely printed version in the tourist information of the places, it is alway good to have the app, which by the way also works offline. For us, the Use-It Map was a loyal companion for Ljubljana. The individual guides provide a great advice on places of interest and places that were brought together by locals. The app guides you through several categories (See, Eat, Drink, Shop, Chill, Go Out), which are making the search easier. You can of course store your favorites at any time and you can always look for exciting places in your area.
Language
7. dict.cc dictionary
To get around abroad a translation app is super important to me. The app should work offline as well, so that you don´t end lost in the streets jsut because you are missing WLAN. I am a big fan oder the dict.cc app. Before you start your journey you have to download the corresponding language pack though.
Accommodation
8. Airbnb
I also name the Airbnb app for the sake of completeness. It is simply much more practical to download the app directly on the iPhone or smartphone when you are traveling and when you booked your accommodation via Airbnb. In this way you can for example always see directly when the host has written a message and respond directly. For the booking itself though I don´t use the app, but the browser version. Nevertheless, as a big Airbnb fan, this app is always with me.