Applications and tricks

There are two debates that, I don’t know why, are repeated at different times in life and in different forums.

The first is the classic “traditional book vs. e-book and/or internet.” I can’t really add much to this. Everyone has their own preferences. I love to “lose” an afternoon to go to the bookstore to look through the guidebooks and buy one for the next destination I’m going to visit or go straight to Amazon and buy a book from Lonely Planet. But I also understand that not everyone has this need. When people ask me why I pay for information that can be found for free on the Internet, I answer “for romantic reasons.” I like to do it. I have no other explanation.

The second is whether technological advances are ruining the essence of travel. Someone says that we have so much information before we leave that the surprise factor has diminished compared to the trips our ancestors took. This is true, but it is the only drawback. Everything else is an advantage. I am a technologist, a bit of a geek and very organized. I love to go out with everything tied up and that is why I use apps that I have on my mobile and that are great both before and during the trip. I am one of those who is delighted to see how technology helps me improve the trip!

Before leaving and organizing the trip::

• To decide what to visit within the chosen destination, there are many applications and/or websites that can help us. Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, Visit a City and Google Maps are the ones I use the most. Lonely Planet not only has guidebooks; it also has very practical information classified by theme or destination. It is very complete and I use it a lot; but I won’t lie to you… I almost always end up buying the physical book! TripAdvisor needs no introduction, but I do feel obliged to say that we should use it to draw conclusions at a global level. It is always good to see the reviews of other travelers, but you have to use your own criteria! Visit a City is the great unknown, but really good at the same time. As a distinguishing feature compared to the others, it proposes routes through cities of different durations (1 day guide, 2 days guide…). Obviously, you also have to browse travel blogs like Viajeros Callejeros that explain in first person their experience lived on their own. There are thousands of blogs, but they are my favorites: great travelers and good people. I also recommend contacting professional travel consultants. I can give you the names of a couple who deserve my trust.

• In order to plan your route properly, it is very important to mark on a map what you want to visit in the previous point on the list. For this I use Google Maps. I select a destination, click on “Save” and “I want to go.” This way, you can see at a glance the geographic location of everything you want to visit. It helps to optimize time when traveling (a value that is highly appreciated when we go on a trip). When I have already visited the destination and only if I liked it, I change the label from “I want to go” (green flag) to “Highlighted Places” (yellow flag).

• To search for flights I use two apps: Skyscanner and Kayak. They are very similar. I only use them to search for flights, but they also allow you to search for hotels and car rentals. They show the flight options of all airlines with the possibility of filtering the results by number of stops, airlines, flight duration or even departure and arrival times. With these two apps it is practically impossible not to find a flight at a good price.

In the destination:

• If you decide to travel by public transport, I recommend Rome2rio. An app that I still don’t understand why it is so unknown. A simple menu where you just ask for the origin and destination and as a result you get all the possible transport options with information on price, time and map. It is good, useful and practical. It even has the name of the companies and the link to buy tickets online! Google Maps also provides this information. I used Rome2Rio for a long time; but now I am hooked on Google Maps.

• To facilitate communication with local people and avoid currency exchange scares, I use the Google Translate and Currency apps (it only has an app, not a web page). Honestly, I don’t think either of them has anything special and I suppose there are many better ones on the Internet; but it is true that they are easy to use and useful.

• To enjoy nature and experience the landscape in the calm it deserves, I love using Wikiloc. You can find hiking and cycling routes from all over the world. If you don’t want to do it when you’re travelling because time is limited, you can always do it in your own country. It helps you get to know the area and experience it differently. The search is very powerful: distance, gradient, difficulty, circular routes… I’m a big fan. Here you can see all my routes.

• To protect the photos while travelling, I use three cloud storage devices: Google Photos, Movistar Cloud and Amazon Photos. I have my mobile camera synchronised with all three. This way I can rest easy if I lose my mobile!

• In order to have connectivity at all times, I buy eSIM cards from the destination country at “Holafly“. I have done this in Uruguay and it has worked wonderfully for me. It is necessary to check that the mobile is compatible and then you just have to choose the plan that best suits your needs. They provide impeccable information on how to configure it and it is quite easy. If you come from Raconets, they will give you a 10% discount.
• And finally, to help those who come to pick us up at the airport when we return ;-), there is nothing better than FlightAware. It is a flight tracker where you can see the location of the plane and the time left of the flight online. The search can be done by flight number, by route or by airport. It shows alerts, a map of the route and the time when the plane lands. It is super complete.

I hope you find it useful! It helps me a lot!