Top travel apps

Your phone isn't just a camera! Downloading useful apps can save you some stress during tricky situations and enhance your touring experience.

General Apps

TripIt is a free software that lets you organize your flight travel. Ever shown up at the airport, and they ask for some obscure booking or confirmation or reference number or code? This takes care of that. As soon as you get the confirmation email from whatever airline you book on, forward that email to them, and it automatically populates all the crucial information from terminal and airline to departure/arrival times. It even keeps track of your various rewards accounts and numbers.

Splitwise is an absolute essential app for those traveling with a group. You can put any shared expenses in the app and divide it evenly between everyone or just between a couple people. All expenses can be split evenly or divided up based on actuals. Whether it be dividing up a dinner check, an airbnb, or uber rides you just log all costs for the weekend and then click settle at the end it it will tell you what everyone owes to everyone else. You can even settle up using Venmo (another great travel app!)

Skyscanner is a global search engine that enables people to find comparisons for flights, and directly links you to the seller's website for free! Don't know where to go? You can plug in "Anywhere" into the destination bar, and find the cheapest places to fly during a certain date, or choose cheapest month to find the best time to go to a specific place!

XE Currency lets you keep track of fluctuating conversion rates throughout your semester so you know exactly how much that fancy dinner or the Italian leather purse bought on a whim equates to in US dollars.

WhatsApp allows you to utilize wifi networks to send texts, photos, videos, and gifs to your friends back at home. Free for you and free for them.

Mint.com is a great way to budget while abroad, and it also lets you keep track of your balances while on the fly.

Google Translate is one of the best apps out there! Don't know the basic phrases of a place you are visiting? Simply type the English words in and Google Translate will do the rest! There is also a cool feature which lets you talk into a microphone and take photos of text, and Google will translate it into the your desired language!

HostelWorld.com is a great place to find a cheap hostel in your desired city, and compare prices, ratings, and different locations of hostels before making a decision! There are also reviews for each hostel listed, and an inclusions section, so you have more background information before booking!

Airbnb is a great way for group of friends to rent out a nice house in a city of their choice for a great deal! Simply enter in where you want to go, how many people are coming, and the dates you will be there, and Airbnb will find you an awesome accommodation!

Huji gives your photos a cool retro disposable camera look that works well in anyone's Instagram! You can also play with the lighting and brightness to give your photos a dramatic look!

GoEuro is a great app where you can find trains and bus tickets to anywhere you want to go.You can also store these tickets on the app, so you never have to print out a paper copy again. Of course always be sure to check on the country’s transport site or app as well since prices can vary.