These Apps are Made for Traveling

Harding students love to travel internationally. With seven semester long programs and several shorter programs, the chance that a Harding student is going/has already been abroad are very high. Here are the top five apps to make international travel a little easier. 

First things first, you need to pack to go abroad. PackPoint packing app can do just that!

The PackPoint packing list builder isn’t just another checklist app – it generates a customized list of items you should pack. Especially useful for longer trips. Travelers enter some basic information: destination, date, length of their stay and purpose of the trip. Then users can specify their agenda – from “fancy dinner” to “international” to “baby” – and the app calculates what should go in the suitcase. Weather information is taken into consideration and shown on top of the list.

Second, you will need to be able to track your flights. I fully recommend Flight Aware Flight Tracker.

This app allows you to see when your plane is departing, when it is arriving, gates, altitude, flight route, duration of flight, and even the actual path of the flight on a map. Basically, all the information you could ever need. Ever. 

Thirdly, you need to communicate with your loved ones back home. For this specific task, I recommend Viber. 

With Viber, you can make free texts and video calls for free without wifi. You might be saying that you can do that on an iPhone without the need to download a superfluous app. However, you can also send texts to Android phones with the app. Best part: since your phone number is your id whenever you log on, your can call over wifi. Miss your mom but don't want to FaceTime? Here's the answer to your call. 

Fourth, every traveler wants to take pictures, and pictures of everything. The panorama setting most cameras now is cool, but feeling as if you are still there when you look at your picture three months later is so much cooler. For this, I recommend PhotoSynth.

It allows you to take interactive panoramas that make you feel as if you are still in that magical place you visited. You can also share them with your friends, so they can be with you no matter the physical distance between you.

Finally, everybody needs to eat. While Yelp is good for recommending restaurants (and a whole host of other things), sometimes you're craving a specific dish. Foodspotting is the app for you!

The app is all about recommending specific dishes, not restaurants. It’s a handy tool, whether you’re craving a specific flavor or dish and want to track down the best purveyor around, or have settled on a restaurant and want input on the best meals to order.

These apps will help you get through your international program from start to finish. With these you should be able to successfully navigate through Italy or Australia or wherever and then through free travel. However, here's a bonus one to help you with the minutiae of traveling abroad. 

Sometimes, you just need to ask a local. Sometimes, you really don't speak the language. If this is the case, then I recommend Google Translate. 

It's not perfect and sometimes the words will get jumbled. However, it does give you an accurate spelling. It will even speak the words so you don't have to try to pronounce them. Perfect for asking for the bathroom, a little rough if trying to give a revolutionary speech. 

Good luck traveling abroad and ¡buen viaje!