Some apps for travellers

Do you remember life before mobile phones and internet? Me neither. Main problem when travelling abroad is the high price to pay to have 3G. And going back and forth to the hotel to use the wifi is not an option. That is why today I would like to show you four apps I have used in the past and were pretty helpful.

First one is called Pocket Guide. Before writing anything else I have to say this is my least favourite of all, keep reading and you will see why.

It gives you the option to select the cities by distance, A - Z and it also has a featured cities and tours section. It has a really good number of cities, mostly in Europe but also some important ones around the world. 

The photo on top is what you see before downloading the guide. There are two options to download it: a free one and a pay for it one, I will tell you more later. Here for Stratford upon Avon there is only one guide, but for bigger cities there are more available.

After selecting a city it will let you know the tours there are for that particular city. For Edinburgh, for example, there are three. As you can see it states the distance and time it will take to do one of those tours. It also gives you some information about the city, where to stop, better and worst times to do the tours... 

               

The interactive maps shows the highlights of the tour along the way, and if you click on the image it gives you more information about the monument/building/pub you will see. It also has the option to listen to the description.

This is what you see when you click download a guide. You have the option to get it for free, but it won´t work offline, only when you are connected to the internet (which I think it is fine for travelling inside the country as most of us have 3G nowadays). 

I have to confess I haven´t downloaded any guides yet, so I don´t know if it is worth it. If it has the same information as the free version I really don´t think is worth paying the 2.69 Euros (that it is really cheap, I have to say).

My main issue with this app is that it asks me three times when opening it to allow location services. Well, I don´t want to allow this services, don´t have them for any apps and for now I am not interested. So it really annoys me that not least than three popups open to tell me the same thing!

I also don´t like that after downloading the guide you don´t have a quick way to access it. You have to find the city again and click on it. I know it doesn´t take long to do, but maybe a folder with "downloaded guides" could be useful. 

But I still think is a good app, and I love it gives you itinerary ideas and things to see and do. Will use it during the Easter break for sure!

You can download it here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pocketguide-travel-guide-for/id422547188?mt=8

Or here for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hu.pocketguide

I imagine for Android it will be pretty similar to the iPhone one but only guessing there, sorry!

The second one is called Arrival Guides

Even if in the App Store it doesn´t have too many/good reviews I have to say I quite like it! I used it when I went to Malmö last month and it gave me some ideas of what to see and do. Problem was that I didn´t download it properly so didn´t have access to it offline...

As you can see it offers different options to find a location. Also before downloading it, it gives you the option to choose a language. Not all of them offer the same languages, I think English is the only one used in all of them, but I still think it is helpful to have language options.

         

You choose a city and it gives you a short description of it, and just under it a menu with several options, like restaurants, nightlife, events... 

Each of these categories contains information about different places to visit. You can click on them on the list of you can see them on a map. Each element contains a description of it and an address, to make it really easy to find.

And it saves your downloaded guides on the homepage, so you don´t have to go through any trouble to find them again.

This is a good little app, with lots of information and very easy to use. Also once you have downloaded the guide you can use it offline (just make sure you downloaded it properly!).

What is it missing? Well, the itineraries. I think it is always great when guides offer you an itinerary. It saves you time for trying to locate where things are and what is close to what. So maybe for future editions they could add some itineraries...

To download iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/arrivalguides-offline-city/id448305296?mt=8

And Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.guidewall.arrivalguides

And now I want to show you two particular ones about specific cities. The first one is an app about the Paris metro. I like it because you can use it offline, and it shows you the stops, the lines... It is perfect to move around Paris when you are not an expert on its public transport!

 

One great feature is that it helps you calculate the route to take. I entered a starting and end point and it shows you exactly what lines to take, to which station and even the route colour!

You can download it here for iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/paris-metro-map-route-planner/id527534137?mt=8

Don´t seem to be able to find it for Android though :-(

I love when technology makes live easier!

And the last one and my favourite because it is about food is this one: Danish smørrebrød.

This app helps you locate the best places to eat this delicious and popular sandwich in the Danish capital. Isn´t it genius? It also has a section on where to find it in the States (no idea why only in the States...).

It contains a wonderful map with the location of the best restaurants to eat the smørrebrød. You can zoom in and out depending on the area of town you want to see.

And after you select one it gives you information about the place, and even links to the website or allows you to call to book. Of course it provides you with the whole address of the restaurant.

Other features this app has are: a section with recipes to try and make it at home, videos con Copenhagen and the A to Z of smørrebrød.

If you are planning a trip to Copenhagen and you know you must try smørrebrød, this is a really helpful resource for you!

To download: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/smorrebrod-from-copenhagen/id469367092?mt=8

Don´t seem to have an Android version either.

And after this extremely long post that I hope you liked, I say goodbye and see you again tomorrow. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it!