The Best Apps for Road Tripping
This week, Tech Talker takes a look at some of the best apps to use while road tripping–then next week, opens it up to the best apps to have while traveling abroad. Get ready to hit the road!
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The Best Apps for Road Tripping
Hey, everyone! This week I’ll be covering the best apps to use while road tripping. Next week I’ll be covering the best apps to have while traveling abroad.
I always love to hear of new and useful apps, so if I don’t mention some of your favorite apps, please email me and give me your suggestions–and I might do an episode on some fan favorites!.
Maps, Traffic, and Construction
Maps, Traffic, and ConstructionIf you’re going on a road trip, the first thing you’ll need is a solid mapping app. I use Google Maps as a default, because it is always updated, and has a ton of extra information (provided by Google) about businesses and other attractions in the area. It also provides turn-by-turn directions, and will modify those directions based upon traffic.
I also like to use Waze, which was purchased by Google not so long ago. Waze is a crowd-sourced mapping app. This means that people use Waze while driving, and they share information about road conditions, speed traps, and any accidents.
This app uses a lot of battery, so make sure that you have a car charger handy so you don’t burn through all of your battery. I use this app constantly when on road trips, because it lets me see traffic right away and communicate with users ahead and behind you.
Gas Buddy
The next app in my list is GasBuddy. This app is perfect for finding cheap gas along your road trip route.
If you’re driving on an interstate, there’s no shortage of places to pull off and find a place to fill up. However, these gas stations can vary a lot in price, even if they are just miles away from each other.
GasBuddy is an app that shows you a map of the cheapest gas around you. You can filter for how close it is, and also by the cheapest gas. This app is completely free, and has saved me a ton on road trips.
This app gets its data from users who update it pretty frequently.
Find My Friends
Last week, I mentioned Find My Friends as an app that helps you keep track of friends and family. This app is great for road trips, if you are trying to coordinate with multiple cars or other people as you travel. It keeps everyone in the loop, and makes it really easy to find people.
I mentioned this last week, but Find My Friends also has the ability to place time limits on how long someone can track you. This is a pretty important feature, as it means you don’t have to give up privacy after your road trip. I’ve used this app a ton at theme parks, for allowing friends to see when I’m in town, and to coordinate the best place to meet up between multiple groups.
I’m sure you’ll find a ton of uses for it, too. So go check it out!
Weather
WeatherI’ve mentioned Yahoo’s weather app before, in an earlier podcast. This app is also great for road trips, as you can set multiple cities. You can even allow it to use your current location to get current weather conditions, which is helpful if you’re just passing through an area and aren’t sure what the closest city is.
This app allows you the granularity of an hourly weather breakdown, and also allows you to see an extended ten day forecast. If you really want to dig into the app, though, it also has a weather radar that shows you storms in real time, from doplar radars nearby. I’ve used this a number of times to avoid storms, and to find the best time to stop for lunch, to let the heavy part of the storm pass while grabbing a bite to eat.
Yelp / Urbanspoon
Speaking of a bite to eat, two other great apps to include on your phone are Urbanspoon and Yelp. Both of these are great for finding places near you to eat. You can sort by best reviews, local only, price, type of cuisine, and much more.
These are great for finding a local coffee shop with WiFi, or just looking for the next McDonald’s on the highway. You can even find menus, phone numbers, and addresses using this app, which is extremely helpful if you’re in a city you’re not familiar with.
These two apps provide you many more location-specific suggestions than I’ve found to be the case with Google. Some people choose to use Urbanspoon over Yelp, and visaversa; however, I just opt to use both. If you have any reasons why you like one over the other, I’d love to hear about it!
Roadtrippers
Now I would be pretty negligent if I didn’t mention Roadtrippers while talking about road tripping apps! I’ve only used this app on one road trip, but it is pretty great. (This app is US only, so sorry to all of my listeners not in the US!)
This app combines photos, reviews, and a trip planner, all in one app. I used this app to find attractions and things to do while roadtripping, and a number of times, it saved me from stopping at an attraction that would have been a waste of time. I’ve also used it at home, and it showed me a ton of stuff that I’d never seen before, right in my own city.
What I really like about this app is that is doesn’t just show you the touristy things, but also some pretty off-the-beaten-path things that may not be in most guidebooks or tours.
It even has a web app that syncs with the mobile app, so you can find places and plan your trip on a larger screen (and with a full keyboard,) but have all of that work saved in a mobile form on your smartphone. I highly recommend checking it out!
Mad Libs
Last, but not least, is Mad Libs. As I write this, my wife insists that no road trip is complete without Mad Libs!
Now, sure, you can go out and by the paper version of this classic game, but you can also download the app, as well. If you like road trip games, or have kids that do, my wife definitely recommends Mad Libs.
Well, that’s it for today! Be sure to check out all my earlier episodes at techtalker.quickanddirtytips.com. And if you have further questions about this podcast or want to make a suggestion for a future episode, post them on Facebook QDTtechtalker.
Until next time, I’m the Tech Talker, keeping technology simple!
