10 apps that will make your next holiday
We all want our holidays to run as smoothly as possible. And that means ironing out those little niggles that can prevent you from getting the absolute max from your precious time away.
Thankfully, as with most things in life these days, there’s an app that can help make your holiday even more heavenly. From air fares to skin care, OwlDetect has rounded up ten top ways to enjoy a very appy holiday…
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KAYAK: taking the turbulence out of air fares
So you’ve taken the plunge and booked your flight. Only to suffer that sinking feeling as the price then drops way below what you’ve paid. Kayak not only lets you search 100s of travel sites at once for the best deals, it also gives you Price Forecasts. These tell you whether the price looks set to rise or fall, so you can decide to cash in or hold out. With hotels and car hire too, Kayak certainly aims to give you more for less. Read more
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REBTEL: making talk cheaper
Once on the ground, you want the folks back home to know you’ve arrived safely (or just make them jealous – you choose). With roaming charges still active in many countries, calls can be expensive. And who wants to scrabble about with phone cards? With Rebtel, you can use the cheapest local phone lines to make your call – from any phone to any phone – for great value and call quality. You don’t need an internet connection and you can swerve sky high international tariffs. Now we’re talking. Read more
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WAZE: drive like a local
Now behind the wheel of your hire car, you’re about to navigate your way on roads and through cities, you may have never seen in your life before. But not to worry. Waze brings together the local driving community to provide real-time traffic updates to help you get to where you want to be. Delivering everything from traffic hotspots to accidents and the cheapest place to fill up on route, Waze is the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app. Read more
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CITYMAPPER: ride on time
Navigating a city’s public transport system for the first time can be a bit tram-atic to say the least. Citymapper takes the strain by showing you the best way to get from A to B, how much it costs and journey time. It takes into account everything from buses to trains, ferries and even ride sharing schemes. What we like best about it is you can programme an alert for when you need to get off – just the thing when you’re new to a city. Read more
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XE CURRENCY: for the truly converted
If you want the most from your holiday budget, getting maximum bangs for your buck, euro, rupee, yen or ringgit is essential. XE Converter lets you do just that – and so much more. Besides providing live exchange rates for all currencies, it lets you transfer money and delivers free rate alerts when your selected currencies reach the right level. With 55 million downloads, XE is the most used exchange app on the go. Read more
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GOOGLE TRIPS: excursions and diversions at your fingertips
Planning the perfect excursion is tricky if you don’t know what’s out there. With Google Trips, that’s not a problem. It simply maps out a half or full day with lots of great stuff to see and do. If you don’t like the suggestions, just use the ‘magic wand’ to come up with alternatives until you have something you like the look of. You can even securely store travel docs – such as reservations and schedules – from Gmail or Inbox. Read more
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AROUND ME: find out what’s nearby
Where’s the nearest cashpoint? Feeling hungry? Need to fill the car up? AroundMe uses GPRS to locate and direct you to those things you can’t do without – but don’t always know where they are. With 50,000 restaurant menus, cinema listings and the option to book hotel rooms, AroundMe makes the perfect travelling companion. Read more
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OPENTABLE: a taste for travel
When you want to treat your taste buds to the finest flavours but you’re a bit tongue-tied when it comes to the local language, Opentable solves the problem. It tells you which restaurants and time slots are available, so all you have to do is choose and key in your details. Easy peasy. With access to 40,000 restaurants worldwide and over 21 million diners a month using the app, isn’t it time you joined the party? Read more
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WOLFRAM: enjoy the sun safely
These days, we’re all much more clued up about the dangers of over-exposure to the sun. But that doesn’t always mean we know what’s best to apply and when for our own skin type. With the Wolfram app, you do. It lets you know how long you can stay in the sun before burn kicks in, a recommended SPF level, a UV forecast for your location and loads more useful information to help you avoid the dreaded lobster look on holiday look. Read more
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TRIPLINGO: translation with etiquette built in
With the best will in the world, we can all make cultural mistakes when trying to get our heads around a different language. (As many embarrassed politicians have discovered to their cost.) TripLingo tries to avoid this by providing not only an interactive phrase book and instant voice translator, but also a culture and etiquette guide to avoid any potential misunderstandings. Other features include emergency phrases and wi-fi dialler for international calls. Read more
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