Arm your mobile phones with these free and super-handy travel apps before you embark on your next globetrotting adventure from Singapore
American author Elbert Hubbard was right: no man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one. If you’ve just returned from your well-deserved break during the National Day long weekend, the chances are you’re probably already thinking about where to go for the upcoming long weekends in Singapore. (Take a look at our picks of the prettiest villas in Asia for some travel inspo!) And to help make your travel planning a whole lot easier, we’ve gathered a bunch of nifty free apps to download before you book your trip and fly.
Skyscanner
Long gone are the days of visiting individual websites of airlines to find the best airfares. Save yourself the trouble and use Skyscanner – this no-frills global search engine mainly lets you compare prices for flights, but you can also use it for sniffing out great hotel and car hire deals.
Download from the App Store or Google Play
Wander
Going on a solo trip but wouldn’t mind some company every now and then? Wander’s the travel app for singles – all you have to do is enter your destination in the app and it’ll show you other solo guys and gals travelling to the same place. Founder Krystal Choo insists this isn’t a dating app (although its ‘swipe left or right’ concept works very much like Tinder), but hey, use it however you want to.
Download from the App Store
XE Currency
No need to whip out your phone calculator every time you want to fork out cash for something, just use the XE Currency app and convert away. Straight-forward, easy-to-use app and very, very essential.
Download from the App Store or Google Play
Airbnb
Score a castle or do it right with a villa – whether it’s just a few days or a month, the guys at Airbnb have the right connections to fit you. It’s a worldwide affair with 190 countries – you can go from Mexico to Bali or Canada! Browse by availability, pick a neighbourhood of your choice, and communicate with space owners through the on-site communication service.
Download from the App Store or Google Play
Google Translate
If you’re headed to a place where you don’t speak the local lingo, this is a definite must-have. Hold your camera over words you don’t understand (perfect for street signs you can’t decipher), speak to translate, translate as you type – you can even draw characters with your finger!
Download from the App Store or Google Play
Wi-Fi Finder
Yup, find Wi-Fi anywhere in the world, no matter what city you’re in. You’re welcome.
Download from the App Store or Google Play
TripAdvisor
Ever checked into a hotel only to be disappointed? What about visiting a world-famous attraction that – in the end – didn’t quite live up to the hype? Know before you go and read reviews on TripAdvisor for all things experiential, whether it’s the standard of a luxury villa or the quality of a restaurant.
Download from the App Store or Google Play
AccuWeather
Nothing ruins a vacation quite like a thunderstorm (okay, being bad with directions and a map would probably ruin it too). Stay up to date with the weather conditions wherever you are in the world with the AccuWeather app – it reports forecasts for the next two hours and beyond.
Download from the App Store or Google Play
GateGuru
Make your time at the airport a lot less stressful with GateGuru. It covers over 204 airports across the US, Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia and with it you can view airport security wait times, maps, weather conditions, and best of all, flight delays (if any).
Download from the App Store or Google Play
