Free Travel Apps

On my wife's iPad, I use the free TripAdvisor, which has lists of hotels, restaurants, tours, etc. The large format of the iPad make it very appealing. I'm sure there are plenty of others in this same category. On my iPhone, I'm using TripAdvisor as well as another free program called Travel Tracker, which is a digital itinerary. After you enter your flight numbers, it sets up a calendar of events that you can add to. Each type of event, like hotel, car rental or tour, has a template that you enter info. For instance, a hotel listing has the address, city, country, phone, an automatic map link, room rate and even confirmation #. There's also a notes area where you add extra information, like the nearby vaporetto stop. (But only in Venice!) This format allows you to scroll through your events and determine where you need to allot your time. Best of all, you can email your itinerary to someone else, or yourself. I plan to print mine out and put a copy in my luggage. All this may seem time-consuming, but it has helped me organize all those hundreds of bits and pieces of information.

Do a search for language apps. So handy to have when you are trying to communicate. I've downloaded several for my iphone (no iPad for me yet) for German, Italian, French. Most of them "speak" to you, so you can hear the words pronounced. They are great for learning some basics before you travel! I rarely pay for apps, I have found some great free ones. Just search and see what works for you. You can always download, try them, and delete them if it's just not what you feel you will need.

In my earlier reply, I originally called the TravelTracker by the name that shows up under the icon on my iPhone, so if you searched for it by that name, it wouldn't show up in your App Store search. You have to search TravelTracker to find it. It was free when I downloaded it, but now costs $2.99. It is also available for the iPad.