During the final days before embarking on my first solo backpacking trip across Asia and Europe, a switch flipped in my brain that woke me from my blissful stupor and launched me into pure panic. After months of indulging in abstract fantasies about the exotic settings and eccentric characters I was sure to meet in the next few months, I realized I’d barely thought about the logistics of my trip.
Sure, I had a plane ticket and a rough itinerary of where I would be staying, but I was so preoccupied with ending my lease, packing up my apartment, and saying goodbye to friends that I hadn’t thought about practicalities of traveling. Will my debit card work in India? Does Uber exist in Europe? Does Google Maps work if you’re not connected to WiFi?
Before I knew it, I was deep in a Google rabbit hole, scouring blogs and travel websites for up-to-date information on foreign SIM cards and exchange rates and common tourist scams. By the end of my feverish research, I had downloaded a flurry of new apps, hoping one of them would save me from becoming the subject of a sordid Netflix documentary warning against the dangers of solo female travel.
Unsurprisingly, half of them ended up being useless, unintuitive, and straight up scams that took up storage space on my phone. But along the way, fellow travelers clued me in on the apps they used to get from A to B that actually helped.
So, I compiled a list (that is uncompromised by paid promotion) of my 5 must-have apps for traveling abroad – and some useful tips for how to use them correctly! Plus, some honorable mentions at the end.
1. Couchsurfing
Couchsurfing is a truly unique service that changed my entire trip and ultimately, the trajectory of my life. (I’ll explain why in a bit.) Download it now and thank me later.
The app serves two purposes. You can use it to find a free place to say (yes, free!) or just to meet locals and other travelers in the area. Or both! Which is what I did. Think of it as a place to network and connect with like-minded people in your vicinity.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. It sounds totally unhinged to sleep at a random stranger’s house. But think of it kind of like Airbnb or Uber. These services first struck us as wildly dangerous because you must entrust a stranger with your safety. Is this a legitimate concern? Sure. And should you exercise caution when using it? Of course.
But the ability to read reviews from other users about their experiences with hosts made me feel safe using the app. Some hosts have dozens or even hundreds of reviews from guests. Female users will often indicate whether or not they felt comfortable during their stay (i.e., whether or not the host is a perv.) My advice: Don’t stay with any host that has fewer than 5 positive reviews, but preferably 10 or more to be safe.
Riding on the back of a new friend’s scooter near Pune, India. I can die happily now!
But if you’re still just not comfortable sleeping in someone else’s home, that’s understandable. You can also use Couchsurfing to make friends. I had an amazing experience in India. A very kind local took me around the city on his scooter and showed me all his favorite spots. It gave me an insider experience of the city that I never would have been able to replicate on my own.
You may be wondering, “What’s in it for the hosts? Why do they let you stay at their homes for free?” I’ve found that many locals are simply proud of where they’re from and want to share their culture with travelers. They see it as a way to give back. The sense of community and generosity on this app is honestly too pure for this world.
A different local that I met through the app while in Italy showed me around his city, Naples, and ended up coming along with me to Berlin. There, we fell in love and I ended up moving to Italy and getting married. (But please, for the love of God, don’t use Couchsurfing as a dating app. That’s what Tinder is for.)
2. Workaway
Some friends from a Workaway experience in Greece.
Workaway is another game-changer for travelers on a budget. Although, to be honest, I didn’t use the actual app as much as I did their website.
Somewhat like Couchsurfing, Workaway allows you to find a free place to stay. However, these experiences are usually work-trade situations. You will typically have to do some chores, nannying, gardening/farming, or manual labor.) But hosts usually don’t ask for more than a few hours of work per week and typically put you up and feed you for free. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.
You’ll find that most Workaway hosts prefer to have a guest that will stay more than two weeks – usually at least a month. If your goal is to hit a lot of cities in a short period of time, Workaway probably isn’t for you. But this can be an incredibly unique way to really get to know a culture and its people.
Like Couchsurfing, previous guests can leave reviews of their experiences, which will give you some indication of whether or not you will enjoy the experience and if the hosts are cult leaders. Personally, I wouldn’t agree to stay somewhere unless there are at least a few reviews that are detailed and credible. It could be very awkward or even dangerous to show up somewhere and realize the accommodations are insufficient and the host has a lingering gaze – which does happen! So be cautious.
You do have to pay a negligible yearly membership fee to gain full access to this service, but it’s well worth it. Before you commit, you can go to their website and check out the thousands of amazing Workaway experiences across the world that are waiting for you to join!
3. Google Maps or Maps.me
This seems like an obvious one, but hear me out.
When I was traveling, I didn’t want to spend the extra money to upgrade my phone plan or go to the trouble of purchasing and installing a new SIM card in each country I visited. This meant I didn’t have cellular data, so I was relying on WiFi, which as you can imagine, makes getting around extremely difficult – especially when you’re in a country where you don’t speak the language and you have a terrible sense of direction.
But what I didn’t know until halfway through my trip is that you can download a city’s map to your phone and use it outside of WiFi zones. (The blue dot feature will still work, as well.)
So, the first thing I would do when getting settled in a new place was to download the city’s map and save my home base (i.e., the address I was staying at) as a pin on the map. When I was ready to hit the town, I’d input my desired location – like the train station, museum, or restaurant – and be on my merry way. When I was ready to go home, I could easily navigate myself through the city streets thanks to the pin showing my home base and the blue dot showing my current location.
The discovery was life changing. And I felt like a complete fool that I didn’t know about this feature for such a long time. How was I getting around prior to this revelation? I can’t remember.
To download a map, just open Google Maps, type in the city name, click on the white tab that pops up at the bottom of the screen with more info, scroll over to “download,” select the desired geographic parameters, and you’re good to go. If you didn’t know, now you know. You’re welcome.
4. Google Translate
Me wishing there was some magical way to instantly translate Hiragana to English. Ignorant fool!
This is another life-changing app that you may not have heard of if you’re not super tech-savvy. Strangely, most of the travelers I met abroad hadn’t heard of it either. But it makes life so much easier. Had I known about this app in Japan, I could have avoided exposing myself as an ignorant American a few times. Oh, well.
The best feature of Google Translate, in my opinion, is its ability to instantly translate a piece of text in real life right on your screen. Basically, the app asks you for access to your camera. Like scanning a QR code, you hover your camera over the image you want to translate – like a label or a street sign – and it translates it seamlessly on your screen. The app knows 108 languages, so almost anywhere you go, it will work. It also works offline, which is *chef’s kiss*.
This comes in handy in a million different scenarios, like when you’re at the grocery store and you’re trying to tell the difference between laundry soap and dish washing detergent
The app can also serve as a basic dictionary for looking up words, has speech-to-text translation capabilities, and some other nifty little features that might come in handy. The technology is not perfect yet; sometimes the translations are inexact or a bit goofy, but it’s surprising how accurate it usually is.
5. Airbnb
This is another holy grail that I used often during my travels. Sometimes you don’t want to rough it at a hostel, but you don’t want to splurge on a hotel. This is where Airbnb comes in. My biggest tip for using the app is to always narrow your search results to “instant book.” If you don’t, you will likely have to wait for the host to approve (or deny) your request, which can take 24 hours or even longer.
As an impulsive person, I like to be able to secure my booking instantly so that I can say, “Tonight, I’m taking a train to Switzerland,” and stay in a luxury yurt the same night.
This has also been incredibly useful when I needed a place with a laundry machine (you can only get away with washing your socks in the sink with hand soap so many times in a row) or when I was in desperate need a bubble bath.
That time I stayed in a glam yurt in rural Switzerland. You know I am going to hook you up with the link.
You can also toggle your search results by amenities, like full kitchen or air-conditioner included, etc. If you’re not careful, you could end up staying on the top-floor of an apartment with no air-conditioner during a heat wave, and you don’t want that.
If you are familiar with using the desktop version, you will also want to go ahead and download the app so that you don’t have to unbury your laptop from the bottom of your backpack every time you need to access the website. It also serves as a messaging platform so that you can instantly communicate with the host before and during your stay. Handy!
Tip: It’s also worth saving your credit/debit card number for fast booking. There’s nothing worse that struggling to type in a card number after a glass of wine when you’re trying to emulate Jack Kerouac.
Honorable mentions:
Airline apps: While you may be tempted to forgo downloading another app and instead, use your email receipt as your boarding pass, airline apps often double as access to in-flight entertainment. Once you’re in the air and you are unable to download anything, you will be jealous of your neighbor binge-watching Friends while you’re stuck studying emergency deplaning procedures.
Uber: Yes, Uber is available almost everywhere these days! You will want to have this app handy when you’re at your wit’s end with public transportation and on the verge of tears. I also have to note, I prefer using Uber to taking a cab in many circumstances. While sometimes jumping in a cab is tempting, more than once, I’ve felt I was in serious danger being alone in a cab with a handsy driver. I’m not saying that there aren’t any creepy Uber drivers, but they are well aware that you have the option to rate the ride after they drop you off, which could discourage them from behaving inappropriately.
WhatsApp: A lot of countries don’t even use SMS to text. WhatsApp is the go-to medium of communication. Don’t expose yourself as an ugly American by not having your WhatsApp ready to go when a new friend wants to exchange numbers!
Netflix: Did you know that you can watch Netflix on your phone? It’s true! The full library is available on the app and works the same way as the website. Hot tip: You can also download full episodes to watch outside of WiFi zones – even on airplanes! Utterly life-saving for long flights or train rides.
FlixBus: Europeans often utilize a service called FlixBus for traveling long distances, which is sometimes cheaper and faster than the train. You’ll want to go ahead and download the app for quick access to tickets and booking on the go.
BlaBlaCar: This app basically gives you the ability to hitch-hike without the humiliation of standing on the side of the highway with your thumb in the air. It’s more widely used in some countries than others, so it’s not always reliable. But if you’re trying to reach a far-away destination and the public transit has too many transfers, paying a couple of bucks to ride shotgun with someone who is already making the trip can save you a lot of trouble.
Reading Apps: There are several reading apps like Kindle, Nook, and Apple Books. I find all of them to be quite similar. While I, too, prefer the sensation of turning a crisp page, carrying around books during your travels isn’t very practical. In moments of boredom, I would often pull up my reading app and dive into some good ol’ Ann Rule.