Chances are, whether you’re getting ready for a weekend away in neighboring town or a six-month journey across Europe, your mobile phone is high on the list of things you simply can’t leave behind. If so, know you’re not alone. A recent survey sponsored by AppRiver polled 1,000 adults from the United Kingdom and found a greater amount of those individuals would rather lose their luggage than their mobile phones. Since you’ll most likely be taking your mobile phone on an upcoming journey anyway, keep reading to learn about four handy apps and gadgets that could make you feel free to see the world while also lightening your load. All are specifically for the Android operating system.
Locate Handy Amenities
We’ve all had times where we wish it would be possible to simply snap our fingers to magically bring an ATM, Wi-Fi hotspot or delicious restaurant into view, especially when navigating an unfamiliar location. An app that’s appropriately called Find Near Me allows you to speedily locate those necessities and more. Conveniently, you can even use it without enabling your phone’s GPS system, because the app can work based on an IP address.
Leave Bulky Guidebooks at Home
A travel guidebook can certainly serve its purpose, but there’s almost nothing that more clearly identifies you as a tourist than a large, colorful and well used city guide. Fortunately, there are dozens of e-book alternatives available for Android, and many of them are free. Do yourself a favor and check out what’s available before you depart. Then, you’ll be able to stay informed by discreetly scrolling through pages on your phone, plus have more room in your suitcase to bring back souvenirs instead of having to save space for guidebooks.
Keep All Your Photos in One Place
Although advances in digital cameras have greatly improved how tourists can capture memories from their travels forever, memory cards are still very expensive. If you’re a real shutterbug, you may find yourself able to fill up an entire memory card within a couple of days, only to be faced with the awkward situation of knowing you need to transfer the photos to somewhere secure, but lack the computer that’s necessary to do so.
Solve this common problem by purchasing a sleek Android flash drive that plugs neatly into your phone’s USB slot. These gadgets can fit in the palm of your hand, and some are so spacious they can accommodate thousands of pictures or videos collected during the course of your travels.
Learn the Lingo
Even frequent travelers can perpetually struggle with language barriers, and that reality can be daunting for anyone. One app that’s called Tourist Language Learn & Speak gets you quickly acquainted with the bare minimum amount of phrases you’ll need to know. It also has a translate function that could be particularly helpful if you get in a bind and want to save yourself from frantically trying to decipher each misunderstood word someone says by flipping through a pocket dictionary.
Clearly, if you want to be a well-informed traveler, it’s as easy as installing the above-mentioned apps on your Android phone and picking up some handy accessories like tiny USB flash drives before you leave. Try it now and look forward to traveling lighter.