Traveling is one of the most enjoyable activities to participate in as you get a chance to visit new locations and learn about different cultures. Although traveling is exciting, it can also be expensive and inconvenient in many cases. If you want to enjoy an easy and affordable trip, there are a few smartphone apps to take advantage of when planning an upcoming excursion. Here’s some of the apps I have on my phone.

Hotel Tonight & Airbnb
Hotels are one of the most expensive parts of traveling and can add up to hundreds of dollars each night. (One of the reasons I’m a fan of home exchanges). If you want to avoid staying in a cheap hotel but don’t have a large budget, consider downloading Hotel Tonight, which is an app that can allow you to get great deals on chic hotels. You’ll need to book your room at the last minute, but you can avoid paying full-price while staying at a posh establishment. I also advocate using Airbnb to affordably find a place to stay when you want more space, especially when traveling with children.

Mobile Passport App
Traveling to different countries means that you can expect to spend a significant amount of time waiting in long lines at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I’ve tried using the Mobile Passport App, but I’ve found it doesn’t work will with Global Entry. I like that it gives me a place to easily access my passport information.

Tourist Information
I already did an entire post on the Detour app which features GPS guided walking tours. I find the Google map app indispensable. A great feature of it is that you can download maps of an area when you have internet connectivity to use when you don’t. Before I go to a new city, I will star attractions in the map so if I find myself somewhere with time to kill, I can see what places that interested me are nearby. GateGuru is a convenient reference to use when traveling through new airports. If has a database of airport maps and listings of amenities with reviews of dining locations at the airport.

Pack Point
Packing is now easier when using the Pack Point app to ensure that you don’t forget anything. The app will ask you to insert the activities or events you plan to attend and will also check the weather conditions. It will inform you of the type of clothing and accessories to pack to ensure that you’re prepared for each day of your trip, along with the climate.

Klok
It can be easy to forget what time it is back home when you’re traveling the world and are in a new country. With Klok, you can quickly look up the time in specific destinations to ensure that you know when to call or message your family back home when your internal clock is confused.