GPSMyCity GIVEAWAY | 5 Must-Have Travel Apps For Your Smartphone in 2018

The giveaway is provided by one of the must-have travel apps GPSMyCity. The GPS-guided travel app for Palma de Mallorca, Spain, is available for a free upgrade between Monday the 23rd and Sunday the 29th of July, 2018. Continue reading for further details.

I bet this isn’t the first blog post listing the best travel apps in 2018 you entered this year. All avid travellers already know their favourite sites and apps for booking flights and accommodation, from luxurious 5-star hotels to affordable and cosy homestay. You most likely also know that Google Maps allows you to download offline maps on your smartphone to access the street view of your travel destination without wasting money on roaming and that you can beat the language barriers with Google Translator, am I right?

That’s what I thought. Now, when all that is sorted out, let’s have a look at 5 must-have travel apps you should download on your smartphone before your next flight, bus or train takes off.

1 – Currency calculator: XE Currency

I guess I’m not the only one who’d be struggling with the currency issues abroad, thanks to the worst math head ever given to a human child? Thank god I don’t need to, and neither do you.

I’ve been using XE Currency with my laptop for converting currencies as long as I can remember. But it wasn’t too long ago once I discovered they have a free mobile app, too. By downloading XE Currency on your smartphone, you’ll always be aware of the real costs of your next dinner, accommodation, a pair of shoes and colourful cocktails – even when offline.

XE Currency pros and cons:

+ Free of charge
+ Converts currencies even offline
+ Allows you to pin your preferred currencies on top of the list
+ Includes XE Travel Expenses Calculator for estimating actual costs
– The app is quite confusing to get started with (at least compared to the website), but your eyes will get used to it pretty quickly
– The free app contains adverts but luckily, they don’t disturb the user experience too much

2 – Know the weather: Yr.no is by far the most accurate weather service

Isn’t it a bit worrying that Facebook’s weather updates (like “we’re expecting rain in Rauma today, remember to take your umbrella”) are more accurate than the local weather forecasts?

I sure think it is.

There are millions of weather sites and apps, but as per my personal experiences (plus my eagerly-travelling friends, too), nothing is proved to be as accurate as the Norwegian Yr.

Yr.no weather app pros and cons:

+ Simply the most reliable weather forecast I’ve come across with
+ Free of charge
– Requires internet connection
– Long-term forecasts cover only for 10 days. I’m about to start a trip where I travel to England for 9 days and continue to Faroe Islands for the following week – I’d really appreciate an accurate forecast for both trips as I need to pack for both now.

3 – You only need one single app to remember everything: Evernote

Over time, I’ve been testing several apps for creating packing lists as well as travel plans and itineraries, organising travel documents, and so on. The conclusion: you only need one single app to do all this (and much more), and it’s called Evernote.

Packing apps, for instance, are fun to try, but let’s be honest; no app could ever create the perfect packing list specified for your –and only for your– needs. For me, Evernote is like a personal archive that includes all things mentioned above. I’ve created detailed packing lists for city breaks, hiking trips, cycling journeys and kayaking adventures. I can use these lists over and over again and even share them with friends whenever needed. I can save any document, picture and website on my Evernote app and they’ll stay synced between my laptop and smartphone at all times. Simple as that.

Evernote pros and cons:

+ One app for multiple uses. No need to download ten different apps for different tasks; Evernote gets it all covered.
– The free version has some limitations, e.g. not all notebooks are available offline on the mobile app (however, they’re still available offline on the desktop app).
– Syncing your notes between devices requires an internet connection.

If you haven’t yet tried Evernote but are interested in testing the app, through my personal referral link, you’ll get the premium plan for free for one month.

4 – Take out the stress of getting even – Try one of the best bill-splitting apps

If you often travel with friends or relatives (or just with a group of random people), you might have to struggle a bit with getting even after eating out or making all bookings at once. Instead of writing everything down on separate notes (and then lose the notes), you might find one of these bill-splitting apps handy.

These apps are relatively new to me too, and I haven’t yet got my hands down into using them too much. I’ve received recommendations especially for three of them; Splittable, Splitwise and SettleUp. When doing some research, I came across this article by Yaabot comparing the three above-mentioned apps.

While Yaabot ranked SettleUp the best of the three, the financial site The Balance valued Splitwise the most. However, SettleUp earned the second place in this contest with the recognition of ‘the runner-up’.

I think I will give both, Splitwise and SettleUp, a chance on my upcoming trips to make my personal comparison of the two. Which one would be your choice?

5 – The last travel guide you need to buy: GPSMyCity

A couple of years ago I partnered up with GPSMyCity that provides GPS-guided travel articles and city walks for more than 1,000 cities worldwide, including Finland. Out of thousands of travel article apps, you can be sure to find the theme to your preferences; food guides, shopping guides, free attractions, natural gems, historical sites, haunted buildings – the list is pretty much endless.

The written tips are available on the free app (you can find all the destinations here), so it costs nothing for you to have them on your phone. Offline maps and step-by-step routes are available after upgrading.

Once you’ve downloaded GPSMyCity on your iOS or Android device, all these travel articles are yours to explore. For accessing the built-in offline map with step by step walking/cycling/driving instructions and GPS-guidance, you have three upgrading options:

1. You can purchase the one article you love the most with a small fee (US$ 1,99), and the guide with its offline features is yours to use forever.
2. You can purchase an annual subscription for US$ 12,99 that allows you to access the full version functions in all the travel articles in more than 1,000 cities worldwide for one year. However, this subscription option doesn’t include city walk guides – consider this as a lite version of the full subscription below.
3. The ‘pro’ version allows you to access all travel article apps and all city walk guides with all offline features for a full year for US$ 18,99.

Pros and cons of GPSMyCity GPS-guided travel article apps and city walks:

+ With the annual subscription, you have full access to the guides all over the world. Consider visiting 20 new cities a year; you’d end up paying less than 1 dollar per city, and you don’t need to worry about getting lost or struggling what to do and where to eat. No travel guide has ever been this cheap (plus you’d end up spending that same amount on data roaming anyway, if not more).
+ You don’t need to carry along heavy guidebooks or complicated and massive maps. With GPSMyCity, you’ll have everything you need in your pocket and available offline.
– Well yes, having the offline map features will cost you a few dimes, but us writers need to get our pay too. I’m sure you understand this.
– Using GPS-guidance requires keeping the location on, which will drain your smartphone battery a bit faster. So you might want to carry your power bank along (but I’m sure you’d do it anyway).

TRAVEL ARTICLE APP GIVEAWAY: 15 TIPS FOR PALMA DE MALLORCA

GPSMyCity GIVEAWAY for Free Tips for Palma de Mallorca | 5 Must-Have Travel Apps For Your Smartphone in 2018

For a limited period, between NOW and the late hours of Sunday, July 29th, you can download the upgrade for one of my newest travel article apps 15 Tips for Palma de Mallorca (+A Few Extras) free of charge.

Once you click the link, you’ll be directed to the app (opens in a new window). If you haven’t yet downloaded the free GPSmyCity app, you’ll be prompted to do so. After downloading GPSMyCity, you will be directed to the article where you can choose UPGRADE to get the GPS-guided version on your phone free of charge.