9 Must-Have Travel Apps For Your Phone

Apple announced last week that worldwide downloads from its App Store recently surpassed the 30 billion mark (on average, that’s just over four apps for every person on Earth!)

For many, this stat is just the latest indicator of the increasing influence that smartphones and apps have had on the way we live our lives. Indeed, whether it’s work-related or not, there seems to be an app designed to help you accomplish just about any task.

But with summer (and summer vacations!) in full swing, we thought we’d re-run our take (first published last fall) on some of the top travel apps to have. Below are our picks, organized to help you deal with some of the most common travel challenges:

Challenge #1: “Wait, so for how long is my flight delayed?”

App that can help: FlightAware

If you’re traveling after the first flights of the day, the time of your departing flight is likely to be determined by when the plane you will fly on arrives from another airport.  Many times, the departure boards don’t accurately reflect this.  So ask the gate agent for the flight number of the arriving flight for your plane, and FlightAware lets you track that flight live while it’s in the air.  You can search easily by flight number as well as flight route (departing and arriving airports).

***Note – don’t stray too far from the gate area even if your arriving plane is delayed.  The airline might switch planes to get your flight off earlier.

Challenge #2: “I hope there’s more than a snack machine near my gate!”

Apps that can help: GateGuru and Point Inside

Running late to the airport and trying to figure out where you’re going to grab lunch?  These two apps are great for finding out what is around your gate area.  GateGuru offers a search by terminal area as well as ratings from fellow users.  For the more visually oriented, Point Inside provides terminal maps of restaurants and other services at major airports.

Challenge #3: “Those clouds look pretty bad… Are we going to get rained out?”

Apps that can help: MyRadar and The Weather Channel

MyRadar is a straightforward app that provides detailed radar information near your area, as well as a continuous loop to see where storms are headed.  You can also scan to other areas of the country to see the weather at your arrival destination.  The Weather Channel is a great app for forecasts and other weather data for cities/airports around the world.

Challenge #4: “There are so many restaurants around – where should I go?”  Or… “Please tell me there’s more than this truck stop to eat at around here!”

Apps that can help: TripAdvisor, Urbanspoon, and OpenTable

I like both TripAdvisor and Urbanspoon for their ability to show you what restaurants are around you in an easy to use format.  Both also offer the ability to learn how other diners have rated these restaurants. OpenTable also does this, and helps to snag a reservation quickly and easily.

Challenge #5: “I wish I could fall asleep, but the TV next door is keeping me awake…”

App that can help: SleepMachine

Nothing is more frustrating in my book than having a super quiet hotel room and being woken up by every door slam in the hallway, or traffic from the highway outside, or the guy next door watching SportsCenter with the volume on 11.  For my fellow light sleepers, I highly suggest SleepMachine.  You can select between several sounds, including a fan, white noise, even crickets (for those who sleep outside, I guess).  Or you can combine different sounds to create a unique, sleep permitting sound.

Those are some of the apps we find most helpful when on the road. Feel free to suggest others you find useful in the comments section below.

SEC Members, for more on apps, check out our resources on the top iPad apps for Sales and the top apps for your CRM.