Hey Local Guides!
Travel sure has changed a whole lot in our lifetime, hasn’t it? It’s amazing that so many critical travel resources - maps, boarding passes, reviews, photos - are literally in the palm of our hands. Friends ask me all the time what mobile apps I use for travel, so I wanted to share my three favorite Google apps AND hear about yours!
What are your favorite apps? Please share them in the comments.
Obviously. This app needs no introduction. It’s the best navigation site on the planet and I’m sure Magellan would fall on his knees in ecstasy if he’d gotten the chance to use it. It maps hundreds of millions places in 220 countries and territories around the world and you can even create custom maps like this one that highlight places you’ve traveled or would like to visit someday. Like y’all, I’m proud to be a Google Maps Local Guide and love using the platform to create curated lists, write reviews, make travel recommendations, add new businesses and share photos.
I made this map recently of all the places that my husband Josh and I have traveled to together, but I’d like to get better at creating curated local lists.
You don’t have to speak 6 languages flutently like Natalie Portman to be a considerate traveler. Google Translate is such a wildly intelligent tool, because it can translate text for 100 languages. Simply type in a word or phrase and select the languages you’d like to translate. If you press the microphone icon, you can even hear it spoken aloud so you can work on pronunciation! I frequently use Google Translate to help with navigation, greetings, gratitude and random commentary, which was especially useful in communicating with teenagers on a recent trip with Operation Go Quickly in the Dominican Republic.
Google Translate has helped me “speak” French, Haitian Creole, Italian, Spanish and Cantonese on recent trips and given me the ability to actually talk with locals just like I would at home. One of the app’s coolest features is the ability to translate text via photo. When Josh and I were in Hong Kong Disneyland, we used this feature to translate the train schedule and it worked flawlessly. All you do is take a photo of the image and the app can translate 37 languages from your photo! My mind was blown as I watched Cantonese characters instantly switch to recognizable English letters before my eyes. It’s so much fun to use Google Translate to connect with with new friends across generations, countries and languages!
Getting around the world takes some effort and Google Flights makes it crazystupideasy to search for flights. I love being able to easily toggle between destinations, itineraries and airlines. It will often influence how I make my travel purchasing decisions, so I’m grateful that it instantly compiles the best options for me.
