What apps to use for travel

Flight Apps

Seems like no matter where you look on a blog you never get a run down of why, it’s like here’s an App go figure out how to use it. I do not use a ton of apps I have my trusty few and I will break down how to use them per category. Listing them from most used at the top.

Skycanner.com

This is the best website hands down is the for cheapest for flights if, you are versatile in dates you can fly. Need a $400 round trip ticket to anywhere this is your place. The only problem with skyscanner is spending time playing with locations, dates and times. It’s totally worth it if you do. If you can fly out of an international airport it just got cheaper. DO NOT USE THE APP YOU MUST USE THE WEBSITE. The app doesn’t do cheapest month, so you won’t find the best deals. You can also go to my youtube channel Wonder Woman Travel for the how to more in-depth video.

1. Open www.skyscanner.com

2. Type in where you are flying from

3. Click on the “TO”, click on can’t decide.

4. Click on DEPART, then pick cheapest month. Do the same on RETURN and pick cheapest month as well.

5. Select how many travelers, then click on the green search flights.

6. You will find a list starting with the United States, Canada, Mexico ext. So, for fun lets click on Italy and then click on Venice. Look at the prices and dates, normally you can travel cheaper if you pick the dates with the cheapest flights. Pick the cheap flight then on the return day play with return dates. They are usually on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday, Saturday and the worst day to travel is Friday. Playing with dates can literally save you hundreds of dollars.

Hopper App

If you can plan this is a great app. I fly out of OKC and say, pick Paris. You can use your city you fly out of then choose Paris as an example. I chose round trip and you will see choose your flight dates. Underneath that amounts from greater to smaller. Green is your cheapest dates as you can see. Red means black out dates and you are going to need to sell an arm to book fights. Let’s pick a November date if it’s green for our example booking, notice it opens the whole month. You see below the calendar flex dates, you can choose this option and watch the cheapest option dates and you will get email notifications sent to you. Or you can pick your dates preferably in the green dates, select these dates button and it gives you a price. Underneath the price it will tell you to buy now or wait because you can save up to $25 or what it is showing me now is save as much as $226 per ticket. Scroll down and it gives you a price prediction whether the prices vary and when. The great thing about this app is you can see your blackout dates and future.

Kayak and Google flights

I prefer kayak over google flights if you must leave on certain dates because they go through several airlines to give you the best deals. Remember when checking for the best prices you want to check how long flights are and layovers. Sometimes it’s worth the extra $100 to get there in say 5 hours instead of 10

Expedia

This is my go to website for Mexico or any destination where you want to do an all-inclusive resort as well as airfare both. You won’t find better deals anywhere. Click on Bundle deals your cheapest bookings will be Sunday to Sunday for your 7-day getaways. Remember Friday is always the most expensive day to fly. Anything but Friday will save you money. Once you have hit search your hotels will pop up first. Go to filters check the Price button and under Filter by name type in, “All inclusive”. I would recommend clicking on the 4-star button as well because 3-star and under I have been extremely unimpressed and grossed out. Now click DONE and your new results will pop up. They will show unreal deals and pricing in order. Go through those choices and look at the pics you like the most. You cannot go wrong with usually any selection. I will go with the price and because I like adult only venues pick those. The price you see is the price per person for flight and hotel. If you are choosing Cancun avoid Lagoon Side Hotels, the whole point is beautiful sandy beaches.

Hostel World App

Hostel world is the best thing for solo travelers in Europe, Asia, Australia and so many more. The ultimate places to stay if you are a solo traveler. One of my favorite things about Hostel world is usually I don’t even book a hostel until I land. You can open the app in the Airport or if you need to take a quick subway train ride to the city open the App pick 7.5-star hostels near you, just open the small map window and find what the closest hostel is and walk to it. Now if you fly in late you always want to make sure the front desk will be open. Not all are like hotels and there is some one there always. Most do though so you can always check by messaging through the links to the hostels. When doing my search, I try to at least go through a week or so before my trip and view 7.5 stars and up, also, the price filter I drop to nothing higher than $35 a night. I have found most hostels in Europe always have free tours, just talk to the front desk and find out the times. Then tip at the end $10-$20 depending on how good they are. You will not find more friendly guests also willing to give you great advice,

Airbnb

This will be the best option if you just cannot do a room with other people. I do highly suggest trying just one night in a hostel but say you can’t do it, no problem. When you use the Airbnb app it will also offer not just your stays but hosted experiences, hosted adventures and restaurants. Let’s do an example booking so you can understand how the app works. At the top you have a search key. Let’s type in Paris and pick a 5-night stay, date time at least a month out from the date you have today. Click on show results, then click on stays, next, click how many guests it can be one up to a group. Let’s choose two people. Click on show stays, there will be a ton, click on your filters. You can choose many but the main one is price range. If you’re with two people splitting the cost, try only $75. The options you can pick an Entire place to yourself whether it’s a home, condo, apartments and more. You can choose a Private Room which you will have your own room and share some commons spaces. You can choose a Hotel Room which could me a private or shared room in a boutique hotel, hostel and more. Or pick a Shared Room.

Start with all and you will still have a large list. If I cannot narrow my search down to 15 places to stay with getting cheaper on price I find all the choices a little over whelming. There were 300 choices, so I dropped the price to $40 a night and chose Entire place only. Left me with 13 good places to stay and checked the map, which were centralized in the main part of Paris. So, if you are not wanting to talk to people where you stay or have trouble sleeping this is the best route for you. These places also have star ratings as well so click on them once you narrow your search.VRBO Vacation Rental By Owner which is like Airbnb I just like using Airbnb most.

Hotels.com, Priceline, Booking.com these are hotel stays and the only time I personally ever used one quite often was Hotels.com in Bali and let’s just say the deals were amazing especially since I had no idea where I was going to stay. I was traveling the whole country by moped and a back pack. Their last-minute deals were the 4-5-star deals for $20-$30 a night during the weeks. Normal cost was $100-$200 per night, I just haven’t tested it further than that.

Ticket Lens This app is all about booking tickets, tours and activities anywhere around the world. Just type in where you are going, and you have all the tourist activities in one app.

When it comes to areas you are in, each city usually its own apps such as Milan, Paris, Barcelona, Rome etc. Just download the apps for which city you are visiting and you will get things like Food & Drink, Nightlife, Shopping, Events& Activities, Art & Culture, Historical Architecture, Modern Architecture, Accommodations-Hostels, Budget Travel $, Luxury Travel $$$, The Beauty of Nature, City & Urban Life, Authentic Experience, Hidden Gems, Road Trips, Interested in History, Spots of Serenity, Sports & Outdoor, Veggie and Vegan, Family Friendly, Breakfast & Brunch, Accommodations – Camping, Mountain & Valley, Sunny Breaks, Green Tourism, Wellness & Health, LGBT, Travel Photography Spots, Great Views and Editors Choice. You click on your interests and it pulls everything up. Look these things up before you go and choose a few favorites.

Vacationing is all apart of just being as well so don’t get caught up in just tours and such walk the cities and immerse your self in the culture of a place. Don’t just eat at restaurants listed but pay attention to where the locals are eating. You can spend hours and hours stressing about what to do or where to go. Just spend the first day checking in to your hotel then start walking, some of the best moments are just walking a city.