50 ultimate travel apps ... so far

There is of course one smartphone app no true traveler could ever do without. This one. 

But once you've downloaded that, why not browse these too?

We're going to skip over obvious ones like Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Gowalla, Foursquare, Instagram, Google Earth/Maps, as worthy as they are, for ones you may have overlooked, but shouldn't. 

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The world in the palm of your hand.

1. Kayak -- Flight search

More than a few trips begin with Kayak, one of the web's most popular travel services. Its mobile apps are great as well, allowing you to search flight details with ease on a mobile device.

I especially like the "explore" function, which presents you with a map of the world and the prices that it would cost to travel to various locations. For those who dream about traveling as much as they actually travel, the Kayak app is for you.

I mean seriously, who knew about these little Mariana Islands?

Download: iOS | Android Market

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The magazine, condensed.

2. Time Out -- Location guide

Time Out has an assortment of apps for big cities New York, Paris, and London as well as for pacific hubs like Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, and Melbourne.

While it would be better if more cities were available, the ones that do have guides are well served with lots of information about entertainment, nightlife, and the best places to eat near you.

The apps I tried were location-aware (if you allow it) and will then show you points of interest nearby.

Visit Time Out Digital on iTunes

A Lonely Planet book store on your phone.

3. Lonely Planet Travel Guides

As you might expect, Lonely Planet has a lot of guides and phrasebook apps available in Apple's App Store. And just as you likely have more than one Lonely Planet book on your bookshelf, it's very possible that you're going to buy more than one Lonely Planet guide.

In order to manage your Lonely Planet purchases, you can add a sort of Lonely Planet catch-all app, which lets you access its entire catalog, including stored titles you've bought already.

Download for iOS

Less thinking means more time for doing.

4. TripIt -- Travel planner

All those confirmation mails that you get from hotels and airlines, you can simply forward along to plans@tripit.com, which will then magically generate a digital itinerary that you can refer to on your mobile device.

You can add multiple trips to TripIt if you're a frequent traveler, or just use it for a single vacation. TripIt was awarded Best Travel Mobile App for 2011 at the Webby Awards. It's not hard to see why.

Download: iOS | Android Market

5. Evernote -- Organizer

This popular digital note-taking app makes for a very helpful travel companion as well. I've not used it on trips myself, but Brett Terpstra recently pointed out that the app can really shine when you're on the road.

Take pictures of receipts and other important paperwork, and let Evernote's OCR help with the cataloguing. While I'm not a big fan of the Evernote desktop app (Brett's Notational Velocity wins out there), I think Evernote definitely wins when note-taking on the go.

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World's best destinations, digitalized.

6. UNESCO World Heritage -- Location guide

For travelers who would like a bucket list of amazing places to visit in their lifetime, the World Heritage app will do the trick.

It costs US$4.99, but that's a pretty good deal for a complete list of over 900 sites with 650 photographs as well. You can browse sites according to country or by classification, and favorite the ones you'd like to revisit later.

Download: iOS

No math? No problem.

7. XE currency exchange 

If you plan to hit multiple countries during your travels, it's always useful to have a currency conversion app handy. XE.com is one of the best known and most reliable currency-related sites on the net, and as you might expect, its app is no exception.

Just set your default currency and you can keep tabs on a number of others. Perhaps the best thing about it is that it remembers the most recently updated rate, so you can still convert with reasonable accuracy even when you don't have a connection.

Download: iOS | Android Marketplace

Not as good as a human, but cheaper.

8. Google Translate 

Few companies bust language barriers better than Google, and the Google Translate app does this exceptionally well. Like the Google Translate web service, you can translate pieces of text with ease.

Of course the accuracy is not always perfect, but it's about as good as it gets. But where the app excels is in voice recognition. It allows you to speak in English (or another language) and it will translate what you said into the language of your choice.

If you've ever had difficulty making yourself understood to a speaker of a foreign language, then this free app will certainly help. Check out a video demo here.

Download: iOS | Android Market Place

9. Trip Journal -- Trip documenter 

Currently on sale for US$0.99, Trip Journal is an award-winning travel app that lets you digitally document your trip on your iOS, Android, Bada or Symbian device.

With Google Maps/Earth integration, you get to map places that you've visited, geo-tag your photos and videos, or write blog entries too. Once you're finished you can export trips to Facebook where your friends can follow along on your path.

Download: iOS | Android Market

Home from phone.

10. Airbnb -- Accommodation

Airbnb is an essential app for the tech-savvy backpacker, listing affordable accommodation around the globe -- ranging "from a private apartment to a private island."

In addition to searching for places to stay, you can also offer your own room for rent, if you'd like to make a little extra money. So far there are 150,000 places listed in 190 countries. In-app messaging to guests/hosts make communication frictionless, keeping all activity on your mobile.

Download: iOS | Android Market

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