Gone are the days of co-drivers fumbling through clumsy map books, driving from hotel to B&B stressed about finding accommodation for the night, or making the mistake of eating at the first available restaurant only to be served a dodgy burger. If you're heading out into the unknown, these five apps could make the trip a whole lot more memorable… for the right reasons.
Waze
(Free, available for Android and IOS)
This GPS app is one of the best travel apps and we recently put it to the test on a roadtrip from Cape Town to Durban. Essentially, it’s a community-based app which lets users alert each other to accidents, closed roads and traffic jams on your route. For example; You were driving on the N1 and saw a big accident. You’d report it using the app and anyone travelling on that route would be alerted and alternative routes would be suggested.
Other features include: Turn-by-turn voice guided navigation, automatic rerouting as conditions change on the road, send your ETA and real-time progress updates to loved ones, find petrol stations and rest stops on routes, as well as sync to social media apps such as Facebook. There’s so much that Waze offers, but there’s a catch. Due to the app’s constant connectivity to satellites and cellphone towers, the battery consumption is high. Nothing an in-car charger can’t fix.
Google Maps
(Free, available for Android and IOS)
Google Maps comes standard with nearly all Android devices and it’s easy to find in Apple’s IOS appstore. It’s very comprehensive, offers live traffic, automatic rerouting and there’s support for 220 countries. There’s also navigation for walking and cycling, but arguably the biggest selling point is the world’s biggest search engine plugging into the map. You can do a normal Google search for something and the map functionality will take you there.
Zomato
(Free, available for Android and IOS)
One of the worst things about road tripping is that when you arrive at your destination, you’re most likely to be hungry and you will most likely not know where the best places to eat are located. Zomato is a free app that uses your location to suggest restaurants, cafes and bars near you. It is also community powered, meaning users can rate and review outlets.
Comments like, “try the breakfast here – it’s great value for money” are common and invaluable. There’s also Uber functionality meaning you can catch a taxi to the restaurant of your choice. You can also read menus, check out photos of the food, and contact the restaurant directly to make a reservation through the app. It’s addictive to use and it’s nice to be able to go into a new restaurant without worrying about food quality.
AirBNB
(Free, available for Android and IOS)
AirBNB is like Zomato, but for accommodation. You can discover thousands of places to stay in over 34 000 cities around the world and it’s perfect for those last-minute and spur-of-the-moment roadtrips. Bear in mind that it’s not just hotels and guesthouses that list on AirBNB. You’ll also find private hosts offering their villas and even tree houses (I kid you not) for you to stay in. You have the option of house sharing or you can have the place to yourself. As AirBNB puts it, “Live like a local, anywhere in the world. Join a community of millions of trusted travellers and verified hosts.”
FillApp
(Free, available for Android and IOS)
With the fuel price constantly changing, it helps immensely to know in advance when the next increase or decrease will occur. FillApp is a free app that will notify you when a change is imminent, predict the next change with reasonable accuracy and view the current price of all grades of petrol/diesel. It also is able to tell you how much it will cost to fill your tank, provided you tell it your tank capacity. So far we’ve liked how simple it is and the push notifications for changes have been most useful.
