- Keep Your Trip Details Organized in One Place
- Take Advantage of an Interactive Travel Guide App
- Avoid Over-Spending on Purchases
- Communicate with the Locals
- Choose the Best Places to See, Dine, and Experience
- Dont Let Unexpected Bad Weather Ruin Your Trip
- Keep Track of What Time It Is
- Take and Share Photos of Your Trip
- Make International Calls
- Stay Entertained During Long Flights
Choose the Best Places to See, Dine, and Experience
TripAdvisor is a free online-based service that invites everyday people to share their travel experiences and write detailed reviews and star-based ratings of hotels, attractions, and restaurants located throughout the world. In fact, the service currently features more than 60 million reviews, many of which include photos taken by travelers.
The free TripAdvisor app for the iPhone or iPad allows you to quickly access reviews published on the site. This can be an extremely valuable tool for obtaining reliable advice about where to stay, where to eat, and what to experience when visiting a foreign city.
For the TripAdvisor app to function, your iOS mobile device needs access to the Internet. The app will then allow you to search its vast database and access reviews, photos, and full-color interactive maps of virtually any travel destination in the world. The app will also pinpoint your location and tell you what’s nearby in terms of hotels, restaurants, and/or attractions.
The thing to remember about TripAdvisor is that the reviews and ratings are created by everyday people. If a particular hotel, restaurant, or attraction only has one or two reviews, take what you read into account, but don’t rely too heavily on the information. However, if the hotel, restaurant, or attraction has dozens or hundreds of reviews, and the majority of them are favorable (or unfavorable), this gives you a much more accurate idea about what to expect.
Depending on where you’re traveling, you may discover that other appssuch as Yelp! (free), Zagat ($9.99), OpenTable (free) and UrbanSpoon (free)work in the country you’ll be visiting. These apps allow you to find local restaurants, read reviews, access menus, and in some cases, book reservations directly from your iPhone or iPad.