TravelHaven Tips — Ten Free Travel Apps

More and more of us have smartphones today, whether the newest BlackBerry variation, a Nokia E72, a Google Android phone, or an iPhone 3G. A modern phone is a marvelous gadget for traveling because there are so many apps that provide so much useful information about travel issues.

It’s hard to keep up with all the apps that are out there and buying all the latest bells and whistles can get a bit pricey. So here are ten free applications that you should find pretty helpful on the road.

OpenTable This is essentially a miniaturize version of OpenTable’s online service that lets you make reservations at more than 13,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, as well as abroad. It indicates what reservation times are available and you can check diner reviews and view menus, very helpful when away from home.
Where What can Where tell you? A movie theater and what’s showing. Local gas prices and the station with the lowest. The location of the nearest source for coffee. Where can be your local-area search engine, making it a prime tool when you’re just getting to know a new town – as long as it’s in the USA.

Yelp is a user-review site. No, it’s the user-review site for eateries in major U.S. cities, just an excellent tool for finding someplace to eat. It can also help locate museums, pharmacies, stylists, dentists, almost anything. Although the Yelp app is only available for BlackBerry and iPhone, those carrying other phones can use their browser to go to m.yelp.com.

Urbanspoon This is the app for venturesome diners and for those who don’t know where to find what they want to eat (as long as they have an iPhone or Android). Just tell Urbanspoon where you are and how much you want to spend for dinner and shake your phone like a Magic 8-Ball. Up comes a recommendation that’s way more reliable than the black orb. Again all restaurants are rated by Urbanspoon users.

MetrO There are plenty of public transportation apps for cities around the world, but MetrO has information for about 400 cities. Though some others are somewhat more comprehensive, this one will serve most travelers well. You download MetrO, then add the cities you need. It shows your location on a map and plots routes to where you want to go, as well as giving info on what’s nearby.
Google Maps Able to tell you where you are, where what you’re looking for is, and how to get from here to there, Google Maps is probably the most useful travel app available on just about any smartphone (not to mention many non-smartphones). Get it.

TripIt A lot of travel manager programs can help keep track of confirmation numbers for your flight, hotel, and so forth. But TripIt does a great job parsing those confirmation emails from hotels and airlines. It’s available on Android, BlackBerry and iPhone. Even the simplest phone can access your data from m.tripit.com.
WeatherBug Some of the many mobile weather apps are better on some phones than others, but WeatherBug performs excellently on most, including Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Nokia. Beyond basic weather. It has features besides giving basic weather info; for example you can tap on a map to find out what the weather is where you’re headed.

SitOrSquat This is a crowdsourced bathroom locator that provides more choices than gas stations, fast food restaurants and hotel lobbies in most US cities. It’s available for BlackBerry and iPhone.

Google SMS If you’ve been reading this thinking, “Gee, I wish I could afford a smartphone” here’s a tip for you. If you text message certain search terms to 46645 – that’s “GOOGL” – you get Google search results back in texts! Also handy when you’re someplace your data plan doesn’t work.