17 Free Travel Apps to Make Your Summer Vacay a Snap

Bethany Kosten
Jun 08, 2014

Making a globetrotter happy — there’s an app for that. A few years ago we wouldn’t have attempted any trip without an arsenal of maps, travel guides and emergency gear, but today we all depend on our tech to make traveling an easy and hassle-free experience. Whether you’re booking your next flight or packing the car for a spontaneous road trip, stop everything and download these smartphone essentials. Your trip will be a snap when you’re armed with these apps.

1. Viber (Free): With more than 200 million users, on both iPhone and Android, you might say that Viber is getting a lot of attention. This app gives users the ability to communicate with other users via voice or text or share photos and videos, because mom wants to hear your voice at each new destination, and you totally want to show off the perfect view from your hotel window.

2. Viator (Free): What could possibly make a fantastic getaway even better? How about getting an awesome deal? Open this app, on iOS or Android, to get instant access to inspiring photos of thousands of destinations, interactive maps and deals and discounts on things to do, helping you pinpoint attractions that align with your budget.

3. Wi-Fi Finder (Free): As the name suggests, you can now know exactly where your nearest Wi-Fi hotspots are. This is seriously handy and available for both iPhone and Android.

4. Gas Buddy (Free): When you’re on your home turf, you know exactly which gas station usually has the best rates in town. Saving on gas while traveling… eh, it can be a bit tricky. That’s when Gas Buddy comes into play. Simply enter your location on your iPhone or Android phone and turn on the GPS tracker to quickly access a list of the closest stations with complete pricing info. You also have the option to search by price. Gas Buddy will steer you towards the cheapest fill up!

5. Foodspotting (Free): Half the fun of traveling is discovering new cuisine. Rather than offering restaurant reviews, Foodspotting puts the spotlight on individual dishes. iPhone and Androids users alike can snap quick pics of delicious dishes, add mini-reviews and share with the community. This visual guide makes finding your next meal a breeze. Craving pizza? Just use the search function to find the best in town. You can also search by location to find delicious dishes. Careful though, just opening this app will make your mouth water.

6. TripIt (Free): TripIt was named the People’s Voice winner for best travel app for iPhone and Android in the annual Webby Awards… for the second time. This “virtual assistant” effortlessly organizes every aspect of your trip into a master itinerary by scanning your inbox for flight information, email confirmations and reservations. You also have the option to manually enter trip details and can easily assess your itinerary across all your devices or share it with anyone else who might need the scoop. Yep, this is one vacation planner you’ll want to pack in your pocket.

7. Hotel Tonight (Free): Need a hotel room and fast? This app is ideal for the traveler who wants to book a discounted hotel room for a single night. Hotel Tonight provides a listing of unsold rooms available at participating hotels in popular cities around the world. So when a serious case of spontaneous wanderlust leaves you scanning the horizon for a decent place to sleep, just open the app on your iPhone or Android. You’ll find discounted rooms, plus useful information on each location such as Wi-Fi service, amenities and hidden fees.

8. Travel Safe (Free): Travel Safe could potentially save your life. At the very least, it provides peace of mind by storing a database of emergency information for easy access at any time, regardless of Internet connection. It’s available for both iOS and Android.

9. Waze (Free): Want reliable, real-time information from other drivers? The Waze community-based traffic and navigation app makes it possible to route around a traffic jam or steer clear of roadwork. Definitely worth a download on your iPhone and Android.

10. HopStop (Free): Hopstop gets the urban tourist where they need to be, when they need to be there by estimating travel time from point A to point B. iPhone and Android users can get directions, map out locations, find subways or cabs and even estimate travel costs in more than 600 cities worldwide. Your next destination is just a hop, skip and a jump — er, a HopStop away!

11. Gogobot (Free): Gogobot is a travel guide curated by your fellow travelers. It’s a social network that integrates with Facebook, allowing you to explore destinations and customize your travels based on your friends’ experiences and recommendations. You can also opt to select a travel style and join a “tribe” to receive personalized tips from travelers with similar tastes. Use Gogobot to map out your next excursion — but don’t forget that it’s the perfect outlet to voice your own insight on any travel topic, from the best pizza in New York to what type of weather to expect in Indonesia. It’s available on iPhone and Android.

12. Uber (Free): Here’s an iPhone and Android app that can connect you with a driver in major cities worldwide at the touch of a button. A few more clicks will open up local fare rates and allow you to pay via your mobile phone. How’s that for convenience?

13. Flighttrack (Free): Don’t get out that boarding pass quite yet. Keep tabs on your itinerary and on the status of your flight at any given moment with Flighttrack for iPhone and Android. Now you won’t have to guess whether or not you have time to stop for coffee, you’ll just know.

14. Postagram (Free): No time to send off a postcard to grandma? No worries. With Postagram, you can mail personalized photo postcards directly from your for iPhone or Android phone for only $1. These are so pretty we might end up Postagramming ourselves!

15. Airbnb (Free): Looking for accommodations that are a bit less traditional — or that offer an alternative to an overpriced hotel room? We’re in love with Airbnb. Hosts and renters are rated using an Ebay-style review system, which should help ease any reservations you have about this type of sleepover. The most obvious benefit to Airbnb is its budget-friendliness, and if you’re the type who loves to immerse in local culture, you’ll love the more intimate accommodation alternative. The app is available for iPhone and Android.

16. Hipmunk (Free): For iPhone and Android, Hipmunk is one of the more buzzed about apps. But with a dozen similar flight-search apps on the market, what’s all the fuss about? Hipmunk offers side-by-side flight information comparisons to help you quickly locate one that meets your specific criteria. It doesn’t offer package deals such as hotel and flight or car rental combos, but if you’re just looking for a cheap flight or hotel, Hipmunk is the fastest, easiest way to find the deal. We also love that it includes non-traditional lodging options such as Airbnb in the search results. Our opinion? Hipmunk is worth the hype.

17. Around Me (Free): What are you looking for? A hospital? Restaurant? Bank? Gas station? Grocery Store? Pharmacy? Around Me quickly identifies your location and shows a complete list of all the local businesses within the category you have selected. A few taps of a button, and you’ve pinpointed your destination! This iPhone and Android app is a lifesaver when you’re wandering in unfamiliar territory.

What are your top can’t-travel-without free apps? Share your appy thoughts in the comments!

Upgrade Your Thanksgiving With A Crescent-Roll Cornucopia

This edible crescent-roll cornucopia is our way of making a normal cheese boardmore festive — and definitely more fun — during the holiday season. Our go-to this time of year is a massive cheese plate that can stand alone and be the main attraction, or the starter for a larger meal. Press on for the surprisingly easy steps to braid a breaded cornucopia.

Chris Andre

Materials + Tools:

  • 1 roll of tin foil
  • 2 packages of crescent rolls
  • 1 egg (for egg wash before cornucopia goes into the oven), optional

Chris Andre

Instructions:

Start by sculpting tin foil into the shape of a cornucopia (it looks like a cone with an upturned tail). Pro tip: Lightly pack tin foil so it's easier to remove later from your baked cornucopia. Crescent rolls should be buttery enough that this shouldn't be difficult.

Chris Andre

Your tin foil mold should look a little something like this.

Chris Andre

Pop open the crescent rolls and cut the triangles into strips. Pinch together the ends of strips to make strips longer.

Chris Andre

Braid crescent roll strips. You can make these as fancy as you want. Not a braiding pro? Skip this step and leave those strips alone.

Chris Andre

Wrap tin foil cornucopia with braids/strips. Make sure you cover all the tin foil. Leave a little wiggle room at the opening of the cornucopia, so that when you’re done baking you can pull some of that tin foil out.

Chris Andre

Use any extra dough to cover the bottom of your cornucopia. Pinch the sides and anchor those braids/strips in.

Chris Andre

Brush on egg wash before placing your cornucopia in the oven. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Take out of oven and cover spots of cornucopia that are already golden brown with extra tin foil. Bake for another 20 minutes at 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Chris Andre

Let it cool down until it’s easy to handle. Remove tin foil.

Chris Andre

Place cornucopia in corner of your cheese plate. Arrange cheese on your serving tray.

Chris Andre

Add crackers — we like to have two or three options.

Chris Andre

Don’t forget to fill up your cornucopia. It's called "the horn of plenty" for a reason. Fill with fresh fruit like grapes, apples, and pears.

Chris Andre

Add nuts like walnuts and pistachios to fill in any empty spaces. Garnish with fresh herbs like rosemary and sage to finish it off.

Chris Andre

Voilà! Invite over your friends, open a bottle of wine, and dig in!

Chris Andre

A cornucopia cheese board will become your new favorite holiday tradition.

Show us your crescent-roll cornucopias on Instagram and check out our baking classes (and our Easy Thanksgiving Desserts piece) for more holiday food inspo!

DIY Production and Styling: Paris Fried

Paris Fried: Paris loves any excuse to celebrate and throw a themed party. She loves experimenting in the kitchen and has a terrible sweet tooth. When she's not crafting in her studio, she's at the farmers' market buying seasonal produce or at her favorite local theater watching double features.

This post has been updated.

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Your Ultimate Guide To Holiday Shopping In 2024

Though Black Friday is traditionally the official start of the holiday shopping season, we argue that it’s been kicking since mid-October. We know, we know: it still feels extremely early to start thinking about the holidays, but they’ll be here before you know it! Plus, many brands and retailers are already promoting their holiday goodies with plenty of sales and discounts available right now.

If you’re ready to embark on your holiday shopping journey, but still need answers to questions like ‘when’s the best time to shop?’ and ‘where should I shop for gifts?’ and even ‘how the heck do I save money this season?’, you’ve come to the right place. Consider this your go-to guide for holiday shopping in 2024.

Scroll on for our best guidance on navigating this busy time of year and finding the best gifts possible!

When's the best time to do holiday shopping?

Kaboompics / PEXELS

The best time to do holiday shopping really all depends on your personal shopping goals. Do you want to get a jump on items you know will sell out soon? Do you want to save the most money possible? Do you want to focus on handmade, personalized gifts? These factors will undoubtedly influence your holiday shopping schedule.

Cottonbro Studio / PEXELS

Shopping early can be advantageous for all of the aforementioned goals. A lot of retailers start promoting their holiday products early on, giving you ample time to snatch up that limited-time lip kit or fancy water bottle you’ve been eyeing way before the holidays.

Plus, some of the best deals for holiday shopping happen ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday – in 2023, Experian observed a surge in early spending in October, thanks to early discounts, a trend likely to continue in 2024.

Finally, shopping early can be especially helpful if your plan is to focus on handmade or personalized gifts, giving the artisan you buy from (or yourself, if you’re DIY-ing your gifts) plenty of time to craft the item with love and care.

Gallup reported in 2023 that one in four shoppers start shopping as early as September, a trend likely to continue in 2024 – so you might already be embarking on your shopping spree!

Mikhail Nilov / PEXELS

If right now is just still too darn early for you to start holiday shopping, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are some of the best times to shop since so many retailers offer their largest discounts of the entire year. Plus, the late November-early December timeline can feel a bit more appropriate for the gifting season opposed to late October-early November, when everyone’s still recovering from Halloween.

The only thing to consider during this time is the shipping timelines for the items you purchase – but most retailers will typically advise their specific shipping schedules, so you don’t risk your goodies arriving late.

Where should I shop for gifts?

Ron Lach / PEXELS

You have three main options when it comes to where to shop for holiday gifts: online, in-store, and via our amazing gift guides. Of course, each method has its advantages and disadvantages.

Shopping in-store offers a tangible experience: the opportunity to hold specific items in your hands and gauge exactly what they’ll be like when you give them as a gift. The pitfall with shopping in-person is that it typically requires a commute and journeys through potentially very busy malls and shopping strips, which can add to the already-stressful holiday experience.

In-store shopping can be more physically exhausting, but it’s all about preference! Sometimes strolling through the stores that get all dolled up for Christmas is the best part of the season.

Andrea Piacquadio / PEXELS

Per Google, 65% of those planning to shop for the holidays say they will shop online more. Shopping for gifts online can be super helpful since you can centralize your findings in your browser’s bookmark tab or via virtual cart(s). Plus, shopping online can pose more opportunities for saving some money: lots of retailers typically offer discount codes for online users, especially if you sign up for their digital marketing channels (like email and text) and make a purchase.

Shopping online isn’t just shopping, either. The internet can be a stellar research tool to help you vet whether certain products are worth it, where they can be bought, and when they’ll be available. In fact, Google reported that more than half of U.S. holiday shoppers who went into a store last year say they looked up product reviews online and/or located an item in-store by checking it online.

Kaboompics / PEXELS

Last but not least, scrolling gift guides has to be our favorite place to shop for gifts – and not just because we write and publish them.

At their very core, gift guides help streamline the holiday shopping process, alleviating the stress that bubbles up when you’re wondering what the heck to shop for in the first place. Our gift guides are backed by real people, real experiences, and real opinions from our editorial team. We only promote products that we really love and believe in, oftentimes ones we’ve tested and reviewed ourselves.

We have gift guides for just about everyone on your list, with more on the way! Check ‘em out:

What are the best kinds of gifts to give?

Kaboompics / PEXELS

The best kinds of gifts to give are thoughtful gifts that consider the giftee’s interests, wants, and needs. These gifts can be sentimental, practical, or both simultaneously. What matters most in a gift is that it’ll be meaningful to them past just the holiday season, whether it’s helping them get through daily tasks, reminding them of a memorable trip or event, or giving them small doses of joy.

“Shoppers are increasingly looking for personalized and unique gifts that reflect the recipient's personality and interests,” says Mia Anderson, Owner of ChicSew. “With the rise of online shopping, many consumers are opting for curated gift boxes or experiences that add a special touch.”

Cottonbro Studio / PEXELS

Gift boxes, personalized items, books of interest, self-care goodies, and even gift cards can all be thoughtful gifts depending on the recipient. If you have no clue what your giftee is into, it’s not a bad idea to ask them what they want the most!

“My idea of a great gift is something that is in tandem with the recipient's interest and offers something new to the person, be it learning a new skill, enjoying a calming activity, or simply spending quality time with the family,” says Alfred Christ, Sales Manager & Marketer at Robotime. “This season, we encourage shoppers to shift their focus on quality and the memories their gifts will create and not just merely material aspects.”

When is Black Friday?

Sora Shimazaki / PEXELS

Black Friday is always the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, Black Friday lands on November 29.

When is Cyber Monday?

Kindel Media / PEXELS

Cyber Monday is typcally the Monday after Thanksgiving. This year, Cyber Monday will land on December 2. Oftentimes, retailers and brands extend their online offers through the week (coined Cyber Week) after the event. Salesforce reported that 67% of shoppers in 2024 plan on shopping during Cyber Week!

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on our best 2024 gift guides, shopping advice, and all things holiday!

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When Is Starbucks' Red Cup Day?

The holidays at Starbucks are creeping up on us, people! Peppermint Mocha season will return on November 7. If you’re a die-hard Starbucks fan, you know Red Cup Day is a whole holiday in itself – the frenzy for a free reusable cup is truly no joke. There’s even an entire website dedicated to counting down the madness! Even though there’s no official word on when Red Cup Day 2024 will be, there are several clues that cue us into the annual event. Scroll on for details!

What is Red Cup Day?

Starbucks

Red Cup Day is Starbucks’ highly-awaited annual event that marks the start of holiday beverage season at the coffee chain. For one day only (and while supplies last), customers who order any of Starbucks’ holiday drinks will receive a reusable red cup that features a bespoke design for the respective year.

Starbucks

Here’s a list of all the drinks rumored to be available on the Starbucks holiday menu starting November 7:

  • Peppermint Mocha
  • Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha
  • Caramel Brûlée Latte
  • Sugar Cookie Almondmilk Latte
  • Chestnut Praline Latte
  • Salted Pecan Crunch Cold Brew
  • Iced Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai

What do the red cups look like for 2024?

Starbucks

Starbucks hasn’t officially announced when Red Cup Day will be for 2024, let alone what the famed red cups will look like this go-around. The one obvious point is that the cups will be red! They’ll also likely feature some festive motifs that echo the holiday season. Last year’s red cups boasted playful white and green stars and ornament-like shapes.

Why should I participate in Red Cup Day?

Starbucks

Red Cup Day = freebies, which can feel really rewarding if you’re really into receiving free goodies. Plus, it’s just a fun way to lean into the holiday spirit. The red reusable cup keeps giving beyond Red Cup Day, though! Every time you use the reusable cup for future Starbucks orders, you get a 10-cent discount as well as 25 bonus stars toward your Starbucks Rewards account to save up for more discounts on drinks, food, and merchandise.

When is Starbucks' Red Cup Day 2024?

Starbucks

Again, Starbucks hasn’t alerted us on when Red Cup Day will be for 2024, but based on previous Red Cup Days, we can infer it’ll land on the third Thursday of November. In 2022, Red Cup Day happened on November 17, and for 2023, it was November 16. The third Thursday of November in 2024 hits on November 21, so mark your calendars, everyone!

Additionally, check back here for official info as Red Cup Day approaches.

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This post has been updated.

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