With the holiday season fast approaching we thought we'd take a look
at a number of apps that can make life easier if you're planning to take
a long road trip to visit friends and family this coming Thanksgiving.
Check out eight road trip apps to help keep your holiday drive a
worry-free experience.
Google Maps is an all around mapping powerhouse, providing powerful
mapping features, turn-by-turn navigation and traffic mapping, all in a
free and easy to use package. Whether you're passing through a new town
or city with the app's navigator, looking for a place to eat or stay
with the Google-powered search feature, or previewing the route to a
relative's home with Street View, Google Maps has something to offer to
the canny traveler. MORE: 100+ Tech Gift Ideas for Holiday 2014
Another popular driving aid that should be of great help to drivers
is Waze, a crowd-sourced traffic map and navigation app. Users can check
out traffic conditions based on real-time information from other Waze
users, complete with reports on road hazards, accidents, speed traps and
more. You can also actively report any incidents you encounter. In
addition to the traffic map, Waze also includes guided turn-by-turn
navigation that takes into account traffic conditions.
Long road trips mean you're going to need to fill up multiple times,
so finding inexpensive gasoline and reliable filling stations is a must.
Motorists in the USA and Canada stand to save some serious change with
GasBuddy, a mobile app that helps users track down the cheapest nearby
gas station based on their present location. As many of the prices are
based on user reports, GasBuddy rewards users with points for reporting
and updating a station's prices. Those points make you eligible for
regular raffles of prizes, like free gas.
If you're one of the brave early adopters taking an electric vehicle
on a long road trip, you'll know that finding a compatible charging
station can be a challenge when you're in an unfamiliar town or city.
Plugshare should come as a welcome relief to electric vehicle drivers,
providing maps and directions to more than 50,000 public charging
networks from all the major networks in North America and Europe. Users
can locate nearby charging stations (which can be filtered for
compatibility), view or submit ratings, and even submit the locations of
any charging stations they come across.
Road trips are an excuse to listen to some great road music. Spotify
can relieve the tedium of the drive and set the mood with on-demand
music, curated streams and playlists and a rich library of artists and
bands to listen to. You'll want the premium subscription, which removes
ads, and most importantly, allows users to download music for offline
listening, allowing you to skip mobile data charges.
Another quintessentially American way to relieve the tedium of a long
road trip is the roadside attraction. Roadside America collects the
country's weirdest, strangest and downright silliest tourist attractions
from museums of the odd, unusual architecture, classic attractions and
tourist traps. Users can check out maps, view a list of nearby
attractions, search by name, zip code, or city, and filter through more
than 70 categories. Users can get directions, addresses, hours and
contact info, as well as photo galleries and user reviews.
Ideally, you've got your accommodations and itinerary planned out on
long road trips, but even the best laid plans can go wrong. If you
suddenly need to look for last minute hotel rooms, Hotel Tonight is
going to be a lifesaver, offering users last-minute discounts on
vacancies and same night accommodations from top-rated hotels. Users can
search by category and quality such as Basic, Hip or Luxe, view
information on nearby hotels, and quickly book accommodations from
within the app.
The AAA's mobile app functions as both a trip planner and an
emergency road assistance tool for AAA members. The app allows users to
look up thousands of hotels, motels and restaurants, as well as find
nearby car service stations, look up nearby gas prices, and request
roadside assistance.
