My husband and sons are tech lovers on steroids. They are insane for new technology, and cars and, the older ones … girls.
I gotta tell you, I love my phone and my laptop (I have a love/hate relationship with my laptop) and I guess my iPad because it’s got a boatload of FREE educational games for the younger kids to use. I only ever use my iPad for their education or to read and unfortunately I’ve not done much reading as of late.
Where the boys and I are of the same mindframe are apps. We love apps. Let me clarify, we love FREE apps. I don’t think we’ve ever paid a single penny for an app and I’m pretty certain we never will.
Apps come in the form of games, both educational and highly stupid and somewhere in between. We’ve got map apps, we’ve got gas apps, we’ve got find things apps … we have more apps on our phones than we do contacts. Is that sad?
But, Dan, Grady and I use a lot of these magical (free) apps daily – from productivity tools so Dan can literally maintain contact with clients from anywhere in the world, to digital photo albums to social networking and even keeping up with our friends and family.
Finding new cool apps, for me, is like Christmas. So, without further ado, here’s our list of EPIC apps for traveling peeps, like you, like me! And the best apps are …
First and Foremost,
Table of Contents
Apps For Keeping In Touch With Your People:
Skype: This app has come a long long way. In fact, it’s kinda ninja. In places where I can’t get a single webpage to load, I can Skype with my daughter in Colorado with no interruptions! Weird, really!
SnapChat: Yeah, I’m 40 and I Snap with my kids and a hip friend or two, so what? I actually get half my photos for Instagram from my kids Snaps … I also love seeing the crazy things they post…get a Snap, it makes you cool.
Social Media: I thought about listing them separately, then changed my mind. Pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram Vine … they all work exactly the same as on your computer. Now hit up our Social Media pages and please like, friend, follow, whatever, and drop us a line, we love making new friends!!
Periscope: Live Broadcasting … can it get any better? I LOVE this app, it is fun, and encourages everyone to get over themselves and just post some wild and wacky videos, LIVE! Definitely come find us on Periscope, we have a lot of fun!!
Apps for Finding Campgrounds
Koa App: We like KOA’s as far as private campgrounds go … they are typically clean and the people running them are all very VERY good at being friendly and kind and that is no small feat, it makes me want to go to KOA more. The problem with KOA for our size family is it is equivalent to a hotel room … every time. Still, we do opt to stay at KOA’s several times per year because the amenities at KOA Holidays are off the hook for kids, they are often in prime spots and, like I said, the staff is always so very very inviting. One other reason we are drawn to KOA is that the majority of them have fully stocked cabins which means even our non-camping friends can come stay for a weekend for a killer get-together! So, check out the KOA App to find and plan your next camping adventure at KOA.
GS Camping: If you are a member of Good Sam RV Club, you receive discounts of 10% on the nightly rate at over 2100 participating campgrounds across the country & it just so happens Good Sam has an app that helps you find these campgrounds.
Google Maps: This app is pretty awesome. The other day we were traveling to Richmond and the app warned us of traffic delays of up to 60 minutes and gave us a detour route! We were passing all the vehicles stuck on the highway while we drove a frontage road with half a dozen semi trucks. Like, get the app! It is pretty spot on and gives you the options of avoiding highways, avoiding tolls and avoiding ferries. You can Google Earth your destination, you can overlay a terrain map, you can choose a walk route, a bike route and a car or bus route, among other menu items!
Waze: My friends at TravelingMom were always ranting and raving about this app called, Waze, but it wasn’t until recently that I checked it out personally. And I get it now, I get why those moms love it…it’s a community based, real time traffic and navigation app. Fellow drivers share real time info including … where the PO PO is.
Road Trip
Gas Buddy: This is Dan’s app, just ask him. He’s our onboard budget master and I mean, really, who wants to spend a extra penny on something as boring as gas? No-one, so this app really comes in handy. Gas Buddy is similar to Waze in that it’s community based, real time gas prices that fellow drives update as they frequent the stations. Handy Dandy lil app!
RoadTrippers:
Ever wonder where the biggest ball of paint is or have a hankering to eat at the original, authentic Chain Saw Massacre site? Then Roadtrippers is the app for you!! Roadtrippers can help you find campgrounds, hotels, restaurants, attractions and more.
SaniDumps:
Oh hold me back exciting, right? But seriously, all us RV’ers know that feeling of when the tank hits 2/3 or “F” … it’s a little bit of panic and some urgency thrown into one. You know, as SaniDumps says, “When an RV has to go …”
This app helps RV’ers find RV dump stations to empty their tanks and fill up on water. Incredibly helpful app for RV’ers!!!
Wunderground:
Ever since we got caught in a legit tornado in Alabama we have relied on various weather apps to alert us of impending bad weather. Wunderground is one of the best and the only one we’ve stuck with for any length of time.
Yelp:
Crowd sourced reviews of restaurants, hotels, campgrounds, national parks, literally everything … including prisons. We use it to find favorite local spots … cuz you know, we travel like local and all that…
RedBox:
We watch a lot of movies, like a lot. In fact we are cruising through Indiana right now and are watching some really weird and highly inappropriate movie, called Texas Rising. Luckily the littles are much more interested in coloring to pay it any mind. But, RedBox is a pretty handy app for tracking down movies you want to see. You can even reserve them via the app or on the website. And, if you provide your email you will receive a plethora of discounts … like rent one get one. For $1.59 or so you can rent a new release movie for the night …