Money

It is officially 2 months since we set sail on this crazy full-time-travel journey, and I think we may finally be getting into the swing of things! We have learned a LOT in such a short amount of time, and one of those things is how LUCKY we are to live in 2025. There are so many resources for travelers of all kinds these days, and one of the biggest ones is APPS. So whether you’re a seasoned traveler taking multiple trips in a year, or you’re just setting off on your first trip abroad this year, these apps will save you time, money, stress… my FAVORITE one is the last one! 1: Bounce You know those times you arrive in a city, but you can’t check in to your hostel or hotel yet? Or maybe vice versa, you’ve checked out of your room, but it’s HOURS until your next flight. Or maybe you want to take a weekend trip away from the city center you’re traveling to, but don’t want to haul ALL your luggage… whatever the reason, Bounce is a lifesaver. They partner with local businesses around the world who have secure spaces (think back closets, etc.) to store luggage for travelers. It’s SUPER easy, you just go into the app, enter your location and the number of bags you need stored, and it’ll provide you with a list of locations. You choose your location/dates/times, then drop off your bags and voila! You’re free to roam without that extra weight! Reasons we love Bounce: Free cancellation anytime prior to your booking in case plans change! $10,000 protection every time you book 4,000 Cities all over the world 2: Google Translate Sorry Apple translate. I tried. You suck. Google is where it’s at. More options, better user interface. Apple says you can download languages…but then still requires a signal to translate (???) Google follows through on it’s promises. And has more language options. It’s just better, I promise. Also the ability to open your camera and scan and translate is a GIFT. Just trust me on this. Google Translate. 3. Moovit Sometimes Google maps works for public transport and sometimes it betrays you… Moovit is an app specifically designed to guide you through public transportation around the world. If I am trying to get somewhere, I’ll cross reference google maps and Moovit; if the directions match, I know I can trust it. When they don’t…I’ll usually opt to follow Moovit. It hasn’t let me down yet. 4. Rideshare Apps These are the primary rideshare apps for Europe (tbh, I don’t know much about the rest of the world… I know Bolt and Uber exist elsewhere). I list all three because I think you should have all three. Because the price and car availability can vary GREATLY depending on where you are. When we were in South Africa, Bolt was often HALF the price of Uber. But now that we’re in Spain, we’re finding it’s often more expensive. FREENOW does operate in Spain, but I’ve found that the availability of cars is small, whereas in Ireland it was pretty much the only app we could get a car with at all. At home, I would compare Uber and Lyft price. I recommend y’all do the same while traveling, but these 3 are your players. 5. Surfshark VPN This is the only thing on this list which is not free–but I’ve got it on here because I feel quite strongly about it. When you’re traveling, you’re almost exclusively going to be using public wifi—and that really does make you vulnerable to cyber attacks… not to mention, some apps only work within the USA (Venmo!) and certain websites will only allow you to access them from certain countries… a quick “location change” with Surfshark and I’m back up and running as usual. There’s also some really fun perks to having a VPN, even if you’re not traveling all the time! 1. A lot more options on streaming services… you can change your location on your computer and immediately get an updated library! 2. Cheaper flights and hotel rooms! Price discrimination is real–changing your location can get you cheaper hotels, flights, even products… Get your first 3 months FREE when you use our link! 6. Tour Booking Apps: Viator and WithLocals These are my two favorite apps for finding tours everywhere we go! I highly recommend booking tours, especially early on in your trip. It’s a great way to both learn about the history and immerse yourself in the culture of the place you are! I like these two apps specifically because you can find tours/experiences hosted by locals (read reviews!!) A lot of the larger corporations hosting tours are only looking to exploit the tourism of a country, not invest in the country itself. It’s important to me to contribute to the local community when possible—and often these tours are better overall because the hosts have a personal investment and gratitude for you, the traveler!. WithLocals is much smaller—so you’re unlikely to find tours outside of big cities. Viator is bigger. I recommend looking up both on your travels and see what you can find! 7. Omio This is another one for public transport, but specifically for booking public transport. This essentially does for trains and buses what google flights does for flights. You choose your starting and ending point and it sorts through your options to help you find different itineraries and sorts them according to fastest, cheapest, etc. The only issue we’ve run into with this is that it only shows one QR code at a time. So if you have more than one ticket, you’ll need to open the “view confirmation” button on your phone to pull up the actual receipt and scan both tickets. If your internet is unreliable, I’d recommend screen capturing both QR codes ahead of time just to have them. But I’ve used this to book every train and bus (and sometimes both in