Every time I go on holiday abroad there is always something I can think of which I could have come in useful, and many of these things are available for the iPhone whether it be a map, a translation service, or even a way of tracking your itinerary. What follows is a short list of useful, but free, applications which you may find useful when planning or going on trips.
TripIt
The TripIt website is a great way of planning an itinerary and I used it to record as many details of my recent trip around Europe as I could. One of it's best features is that you don't have to fill in all the details yourself - you can forward booking confirmation emails to a special TripIt email address and it will add it to your itinerary if it's from a supported source. As an example I forwarded hotel and flight booking confirmations and it didn't just add the details from the emails it also added routes automatically using Google Maps. Just recently they added an iPhone application to access this information easily.
Evernote
If you've got a lot of notes to store about your trip such as flight numbers, confirmations, or even just a packing list and you think TripIt is a bit too much for your needs then the alternative is to use the popular note taking application, Evernote. You can also use it to make notes which will be synchronised with their server so they can be available from a web browser or even a desktop application.
GPS Tracker / Trail Guru
Both of these applications are quite similar - they use the GPS to record information about where you go with your phone. So with either of these applications you can track your journey, something which is especially useful if you use a camera other than the one on your phone and want to get a rough idea where a picture was taken from.
Where / Local Picks by TripAdvisor
Where is quite a popular application and can help you find local places such as fuel stations and restaurants so that you always have a rough idea of where to go. TripAdvisor's Local Picks is a similar application and provides reviews for places in it's recommendations list.
Translate
Communicating with people in a foreign country always goes better if you know some of their language - they become more receptive to helping you if you show an effort in using their language. With this little application powered by the Google Translate site you can attempt to blend in using the local language!
Well that's a very quick rundown of the applications, but since they're all free applications you may as well try them next time you're on a trip!
