Jó reggelt, szevasztok…

I thought I will come up with something different for today, plus with this post, I opened a new category on my blog, it’s called #TravelTuesday and it will include anything –  still travel related though… I have a couple of ideas already for future posts, some personal stuff like my Bucketlist, maybe a Traveler Q&A or a storytime about how traveling changed me, and how it began – you already got a little bit of my background story in the very first post on the blog.
Also thinking about starting to shoot some videos in the – I’m not quite sure yet how near – future, probably in the very first video I will introduce Bestie finally while having a huuuge mukbang, cuz food is everything.
Yea, I’m working on some new stuff, also planning few trips so we will see… But promise me you will check back every now and then for the updates!

… And well, today is Wednesday, but anyway, I want to share my favorite apps I use during my travels, and while I organize and plan my trips.

First of all, I realized in Fuerteventura that it’s just really necessary to have a properly working phone with you abroad, and if it’s possible not to pay shit loads of money for 0.01 MB data is even better. It was simply a pain in my huge ass to search for wifi all the time, to get lost because the GPS app requires internet data, you can’t use Uber – which is normally my plan B if I don’t even know where I am – or if you are a hardcore social media user you can’t just go live or post anywhere.

3

So as you may or may not know, I am based in lovely Manchester, UK and here a telephone company called 3 is available, and they have a really cool monthly plan, Feel At Home and this is literally everything. 71 worldwide destinations are included and you can use your data allowance in these countries with no extra costs. First, I was a bit skeptical, I’m not gonna lie, after my trip to Budapest I was expecting a 1000£ bill but nope, everything worked juuust fine.
Approved: ✓

Search Engines for flights, trains, hotels

Normally I try to think through everything and plan my trips properly. But this system failed when Bestie texted me – from one bedroom to the other – saying: wanna go to Paris in March? … And I was like yea sure. You can read about it HERE
Few weeks ago I almost booked a last minute ticket to Cyprus on a Thursday night, departing on Saturday morning. I kind of regret now that I didn’t book it, but oh well… There’s always a next time, Cyprus is on my ‘must see’ list… Also, I really want to try the spontaneous ‘let’s go to the airport and buy a ticket for the next plane’ situation – and praying for ending up in Spain.
I have to admit I like to have direct flights, easy, faster, and probably they are not gonna lose my suitcase. I travel back home to Budapest quite often with a low-cost airline, superfast it takes only 2 hours, so I don’t mind the uncomfortable seats, and the price is also reasonable if you book it in advance. One time my friend went home and booked a ticket with 2 changes. Manchester – something, something – Budapest. He traveled for like 10 hours altogether with the waiting times between the flights.

…let’s go to the airport and buy a ticket for the next plane…

I was like man, you are nuts. I personally couldn’t do this, I would die after 2 hours knowing I could be home by now, but nooo, there’s still 6 more hours to go. I always try to keep these ‘luxuries’ during my travels, and I’m willing to pay more – if it’s still reasonable – for a shorter flight, or a private room with my own bathroom – not really into the mixed dorms either.
Anyway… Skyscanner is pretty much the first thing I check if I’m searching for airplane tickets. It’s an all in one thing with hotels, trains and car hire search engines as well, but for hotels, I rather use Booking.com, or the official site of the hotel. If you suddenly get stuck in a city, which happened with me in Munich once, then HotelTonight is a very useful app cuz they have all the amazing last-minute deals at top-rated hotels. Also, there’s Airbnb… I read some horror stories about CouchSurfing and Airbnb, and even though I had one experience in Lisbon, and it was a good one, no one got murdered, I still don’t feel like it is my thing…
Usually I purchase my train tickets on GoEuro, but that needs a little planning in advance because the price can go up high to the sky – at least this is my experience with Manchester – London returns – so I prefer to use Loco2 actually, I think it has cheaper offers even a few days before the departure. I prefer to organize everything for myself, do some research, read the reviews… So far I had 2 package holidays with Thomas Cook and Tui, everything was organized by a travel agent, with arrangements from transport to accommodation, it was easy, 2 clicks and my holidays to the Canary Islands and Egypt were planned.

Out and about

God bless whoever invented Uber. My ultimate app I use when I get lost, it just makes me feel safe – lol.
Citymapper and Google Maps – if you are wanderlusting in a new city then these apps are necessary, especially if you are not speaking the language of the actual country then you will be fucked like I was in France. Or Portugal. Or Germany and Austria. Come on where are all the English – Spanish – Hungarian speakers?
Usually, I use Viator to book activities such as sightseeing tours or Disney Land or whatever… I remember we booked our day trip to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt from a random website cuz it was cheap… And when the guy showed up at our hotel for the rest of the money, and the weird phone calls in Arabic and then he offered an even cheaper deal and… nope. I was like: nah-uh, this is dodgy as fuck, I don’t mind losing the deposit, but the trip is canceled, honey…
You get what you pay for actually, and it’s better safe than sorry… But maybe some would say I just have trust issues – lol.

Reviews

I really like to surf on TripAdvisor but it can piss me off easily too… When I’m not traveling I’m working in a customer service environment so I know it very well that angry people looove to leave bad reviews like crazy, everything detailed with photo evidence, but they often forget to mention what went actually right… So I prefer to read articles about the destination I’m interested in, blog posts or even Instagram comments and pictures.

Mixed

If you traveling around it’s not the worst thing to know how much your money actually worths so I have XECurrency on my phone. It can also shock you a bit like it shocked me in Egypt
The next two app is just for fun, but actually, it is interesting… Been shows you how many countries you’ve already visited like a scratch-off map – which is also very popular lately –  and the other one is App in the Air, which requires a bit more time to fill out properly – well…  you can connect it with your emails and calendar, and it should be filled out automatically, but for me it made a mess with the dates and routes so it wasn’t accurate at all – so anyway this app counts all the miles and hours you spent with flying. Also, you can check all the airlines you used and the airports you already visited. It’s obviously nothing serious, but I like to know these fun facts too…  This is why I have Countdown for Events that surprisingly counts back the remaining days to certain events, holidays, anniversaries and whatevas….
I like to edit my photos on my computer actually, although I do have some apps I prefer to use on my phone, nothing major just some touch ups and lighting games – cuz mama needs flawless skin. Facetune for the selfies,  Snapspeed for the colors and filters, and Lightroom CC … well for everything.

 

…. And Candy Crush for the long flights. I’m on level 1059. Yea.

 

… Jó éjszakát, szevasztok!

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