Travel apps and websites and the reasons that make them your favourites are often difficult to clearly define. Sometimes it’s just because an app is the first one you’ve chosen from a long list based on review scores and you’re happy with it and therefore have no reason to shop around any further. Over time, based on our own trial and error during planning and executing our gap year, we’ll populate this page with apps we recommend and possibly a few we don’t.

We don’t have any affiliate links so any recommendations are based purely on personal preference. Hope it grows to be mildly interesting and kind of helpful.  We’d also love to hear your comments or suggestions!

responsible travel

Responsible Travel in Vietnam
A detailed blog covering general tips on responsible travel and volunteering plus a list of community based organizations to consider supporting during your time in Vietnam.

accommodation and work

Gites de France
Reliable website for finding quality, good value rural accommodation in France.
Trusted Housesitters
Our main go to app for finding accommodation across many countries. Requires an annual fee to join, then its up to you to set up a profile and away you go.
Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF)
Exchange of labour for accommodation and possibly meals. Family friendly farms are available. Different countries have each designed their sites making it a challenging network to navigate. We are still determined to be WWOOF-ers on our travels.
HelpX
Another global site that lists opportunities for exchanging labour for accommodation, food and sometimes other benefits. Includes farms, hostels, homestays and, even, sailing boats.

car hire

GreenMotion
Hands down one of the best value for money rental companies we used in the UK.
Drivy
Carsharing probably works best for those doing slow travel and have the flexibility to find the right car at the right price, or who just want the convenience of picking up a car for a day or two. We used Drivy in Germany but it operates across UK and several other European countries. Simple app.
Imoova
Vehicle relocations can save a mountain of your valuable budget. If you’re flexible with travel dates (and even destinations), help to relocate a car or motorhome one-way from city A to city B for as little as a dollar a day.

things to do

Day Out with the Kids UK
We used this site more often than TripAdvisor, and became a member for a month to receive instant discounts on entries to attractions large and small.

planning and budgeting

DisBoards
Great for planning any trip to any Disney Park. The amount of content can be a bit overwhelming but worth persevering for the useful info it contains.
MouseSavers
All about how to save money on your next Disney visit anywhere.
Trail Wallet
Terrifically simple app for budgeting and tracking daily expenditure on the road.  The interface is so user friendly we haven’t yet missed a day.

travel blogs

Nomadic Matt
Lots of useful travel tips including money saving ideas for flights.
World Travel Family
Good for travelling families in particular, with ideas on worldschooling.

communication

WhatsApp
We’ve found it to often be the communication app of choice for accommodation owners/managers in Bali, Thailand and beyond.
Viber
I needed to make regular international calls that couldn’t be done over apps such as WhatsApp, Webex, Skype and Messenger. For a small monthly fee I could use wifi to call overseas landlines. Quality of calls depended on wifi strength but this turned out to be a reliable communication option.

local services

Grab
Hungry? Lost? In SE Asia somewhere? Download this app – the region’s answer to Uber – and you’ll be set with motorbike taxis, meter taxis and food delivery at your fingertips (with Google automatically translating all messages).