Living in the age of smart phones has made RVing a wonderful way to travel. So what are our favorite apps on the road? Here are our top 11 apps:
1. RV Life App: For trip planning and RV safe directions, we love RVLife which is the companion app for RV Trip Wizard. Within this dual group of apps, we can search for rv parks or other destinations, we can safely route and plan our trips and we can track our expenses. It saves my routes from year to year which I love. We highly recommend using this for all our trip planning needs.
2. Autio for Auto: For interesting way point facts and it’s fun and educational value, I think all RVers should utilize Autio for Auto. Formerly known as HearHere, this app alerts you when you are near places of interest and tells you short stories or histories of those places. We love this app and use it all the time as we tour the countryside. Click here for my full review of Autio for Auto!
3. Harvest Hosts: Harvest Hosts is a fan favorite. If we need a quick overnight we can check out the Harvest Hosts map and easily stop at a local participating brewery, winery or farm for a free night of camping! It’s customary to purchase something from your host which is a win-win for us as we love to sample and support local businesses anyway!
4. Fuel Apps: With fuel being one of the RVers primary expenses, Gas Buddy is a helpful tool in finding the cheapest gas. MudFlap and Upside are great for discounts at truck stops- keep in mind that these extra savings won't show up on the Gas Buddy App.. We have also found that downloading the apps for specific gas stations gives us a few extra cents off at the pump. For instance, the Sinclair app gives us .10 off every time we fill up just for paying through the app! Those dimes really add up! We keep all of these gas apps in a folder on our phone and compare them as we look for gas along our route.
5. Google Maps: For trip planning, I also use Google Maps. This is where I mark all of my favorite things that I want to see in the world. Having them all marked on a map is super helpful in deciding on a central location to stay for a week or two and using that as a home base to see the sites in the area. Here is how I use Google Maps to mark where we want to go and where we have been.
6. Bring Fido: BringFido is a must have for anyone traveling with their fur babies. If our pup is with us and it’s time to eat, BringFido lets us know which local restaurants are dog friendly.
7. Restaurant Apps: We also have a bunch of restaurant apps ready to go on our phone. We can get free appetizers, build reward points to use toward free food, and get discounts just for using the app!
8. Lightroom App: For photo editing, I love the Lightroom App. So far I am only using the free version. Here is how I make the most of this photo editing app.
9. Find My Friends: We have Iphones and as wanderers, we think it’s a good idea to allow our families to track us via the FindMyFriends app. Another option for Android users is Life 360.
12. National Parks Apps: As part of our travel, we have been seeing a lot of National Parks and we use several apps with our NP Adventures. First, we use the NPS App. This app is crucial for your National Parks planning. It has all of the destinations in full detail including maps, hikes, where to stay, how to get there, etc. You can also download each park for off line use. For booking campgrounds in the National Parks, we use the recreation.gov app. This is also where we sign up for the lotteries that are required to drive certain roads or take certain hikes.
11. Fetch: And finally, I love using Fetch to get free Amazon gift cards. I simply take pictures of my receipts as I travel. For every receipt Fetch gives me points. Once I have enough points I can redeem them for a gift card or other items. Last year I got several of them for doing basically nothing.
And, as a bonus- what are our favorite credit cards for travelling:
Delta American Express - Right Now, American Express and Delta are offering 70,000 bonus miles after you use your new Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card to make $2,000 in purchases within your first 6 months of Card Membership. Last year we spent only 22,000 miles to fly our son to visit us at the Mighty 5 Utah Parks and it cost only 36,000 miles to fly our daughter to visit us on the road in Seattle and only 45,000 points to fly my father in law to spend a week fishing with my husband in Yellowstone National Park. We love accumulating points and then spending those points on more traveling!
Chase Marriott Card- Right now Chase is offering 3 free nights or 30,000 Bonus Points depending on which card you get. We used our points last year for our hotel stays while in Las Vegas. We were able to get a nice hotel right on the strip using our points.
DiscoverCard- And, for everyday purchases, who doesn't love DiscoverCard? With no annual fee and 5% cash back on certain purchases, we use Discover for our everyday expenses.
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