From saving your relationship to saving your social media reputation, this year’s best travel apps will help you boldly go where millions of other people have gone before.
EmpathyAbroad
Are you a tourist with a heart of gold? Do you long to see a new country while simultaneously saving a handful of its local residents on your week long vacation? Then this Sean Penn-endorsed app is for you, you business-class hero. EmpathyAbroad matches you with volunteer opportunities ranging from teaching sassy orphans how to dress for potential job interviews to planting the seeds of democracy through exemplary hygiene and well-timed political humor. Earn EmpathyElite status after 100 acts of American-designated heroism and your next trip to a country recovering from a natural disaster is on us!
SurvivorKid
Preparing your kids for the real world is hard. SurvivorKid is here to help by turning your little ones’ next summer vacation into a fun-filled survival challenge somewhere they’ve never laid tiny, trusting eyes on. Browse stats like “how many dingoes have eaten babies in the Outback” and “number of hours before Appalachian Trail bears track the scent of Johnson & Johnson” before sending off your tot on the trip of a lifetime! This app is for the savvy parent who understands vacation days are nothing more than extra time to prepare for impending resource wars — when those dark days come, little Sophia and Brayden will be more than ready.
InstaEnvy
You’ve prepped all 94 of your social media accounts with teaser status updates about your impending trip. You’ve confirmed your destination has Wi-Fi in the hotel, restaurants, and all major tourist attractions. You won’t miss a moment of capturing this trip, but all that work will be wasted if you’re headed somewhere even a good Instagram filter can’t make gorgeous. That’s where InstaEnvy comes in. Our ratings will guide you to stunning locales our 13-year-old experts have screen-scoured for traits like “most snappable snacks,” “selfies-with-strangers friendly,” and “your friends will literally hate you for being here.” So get ready to hashtag the shit out of your awesome new city. #picsoritdidnthappen
CouldBeAnywhere
Sometimes you just want to get away without being overwhelmed by actually being somewhere new. After all, what if no one speaks English? What if you accidentally encounter poverty? These are the kinds of risks smart travelers no longer have to take. CouldBeAnywhere spins the globe for you, then automatically books your trip to an all-inclusive resort exactly like all the other ones in the world. If you didn’t have to go through immigration, you’d barely even know you left home! And more exciting news: We’re currently beta testing a sister app, AirportAnywhere, which will secure you round-trip flights through the world’s trendiest airports, giving you an insider’s guide to posh lounges, free Wi-Fi, and artisanal cocktail bars—all without ever having to leave the terminal.
Vacationship
Has it been a rough year for you and your partner? Maybe you long to whisk your boyfriend to an exotic Caribbean island where he’ll forget all about your recent adultery, or spirit your wife off somewhere she’ll be too distracted by ancient ruins to remember you forget to take out the recycling every goddamn Thursday. Well you’ve come to the right app. Our algorithms are dedicated to finding the perfect spot to renew your commitment to one another—at least for the four days you’re spending without homophobic in-laws and insomniac babies. Because we know discerning folks want more than just a relationship—they want a vacationship.
PolAdventure
You’re a total news junkie with smart, pithy opinions about world events, but it’s all just NPR hearsay from your safe stool at the local Starbucks. No longer thanks to PolAdventure, which allows you to join high-energy, anti-government protests anywhere in the world. Uprisings can be filtered by time commitment, number of armored vehicles expected, and potential Twitter popularity. At the end of your vacation, you’ll return to your stable democracy ready to sign every online petition emailed your way.
Scarebnb
From the accommodation geniuses behind Airbnb comes Scarebnb, a new appshowcasing the best haunted spaces around the world. Want to spend the night with Thomas Paine’s ghost in Manhattan or locate the creepiest abandoned asylum in Prague? We can help! Since most of our properties aren’t actually open to tourists, you’ll get tips and tricks for sneaking in and out as well as a run-down of your destination’s local trespassing laws. The monthly subscriber fee is a mere 1/10 of your soul based on a sliding income scale.
Tags: apps, humor, rachel friedman, travel apps
I want Scarebnb to be real.
Actually looks like TripAdvisor has a few………..
Ah, I see you’ve met my classmate from undergrad who spent 2 weeks volunteering at an orphanage in Mali and won’t stop talking about how the experience changed her forever.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/6day-visit-to-ru…
I’ve been doing a domestic version of CouldBeAnywhere lately– “Are you sick and tired of your stupid apartment? Do you hate seeing the same dumb scenery every day? Do you just want to drive on the highway for a couple of hours? LiterallyAnywhereElse will compare your various hotel points and discounts with all the mediocre hotels in a 100-mile radius. Get ready to watch some HBO from a Fairfield Inn outside of a small town in Pennsylvania!”
I think you and I could be friends. Let’s take short overnighters to Nowheresville to check out a nice park and then drive home again together!
THEY HAVE A TEDDY BEAR FACTORY.
When I was doing a lot of business travel I got in the habit of getting excited about minor local attractions– spending a couple of days in Nowheresville is sort of fun when you make it a mission to eat a local variety of sandwich and then visit a post office containing a notable WPA mural. Now I kind of do that everywhere I go. You can make anything into a sightseeing tour if you just spend like 30 minutes ahead of time looking into local history and architectural landmarks.
What if you accidentally encounter poverty????
CouldBeAnywhere is my fam’s preferred way to travel! Shout out to InstaENVY
Actually looks like TripAdvisor has a few………..
I think you and I could be friends. Let's take short overnighters to Nowheresville to check out a nice park and then drive home again together!
I could have used EmpathyAbroad when I did my teenage voluntourism. All I can say in my defense is that my parents told me it would be a good thing to do.
the EmpathyAbroad app is genius.
For what it’s worth, you can probably find the creepiest abandoned asylum in Prague on this site, a Czech blog that shows abandoned places: https://opustenamista.wordpress.com/.
OMG, I thought this was a real ad/”promoted” post thing for a second. HUGE RELIEF.
Brb, forwarding PolAdventure to every manarchist I know. NO, Kurdistan is NOT the new Catalonia! Your parents weren’t even born in 1936!
Brb, forwarding PolAdventure to every manarchist I know. NO, Kurdistan is NOT the new Catalonia! Your parents weren't even born in 1936!
I didn’t know half of these apps existed. Helpful info for when I leave to Europe next month.
Excellent selection of Apps to travel!
Best part about traveling is meeting people from across the world. I’ve recently made friends in Australia and Peru. I can’t wait to try some of these suggested apps! Thank you!
I wish I could remember the app I used when I traveled to Norway. I was able to find cool places to visits. I loved Norway! I would love to traveled to Prague next 🙂
That Scarebnb app looks interesting. It’s something I will used when I travel to Russia in the fall. I love Russia from the last time I visited. Can’t wait to return and be scared at the same time!
Sorry – just realized that Scarebnb is not a real app- oops! Guess I won’t be using it. RE: That Scarebnb app looks interesting. It’s something I will used when I travel to Russia in the fall. I love Russia from the last time I visited. Can’t wait to return and be scared at the same time!