Travel is supposed to feel relaxing and fun. However, it’s often stressful with the planning that goes into it and surprises along the way. Travelers are often told to ditch their devices and apps to bring on relaxation and disconnect from stress back home.
However, there are ways these accessories can actually help users during their travels and once they arrive at their location. From the nervous flyer to the person who wants to make the hotel room feel like home, here are some devices and apps that make the travel experience a little easier.
Travel Apps to Use
For keeping your body balanced:
Flying through different time zones and traveling through various towns takes a toll on the body. Users can refocus or get their circadian rhythms back on track with some of the following apps...
Calm is a free app for getting a good night’s rest. It features psychologist recommended sleeping inducing stories, meditation guides, and breathing programs. Plus, it provides background noises and music to help with concentration and guides for body stretches.
Relax Melodies helps users fall asleep. Users can select from three types of sound: white noise, ambient music. or brainwave frequencies. A built-in timer lets them choose whether to run the app all night or for a select amount of time.
For getting yourself organized:
Sometimes even the preparation for a trip is stressful. But never fear, there’s an app for that...
Can’t remember to bring a charger? How about enough underwear? Packing Pro asks users to plug-in where they’re going and for how many days. The app produces a suggested list of items to bring along on the trip. It even lets users generate lists for partners or children. The app helps organize which bag an item will go in and who is responsible for it as well.
Need an itinerary? Worldmate organizes all travel information in one app. Rather than jumping around to various booking websites or creating one long note, this app produces an organized trip plan. Users just add in information like where they’re staying, restaurant reservations, and events.
For the nervous flyer:
It's not uncommon for people to feel a bit scared when flying. However, utilizing these tools helps keep nerves in check...
For an in-flight therapist, try Valk. This app provides breathing and calming exercises for preparing for a flight. If flyers experience panic during a bad round of turbulence, they can hit the panic button to talk through the fear with an automated therapist. There is a $3.99 charge for using this app, but it’s a small price to pay for relaxing nerves.
Turbulence is not fun at all, but there is a way to forecast it. Using SkyGuru users can view in-flight weather forecasts and chances for turbulence. For a little extra, they’ll also get real-time alerts and an explanation for why the flight is having a bad round of disturbance.
Devices to Bring Along While Traveling
For the hotel or rental:
Sure, the modern hotel or house rental has just about everything patrons want, but that doesn’t mean it’s always perfect for relaxation. Charges for Wifi or limited tv channel offerings can quickly bring on the boredom if a bad weather day cancels plans. Travelers should consider packing a streaming stick.
Tossing in a USB stick is simple. When you have access to Netflix or Hulu accounts, there are plenty of shows and movies to help with the boredom. Since most hotels feature large tv screens, it’s easier to stream rather than huddle around one smartphone or tablet. Roku even has a bypass for hotel’s Wifi required sign-in. It’s Hotel & Dorm feature allows users to log in to Wifi via their smartphone.
Although hotels or rentals should feel like home, they don’t always smell like it. Bringing along an air purifier can help with smell or act as a white noise machine. The Pure Company’s Air Purifier is lightweight and only needs two to three drops of essential oils to start freshening up a room.
Jetlag is another problem travelers encounter. Sometimes it helps just to have an aid to get to sleep. The Dodow Sleep Aid Device projects a soft blue light to help people focus on inhaling and exhaling. After an eight or twenty minute cycle, users will feel ready to fall asleep.
For the plane ride:
Let’s face it, air travel is stressful. Crowds, TSA checks, and delays make it a big hurdle when traveling to a vacation destination. Noise canceling earbuds can help block out some of the commotion.
Bose Sleepbuds help people fall and stay asleep on flights. Fitted to the user’s ear, they seal out noise and renders them inaudible with 10 pre-loaded sleeptracks. It can also wake users up with an alarm set via the accompanying app.
Travel takes a lot out of people through all of its stages. From planning a trip, to traveling to a location, to staying overnight in a new place, it can be hard to feel relaxed sometimes. But with the help of technology like relaxing apps or noise canceling headphones, travel can go much more smoothly.
