The tools and apps I used during my holiday 📱

24 Apr, 2025

I recently returned from a 10-day family trip to Malta, a mix of discovering beautiful places, soaking in the sun, and enjoying time together. It was our first flight with the family, so we had to travel light and be specific about what we took with us.

I thought I'd share the tools and apps that have helped tremendously before or during our trip.
Some things I packed turned out to be surprisingly useful, others proved once again why they’ve earned a permanent place in my travel toolkit.

Tripsy

I never used a travel planner/organiser app before, but after seeing a recommendation of Tripsy, I decided to give it a go.

Tripsy provides the convenience of storing all information about your trip, allowing quick offline access. You can forward flight and accommodation reservations, add notes, and store locations.

So once everything was decided and planned, I added all locations and reservations to Trips,y making it the single and easy to turn to repository of everything related to our trip. No longer I needed to search my email for something or worry about not having wifi or cellphone reception.

To forward emails and share with others, you need a subscription, but I enabled it for 1 month only, which was enough for the duration of our trip.

Onlyflights

I had a look at Flight radar and The flight tracker as a way to stay up to date on our flights, but in the end I settled with Onlyflights, which was way easier or user-friendly to use.

Onlyflights sent me notifications when (online) check-in and boarding were due, alongside information about potential delays and the gate, which was even better and more accurate than Flight Tracker provided.

And it was also much cheaper than the other alternative, costing only 1.99€ for a month.

Car ventilation plug

As we rented a car, I needed a way to fix my phone for navigation. I brought a small car plug that was portable enough to bring, yet kept my phone tightly in place.

Something so simple, yet so convenient. I'm happy I thought of this when packing.

Google maps

I wish there were alternatives to Google Maps, however, it was still the best to find restaurants and other useful places, and having up-to-date information on opening times.

Polarsteps

I talked about Polarsteps before as one of the best ways to keep a travel journal and keep the homefront up to date. And it still maintains that spot.

Polarsteps shows a breadcrumbs trail (when enabled) of all the places we visited, so it was only a matter of adding some photos and text to keep a nice log of things for friends and family to follow our adventures. They also didn't need an account, as you can share a secret link.

And best of all, Polarsteps is completely free to use, aiming to make money from the creation of travel books from trips you log.

Komoot/Strava

Both apps act really well as a way to see and plan anything walking, running, biking,…

Komoot is very good for walking, and I would have used it for everything if it weren’t for the horrible experience when you want to plan something that involves multiple way-points.

So often I took inspiration from Komoot, afterwards planning it through Strava and sending it to my Apple Watch to navigate around.

Apple Watch

When I got my Garmin running watch, I thought for a long time about which watch I would use for daily usage.

After long deliberation, I decided to stick with my Garmin, focusing on my health and performance. As a result, I’ve only been using my Apple Watch sporadically, for specific run training or my morning HRV check.

However, I did take it with me and used it a lot to navigate around when we were walking, so I wouldn’t constantly have to walk with my phone in my hand.

Ok, I might have looked silly wearing 2 watches, but still, I preferred it this way.

Lowepro hatchback backpack

I’ve had this backpack for many years already and still love and use it for all our travel. It’s big enough to carry everything that we need while not being too big or bulky to walk around with.

It has 2 flexible pouches on the side in which we can store 4 water bottles, allowing quick access without the need to remove the backpack when someone is thirsty.

I love its organising pouch in which I can put all my electronic devices, keeping them safe and protected while travelling. It also has a rain cover so I don't have to worry about my things getting wet.

After years of usage, it's showing signs of wear, but if it eventually breaks down, I'm likely going to get the same one again.

Wandrd fanny pack

Similar as my backpack, I got this fanny pack years ago, and it's always the first item I take when we're going somewhere and I want to bring my camera. While I initially only used if for my camera gear, it has become my carry all for more. Like my wallet, car keys, sunglasses, Insta Go 2 camera, Magsafe phone battery,...

The great thing about the Wandrd is that it looks (and is) durable and is weather-resistant, so I don't need to worry about things getting damaged or wet. It's also sturdy enough that I don't need to worry about accidental drops or falling victim to theft.

Thanks for reading!

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#2025 #2025-04 #app-tech #article