Where can you find the largest shoes in the world? What about the smallest volcano? Or how about the best pig in the world (according to TV personality and chef Anthony Bourdain)? All these are in the island nation of the Philippines, where a 5.29-meter shoe, the Taal Volcano and the crispy lechon are found.
Over the past five years, the number of tourists in the Philippines has increased significantly, with a 13% growth during the first three months of 2016. This year, the Department of Tourism launched a new campaign: Visit Philippines Again. For both returning and first-time visitors, be ready with these traveler apps that are sure to make your trips easier and more enjoyable.
ON THE ROAD
Find Your Way With Waze
If you aren’t a local, it can be hard to navigate the streets from target accomodation. There are many good condominiums accomodation of DMCI, Ayala Land, Megaworld and others that will maximize for your traveling tour in the Philippines. With Waze, you can take the fastest route thanks to the users who input vehicular accidents, road hazards and other traffic-related information into the app. This allows other users to know what to expect and decide which alternative routes to take.
Hassle-Free Taxi Ride
When traveling, all you want is convenience for a better trip. This also applies to getting a ride wherever you want to go. Hailing a cab in the middle of rush hour is now a thing of the past thanks to Grab, an e-hailing app. Just input your pickup and drop-off points and the app will connect you to the nearest available taxis. Book it and voila, you get a taxi with hardly any effort at all.
Up, Up and Away!
While in the country, you may want to go around the country to explore as much as the 7,107 islands as you can. Once you’ve figured out where to go, it’s time to find out which flights are available for you on that date. How? The app Philippine Flight will show you the planes flying out to your destination; you can even compare them by price, departure time or airline.
ISLAND FUN
Sound Triping With Spotify
Let the music follow you wherever you need to go with Spotify, a music and podcast streaming app. Its songs are listened to by 60 million people around the world with 52% of them using it on their mobile phones. It has become a must have for many a voyager as they trek up the mountain, sail through the waves or fly through the sky. Proof of this are the two million playlists categorized as “commute”. It’s also your best companion if you will be traveling alone for with music in your ears and heart, you will never be truly alone.
Have More Fun in the Philippines
Wanna show off to your friends that it is indeed more fun in the Philippines? Then get the “Fun Philippines” app. It’s a calendar you can customize with your photos as you travel around the country. You can customize each one with a caption related to the slogan, just like the image above. Be creative with the description. Remember: the crazier, the better.
Kuku With Looloo
Sometimes the best eateries in town are not the most expensive ones, but those little hole-in-the-wall cantinas. Know where they are with Looloo, an app where users rate and give honest ratings on the restos around the area. Who knows, you just might discover the next big thing.
TOOLS FOR THE RIDE
Lost In Translation No More
Despite having 70% of the population fluent in English, sometimes things can still get lost in translation. Save yourself the stress by getting Google Translate, must for anyone who plans to travel the world one country at a time. One feature you’ll be using a lot is the photo translation, wherein you just align your camera with a foreign word and the app will translate it immediately for you. Won’t that be useful in figuring out what ‘Bawal’ means?
Know Where You Are
Whether you’re traveling as a couple or as a group, it’s quite possible for one of you straying from the other. Let the other party know where you are with Glympse. It will send your location to whoever you choose to share it with as long as you have an internet and GPS connection.
Go Paperless with Tripit
Having your travel papers getting soaked, crumpled or lost can be one of the worst things to happen to any tourist. With Tripit, you won’t have to experience this again as all your bookings and tickets are saved in the app. No need to manually type in your plans; all you have to do is forward any confirmation emails concerning your tours, accommodations and other info to the app and it will automatically arrange them for you. If done with a partner site, it’s automatically done. The next time you go to a hotel, don’t take out your binder; just show them your phone and you’re good to go.
A Virtual Tour With Philippines Travel Guide
Not everyone can afford to hire a travel guide to tour you around the place you are in; the next best thing you can do is rely on the app Philippines Travel Guide by Triposo. It’s a free travel guide app seasoned travelers swear by and is even recommended by engadget . The Philippine version is up to date, complete with a restaurant guide and background information on the country.
Traveling to the Philippines, you must be prepared to encounter natural disasters as the country is one of the most prone in the world. After all, wasn’t Philippines the country hit by the worst tropical storm to hit landfall in history? Now that you know what you are possibly facing, download Hazards App by the Philippine Red Cross. It’s a great disaster preparedness app as it has emergency guides and sends you a text message alerting you if an unforeseen event hits your area. That’s pretty handy, considering there might not be any internet connection once the big one hits the country while you’re there.
Ready for Any Emergency
Anything can happen during your travels, even medical emergencies which is why you should download the Firs Aid PH app. It has simple, step by step instructions to aid you with any first aid scenario. It’s highly helpful for any thrill seeker who plans to go adventuring in remote areas like hiking up Mt. Apo or diving off the coastline of a newly discovered island.
Truly the Philippines is a country where everything is more fun. Make it the best trip of your life with these apps definitely worth the download. What are you waiting for? Connect to the net and get these apps!