First and foremost, how much are you enjoying October baseball? I am on cloud nine after Raul Ibanez’s two home runs and the Yankee victory! I’ll admit when I was on my second west coast trip and even in Boston I thought he was a waste of a DH spot. He proved me wrong- twice! It’s a good thing I’m not a baseball manager… well a real one anyway. Thank you, Raul!! Very excited for tonight’s games, we’ll have some teams sent home for sure.
But on to the money saving tips! I’m assuming most people have smartphones nowadays. Are you downloading apps that can help save you money or sticking with Angry Birds? I did a little research and thought I’d share some of the most useful smartphone apps for travel. Check them out and maybe try one or two. Hopefully, they’ll help you get from here to there for less!
1. GasBuddy, Gas Guru, Cheap Gas (iPhone only), and My Gas (iPhone only)are all free apps for finding the cheapest gas prices in the area. Definitely handy for your road trips… as long as you don’t run out of gas finding them!
2. Skyscanner, SeatGuru, AirFare (iPhone only), and iFareFinder (iPhone only) are great free apps for finding a cheap flight- fast. Skyscanner claims to scan over 1000 different airlines, giving you the best deals in seconds.
3. KAYAK, Expedia, and Orbitz are fantastic staples when using apps to save on travel. They not only have great flight deals but on hotels and more importantly- rental cars.
4. CarRentals.com (iPhone only) is one of the best rental car apps out there, but for those of us without an iPhone, try the Hertz app which offers special deals to app users or the Priceline app which allows you to haggle with Budget and Avis for a lower price. I found renting a car really bumped up my travel expenses- should have used these!
5. Beat the Traffic might be the most underrated travel app. It alerts you to traffic and construction helping you save time and gas money when on the road! Would have been handy on a couple of my road trips for sure!
The above apps are all free apps and you can research them online or try them firsthand by downloading them on your smartphone from your phone’s store feature. There are also plenty of apps that you can pay for, but I think those are a waste when there are so many free options! As for general saving tips and a budgeting plan for say a ballpark trip (or two) next summer, check out the Mint.com app.
Do you have a good travel app that I haven’t mentioned? Feel free to share!
Sports Wanderlust 