Trips don’t need to be chaotic and frustrating. Make your travels easier with the use of these free and helpful apps!

Roadtrippersroadtripper.04app_102

Road trips can be complicated. What if there were an app that simplified the entire process? Roadtrippers does just that—for free! Whether your trip is short and local or extensive across hundreds of miles, the Roadtrippers app will help you designate certain spots to stop along the way. You can add URLs, phone numbers, and addresses to help you organize your trip. Roadtrippers has teamed up with Google Maps to navigate your journey, and you can share your trip with others who travel with you or want to follow your progress. Cass Hawkins, an avid road tripper from Redlands, California, says she wishes she had this app on every trip she’s ever taken: “I love having all of my stops listed in one place and on one map! I want to use this app everyday!”

Google Translate

Travel-App_ATravel-App_CThere are few things scarier than feeling completely alone and confused, especially when you are in a foreign country and can’t figure out where you are or where you’re going because you don’t know the language. If you ever find yourself in this situation, the Google Translate app can help you read signs, menus, and anything else written in a foreign language. You can translate languages using voice, type, or camera. Just take a picture of the text you want translated, highlight the section you want to read, and the foreign words will turn into English! This app is free, and it translates a variety of languages. The camera function only works if one of the languages you’re translating between is English; however, if you type in the words yourself, you can translate between dozens of different languages. This app even works without Wi-Fi, and glitches are rapidly being fixed. Rachel Curtis, from Alamo, California, found the app useful while she was in Europe for a study abroad: “It was especially helpful with menus, so I knew what I was ordering without having to individually translate every word. It made my travels so much easier!”

—Paige Torgerson