Let’s face it. Travel catastrophes are not up our alley.

Instead, we have made a business out of avoiding them.

And a great way of staying on top of traveling cleverly is by keeping our ear to the ground about the latest travel apps in the market. We have put the best of 2019 together for your easy reference.

1. Running out of Ready

Is there an app that can beat clever investing and good financial savvy? Probably not. 😔 But if you needed a quick fix that will push you in the right direction, the following chatbots and apps can make sure you save for your vacation:

Plum

The friend who means well but never stops nagging – this chatbot digital assistant will analyze your spending, help you set savings goals, nudge you to meet them and then send you very amusing GIFs when you succeed. All through Facebook messenger.

Squirrel

We all know squirrels look very cute but can be quite vicious. They are also great at saving and unlike the furry creatures, the app won’t forget where it locked away your money. A good, slightly stern, sidekick to have if you tend to blow through all your money as soon as you get it.

Moneybox

Imagine taking your change from everyday purchases and, rather than losing it in your pocket or between the cushions of your sofa, automatically investing it in a stocks and shares ISA. That’s what the Moneybox app does. By rounding up on purchases made with your linked debit card and taking and investing the difference, Moneybox eases you into investing.

2. Failing to plan by planning to fail

To ensure you book the very best flights use Skyscanner, Hopper or Google Flights.

Genius Scan is a genius (!) little pocket scanner. Digitize your travel documents and even track your spending (the App works with Expensify).

No app can replace the care and knowledge of an excellent Travel Designer… but TripIt, TripCase, Kayak, Rome2Rio, GoogleTrip, Hipmonk and Inspirock will help in a pinch.

Build a custom map of everything you want to see with Google Maps. You can even layer your days for ease of organization.

AirHelp is designed to navigate your flight delay. This app is especially valuable for people who travel regularly or are trying to move around during busy travel times; AirHelp will quickly inform you of your rights as a passenger, file a claim for delayed or canceled flights, and then compensate you for up to a fixed amount.

3. Those Pesky Luggage Headaches

If you like to organize then you will love PackPoint! Keep comprehensive lists of all your gear, share them with others, and tailor your gear to the kind of trip you’re taking (hiking, motorcycling, or even a fancy dinner), the weather at your destination and the length of travel.

Slip a Tile Bluetooth Tracker to your luggage.

4. Being bored at the Airport (Quelle horreur!)

Enjoy the airport. No, really! It might just be possible with LoungeBuddy. This app allows all travelers to access any of the lounges in its network — no memberships, elite statuses, or first class tickets required.

If you are stuck and all the TV’s are muted, then Tunity will stream the audio directly to you.

Wi-Fi Map is designed to help you find a connection, and the information is crowd-sourced from fellow travelers, so it stays precise and up-to-date. Use the handy digital map to find the closest signal – and search up to 500 million hotspots around the globe.

Mobile Passport is an app that easily transmits all your information to U.S. Customs and Immigration. At major international hubs, this app will let you skip the lines entirely. Simply set up your profile, answer a few questions, and submit your data to CPB and then follow the signs when you arrive.

5. Not Making the Most of your Trip (leading to Very Unfortunate Inability to avoid FOMO)

Dark Sky specializes in “hyper-local weather” prediction and visualization. Adam and Jay (the original finders) have robots who know everything. Right down to when the rain will stop. Anywhere.

Easily identify your birds in Southern Africa with Sasol eBirds of Southern Africa.

Don’t miss your lucky shooting star with augmented reality stargazing through Starwalk.

If you can’t wait until you get back home to see who wins Dancing with the Stars remember to pack your Amazon Firestick, Google Chromecast or Roku.

To eat at restaurants that have featured on TV Shows download TVFoodMaps (most comprehensive for the USA).

VoiceMap Stories that move you, about the places you visit. This immersive GPS audio walk, cycle, drive, and boat ride app is available across 100 cities worldwide.

If you are visiting South Africa then Madiba’s Journey will help you to walk in Nelson Mandela’s footsteps.

GPSmyCity offers 6500+ self-guided walks in 1000+ cities. Your personal tour guide!

If you are traveling through Asia – try OpenRice.

6. Losing your Memories

Do you secretly wish you could be better at journaling on holiday? Enter Day One. A smart app that is elegant, cleverly designed and very focused on getting you to write more. Simply put it is a simple way to journal.

Photopills is your personal assistant in all photographic matters. It provides tasty remedies to help you answer most of the questions when planning and shooting your creative ideas. It also has features that calculate the depth of field and 3D augmented reality to help you see what your shot will look like before you take it.

The Photographer’s Ephemeris helps you figure out the perfect lighting. The app actually traces the direction and intensity of natural light and advises you on the angle of your camera. National Geographic thinks it is head and shoulders above the crowd.

Lalalab will print your holiday images directly from your phone quite effortlessly.

7. Getting lost in Translation

Google Translate can save you. Be sure to download the libraries you need before you travel.

XE Currency Converter will save you from doing the math. With live exchange rates and charts, it also provides alerts to monitor your client’s currencies of choice.

And if you don’t have Whatsapp yet – get it!

8. Losing all your Fitness Gains

Keep fit with Sworkit. In fact, get in the best shape of your life… anywhere, anytime.

9. Keeping Safe

Safeture is a personal safety app that provides real-time status on localized security information, as well as delivering warnings, alerts and local SOS emergency numbers.  It also lets you alert your friends and family and give them a real-time trail of your movements when you are walking home in an unfamiliar environment The app also gives you access to local news at your destination, as well as country-specific safety and travel information. Automatic translation is available in 90 languages.

Check ingredients in thousands of foods, beverages, and other products with Smartlabel.

10. Losing Sleep

Make sure you are avoiding blue light by enabling  Night Shift (iOS) or downloading (Twilight Android).

White Noise will tune out all the background noise with traditional white noise or something from a catalog of ambient sounds.

If you prefer to be in charge of your sleep you can be your own DJ with Sleep Pillow. Over 70 ambient sounds can be mixed into 300,000 combinations. This app also has a sleep timer and alarm.

The Sleep Cycle app is designed to only wake you when you are at the lightest point in your sleep cycle. It also has sleep analysis and snore detection.

Sleep Genius uses the ambient noise that NASA designed to make astronauts sleep in space. As one would only expect Sleep Genius is big on the science behind relaxing your breathing, lowering your heart rate and preparing your brain for sleep.

11. Not Making the Most of Your Downtime

Headspace does not do any ‘crystal dangling’. It is quite simply a practical introduction to meditation that anyone can learn.

If you think three-minute micro-meditation is more your speed then you need Aura. Tell the app how you were feeling and your meditation will be tailored to the moment. And if you forgot to add your gratitude list to Day One, Aura has a gratitude journal, scientifically proven to help people sleep more easily.

Images via Mesut KayarawpixelCapturing the human heart. Kyle Glenn