8 Apps That Changed My Study Abroad Experience

I lived in Paris once as an undergraduate during Fall 2009 and a second time as a graduate student during Winter 2016. While on exchange during grad school, I traveled to 12 countries on 3 different continents. To get to each destination, I logged thousands of miles on the road, traveling on buses, trains, planes and even camels! 

Less than 10 years in between both study abroad stints, my experience the second time around was drastically different from the first. Digital apps have revolutionized the travel experience, streamlining the end-to-end process. 

Besides your popular messaging and social media applications such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, here's a list of travel apps that had profound impact on my time abroad:

1) Venmo - Venmo is like having a digital wallet that lets you make and share payments with friends. You can securely pay or request money from friends using funds connected to your bank account. Venmo is also pretty unique due to the social component of the platform. It's like what would happen if Facebook and PayPal were to have a baby. You can leave witty comments with your payment requests that can be shared publicly or privately.

2) Splitwise - Traveling with a large group? Splitwise is your best friend for managing splitting your expenses! No need trying to figure out how to split a $300 check, 13 ways, in the heat of the moment. Splitwise allows you to log all your shared bills and IOUs, calculates the correct split then automatically sends a venmo payment once your expenses have been settled up amongst your group. Splitwise keeps expenses transparent, ensures everyone gets paid back and saves you from performing manual, arduous calculations.

3) AirBnB - For budgetistas and high rollers alike, AirBnB has something for all types of travelers. AirBnB was available in all the places I visited. AirBnB worked well for me when traveling with more than 1 person or when hotels were out of our price range. 

*Pro-Tip: Look for places tagged as "rare finds" to increase the probability of a fantastic lodging experience. 

3) Uber - Instead of trying to hail a cab in a completely foreign country, you can now summon a car through a swipe of your phone! No need to really know the language or frantically worry about currency conversion in the back seat of a sedan. Uber will provide your driver all the info they need and pay them automatically through your linked credit card. Everyone wins with this system abroad.

*Common Sense Tip: When using Uber, wherever you are in the world, always be sure to double check that your driver's license plate matches their Uber profile. The world can be a terrible place, don't get caught up in a "Taken" re-enactment. 

4) FourSquare - Looking for the perfect spot for food, nightlife, and entertainment? FourSquare has you covered. I initially resisted using this platform because I was turned off by people constantly broadcasting their check-ins on FourSquare. However, I later realized that you didn't have to share your every move to enjoy the benefits of FourSquare. Whenever, I would travel to a new place, I would consult FourSquare to find the best restaurants. FourSquare crowdsources reviews and pictures from users and the platform also allows you to create a little roadmap of all the places you visited. So next time, I'm in lets says Portugal, I could go to the app, reference my Portugal folder and instantly be reminded of all the great places I dined, drank and more. FourSquare has never let me down in finding the best eats, sweets and treats!

6) HotelTonight - For your last minute bookers or spontaneous travelers, HotelTonight is fantastic! This third party platform pulls data from boutique hotels in the area and publishes rooms available each night! Since the hotels have an incentive to maximize their occupancy, these last minute deals are usually a great value and substantially less than the average daily rate. The platform allows you to filter for area, category and dates up to 7 days before your desired check-in. I've used it in Austria, Germany and France and have only had positive, comfortable experiences!

7) GoogleMaps - Everyone uses this but I'm still blown away about how more convenient GoogleMaps has made my second study abroad experience. The first time I studied abroad, my pocket maps were like bibles! Literally could not leave home without a map to navigate a foreign country. I relied heavily on hotel concierges and random people on the street to get around; but now with a click of a button, I can get a precise digital map and directions to virtually any destination. 

*Pro-Tip: When traveling abroad, while on wifi, download an offline map of the area you're exploring. This way when you're out and about you can turn off and conserve your data, while still having access to your offline map.

8) SnapChat - I was also pretty reluctant to use SnapChat, I didn't see the point of capturing and sharing your every move. I still don't use SnapChat on a regular basis and I think people who use it frequently, lose part of the "living in the moment" experience. However, SnapChat is a pretty cool tool to use when traveling to a new place. SnapChat allows you to create and save editable video/photo collages of your trip, which is a nice way to memorialize your trip, beyond static pictures.


With the advancement of technology, there has been significant gains and traveling is more accessible than it has ever been. So what are you waiting for? Make your next trip, the best trip yet with some of these apps in mind!