To make a trip around the world like I’m about to do takes som serious organization skills. There are some ways though to make this process easier. Apart from the standard but functional Excel spreadsheets I have found a couple of really nifty apps that I would like to share with you. But first and formost my smartest move was to realize that letting people who are professionals at what they do, are the ones that get the job done best. So thank you Eleonore at Kilroy for helping me make all the flight bookings! She knew of course of all the ins and outs of getting the best tickets at the best prices and also the better travel routes to to take. Her help has saved me precious time as well. Time to focus on contacting people who I want to visit, of getting the paperwork done etc.

In this process I found some apps that have been really helpful. My best friend right now is Evernote, the Organizer with a capital O. Keeping all the nitty gritty details in one place thus giving me a pretty good overview of my project. An excellent tool for anyone with a project. So full marks for that app!

Another one is WorldMate, that is hopefully in the process of swallowing my very extensive travel itinerary right now and is going to help me to keep track of my flight status and terminal location when I’m on the go. It also has a calendar sync, currency converter, weather forecast, tip calculator and has a local search function for seeking out restaurants, shopping and nightlife.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an app for those of us living in Sweden. It’s an excellent app called UD Resklar, giving advice, tips and current travel information, basic facts for each country and up-to-date information of the general security situation there, travel advice in matters of health and vaccination, maps and contact information for embassies and consulates amongst others. Very versatile and usable I find.

A Wi-Fi finder is a must. Never know how addicted to Wi-Fi one is till one is without it! Offline maps is a must I think. I aslo have downloaded a general Converter that can convert just anything it seems, but I guess what I’m going to find most useful are the basic ones such as temperature, weight, volume and length. And if you are anything like me, getting bogged down trying to remember endless passwords there are apps like 1Password that take care of that for you, to my great relief. WhatsApp is for keeping in touch with my loved ones. But also for connecting with new friends. Some apps are country specific. In China WeChat is the app to use apparently. iBooks is handy for storing seven months of reading for an avid reader as myself. And I do love Yahoos weather app being a picture orientated person, a good looking app with photos from whatever location you choose, realistically animated with showers of rain, and water droplets running down on the “window”, heatwaves, thunderbolts or fog banks that glides past. Right now its raining here as you can see. Great day for working on my upcoming trip! At the same time I can see that it’s 29° and partly cloudy in Shanghai, 33° in Hong Kong, 17° and nice and sunny in Cape Town…it’s a preparation of sorts anyway. Gets me thinking of what to pack in the clothes department. More on that subject later!

What other apps do you find handy for traveling? Do you have any that you can tell me about?

I feel that it’s all coming together nicely now. Slowly step by step I’m getting there. It has become not continents or countries but people that I’m exited to meet. It’s Annie and Jonas & Nina and Ka Kee and Claudette and Thekla and Natalie and Julie and Doreen and…The list goes on but I’m filled with joy with the prospect of meeting each and everyone of you!