Travel opens up the world, bringing new experiences and helping you to meet new people. There will inevitably be times when the pace slows, though, perhaps a long bus journey or an extended stopover at the airport. Take your battery pack, keep your phone charged and enjoy this selection of apps to make the time pass a little quicker.Take your battery pack, keep your phone charged and enjoy this selection of apps to Pass the Time on Long Journeys.
#1 Flyover Country
One for frequent flyers, Flyover Country is best used when your airline doesn’t provide any kind of flight tracking. It uses your phone’s inbuilt GPS to tell you exactly where you are in the world, but there’s more. Pair Flyover Country with Pocket Earth and all of a sudden you’re flying through a living, real time atlas. The app will provide information on the places you’re flying over, along with photographs and sometimes even video.
#2 Flow Free
Anyone who loved Snake on the mobile phones of old will get a big kick out of Flow Free. The mechanism is similar but even more complex as you connect variously colored pipes to make a “flow.” It sounds easy but the pipes break if they overlap. As you advance through the levels, complexity increases. This is an app designed specifically to eat up free time, so it’s great for long journeys.
#3 Roadtrip Bingo
This app is fantastic if you’re on the road and want to engage the whole family. As the name suggests, it takes the tried-and-tested bingo formula and then applies it to the road. You’ll be looking for common sights like streetlights alongside rarer occurrences, so the game can go on for a long time. Best of all, it keeps eyes off smartphones and on the surrounding world.
#4 Smule
Depending on your singing ability, you may want to use this one sparingly! Smule is a karaoke app designed for long road trips and in-car singalongs. It’s free to download and comes with a vast library of songs. There’s even a facility that allows you to generate road-trip videos, perfect for making cherished memories. Best of all, Smule comes with autotune, so even the truly tone deaf can enjoy themselves.
#5 Online sportsbooks
If you enjoy the odd flutter on the horses or like to indulge in some basketball betting, sportsbooks are perennially popular. Nearly all online bookmakers now offer apps, making it easier than ever to take your love of sports on the road. Online sportsbooks have the additional advantage of offering live event coverage, so you’ll be able to keep track of your favorite team wherever you are in the world.
#6 StumbleUpon
Content recommending algorithms are now commonplace across social media, but few are more powerful or entertaining than StumbleUpon. The app recommends content in the form of articles, videos and photographs, all based on things it thinks you’ll be interested in.
The rabbit hole can go deep indeed, and you’ll often discover all kinds of new content to keep you scrolling. StumbleUpon’s ability to predict your interests is uncanny, making it the ultimate procrastination tool.
