1. SitOrSquat
You're in a foreign city and that dodgy taco from the night before has just caught up with you. You need a toilet and fast but you're too preoccupied to remember the appropriate phrase in the local language. You need the SitOrSquat bathroom finder app.
SitOrSquat's database contains the location of over 100,000 toilets around the world and is growing every day. Simply search by city, postcode, or, best of all, geolocation (ie nearest) and you'll be presented with a list of options.
Each toilet comes with a rating for cleanliness, an indication whether it's a sitter or a squatter, and a note if the toilet is currently closed.
If you're lucky, some listings come with a photo. Unlucky, if your nearest toilet is on an Indian train.
Price: Free
2. Taxi Hold'Em
Hailing a taxi on your travels has never been easier. Download the Taxi Hold'Em app and the word 'TAXI' will flash across your phone's screen.
In the unlikely event that taxi drivers don't see the 0.7 inch letters on your phone as they drive by, the app will also let out a loud whistle to catch their attention.
Priceless. Literally.
Price: Free
3. Healix Travel Vaccinations
On the face of it, an extremely useful app that tells you the vaccinations you need to visit a particular country. But do you really want to know that you need 37 injections to visit Mali? And would you still go?
Price: Free
4. Word Lens
This app is really quite cool. Line up a foreign sign with your phone's camera and the Word Lens app transposes an immediate translation. It’s like x-ray vision, but instead of seeing through something, you'll see another version in place of the original instead.
You'll need a steady hand and deep pockets though. If the camera is at all shaky the translations are not so accurate. And each language pack costs £6.99.
Cost: Free. In App purchased language packs £6.99 each
5. Marine Traffic
When you're sailing around the world, it's always nice to know if a massive ship is heading your way. The Marine Traffic app uses an Automatic Identification System to plot the position of over 60,000 vessels each day.
Sadly, it doesn't tell you which ones are pirates.
Price: £2.49
6. Wonders Flip
Always mixing up the Taj Mahal with St Basil's Cathedral? This photo flash card app will help you learn to recognise the planet's most famous attractions off-by-heart. So you'll always know which Wonder of the World you're looking at.
Price: £0.69
7. Roadside America
Ostensibly a guide to America's vast array of roadside attractions, the real killer feature of this app is Tourist Interruptus™, an advanced feature that schedules an 'interruption' to save from the curator of the said museum, folk art environment, or historical landmark, intent on talking you into a stupour about their very particular area of interest.
The interruption comes in the form of a call from Roadside America (very official), your 'Mum' (very personal) or the Petrified Leech (very disturbing). Take the call, look worried, and get out of there!
Price: $2.99
8. Take Me Home, I'm Wasted
This app remembers your home address so that anywhere you are, whatever state you're in, you are just a touch away from finding directions home!
The most useful feature for travellers though is that you are able to 'spot' another location – your hostel, the bus station, the next Mescal bar on your Central American tequila crawl – and set that as your nominated home address.
Take Me Home, I`m Wasted! also lets you listen to your own music while you use the app, so you can throw on your 90s dance classics and stumble back to the hostel in style!
Price: Free
Described as 'your passport to a world of weirdness' our book, Weird World, is a compendium of off-the-wall images, quirky stories and the downright strange from every corner of the planet.
For a short time only we are offering Weird World for the incredible price of only £5 (RRP £14.99). Order your copy here. And don't forget to enter the code, fridayfun at the checkout to get the discount.
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